Page 95 - Demo

Chapter three 95
the famous monastery of St. Gall, from which the modern town and canton of St. Gallen are named.
Some other celebrated monasteries founded by Irish missionaries were: Lagny, near Par- is founded by St Furza; Wurzburg in Germany, founded by St. Kilian; Salzburg in Austria, founded by St. Virgilius (Ferghal) called Virgil the Geometer; Suibhne or Sweeny of Clon- macnoise, one of the sages who assisted at the foundation of Oxford University; St. Fiachra who established his school near Paris and whose grave was so often visited that his name was given to the vehicle that carried pilgrim’s to the sacred spot. Even today, in some parts of France, most especially in areas of Paris, an old fashioned carriage is still referred to as a iacre. Irish missionaries also founded monasteries at Cologne, Vienna, Strasburg, Nantes, Auxerre, Cannes, to name but some.
Some of the places in Britain and on the Continent in which the Irish Missionaries/ Monks established great centres of piety and learning
The eminent Celtologist, the late Professor Zimmer of the University of Berlin once said: “Ireland can boast, not only of having been the birth-place and abode of high culture in the ifth and sixth centuries, but also of having made strenuous eforts in the seventh century to spread her learning among German and Romance peoples, thus forming the actual founda- tions of our present Continental civilisation.”