But evil days came for the Congregation of St. James, and now it is
extinct. The subjugation of Ireland to England, says Wattenbach,
contributed no doubt to the rapid decline of the Scotic (that is,
Irish) monasteries. For from Ireland they had up till then been
continually receiving fresh supplies of strength. In this their
fatherland the root of their vitality was to be found. Loss of
independence involved loss of enterprise.

SCHOLARSHIP AND INFLUENCE: Irish monks were not only apostles of
souls, but also masters of intellectual life. Thus in the seventh
century the Celtic monastery of Luxeuil became the most celebrated
school in Christendom. Monks from other houses and sons of the
nobility crowded to it. The latter were clearly not intended for the
cloister, but destined for callings in the world.

There were outstanding men among these missionaries from Ireland. St.
Virgilius of Salzburg in the eighth century taught the sphericity of
the earth and the existence of the Antipodes. It was this same
teaching that Copernicus and later astronomers formulated into the
system now in vogue.

St. Columcille himself was a composer of Latin hymns and a penman of
no mean order, as the Book of Kells, if written by him, sufficiently
proves. In all the monasteries which he founded, provision was made
for the pursuit of sacred learning and the multiplication of books by
transcription. The students of his schools were taught classics,
mechanical arts, law, history, and physics. They improved the methods
of husbandry and gardening; supplied the people, whom they helped to
civilize, with implements of labor; and taught them the use of the