Page:The Journal of Classical and Sacred Philology, Volume 1, 1854.djvu/98

 88 Journal of Philology. Adamnan, followed in the steps of their great master, St Columba. Of the former it is said : u In tantum autem vita illius a nostri temporis segnitia distabat, ut omnes qui cum eo incedebant, sive adtonsi, sive laid meditari deberent : id est, aut legendis Scrip- turis, aut psalmis discendis operam dare" (Bed. in. o). And in speaking of Adamnan, this authority declares (v. 15): " Erat enim vir bonus et sapiens, et scientia Scripturarum nobilissime instructus." Even Ecgbert, the Anglo Saxon, who induced so many of the northern converts to accept the Roman usages respecting Easter, owed his learning chiefly to the sister-country: " In Hibernia diutius exulaverat pro Christo, eratque et doctissi- mus in Scripturis et longse vitae perfectione eximius" (Bed. m. 4). Moreover it is well attested that for many years, until the Roman missionaries gained complete ascendancy in England, and such men as Wilfrith and Boniface went out to propagate the Gospel on the continent of Europe, nearly all the more distin- guished preachers had been trained in Ireland. For example, Agilbert, a Gaul, the second bishop of Wessex, had crossed the channel with this object: "Legendarum gratia Scripturarum in Hibernia non parvo tempore demoratus" (Bed. in. 7). Kilian, the apostle of Franconia, was an Irishman, and his biographer inserts the following notice: "A puerili setate magnum habet studium sacras discere literas et in eis tarn perfectc proficiens ut exinde pontificale didicit regere culmen" (Canisius, Led. Anti</. iv. 642, ed. Ingolstadt, 1603). The ardent missionary Wilbrord, a Northumbrian, whom his father placed, while yet an infant, with the monks at Ripon ("religiosis studiis et sacris litteris erudiendum") was attracted in his twentieth year (677) by the illustrious schools of Ireland, and went over to complete his education. " Ibique duodecim annis, inter eximios simul piae religionis et sacrai lectionis magistros, futurus multorum populo- rum praedicator erudiebatur" (see his Life by Alcuin, in Alcuini Opp. HI. 183, sqq.). But if Wilbrord be allowed to rank in some degree among the Anglo-Saxon literati, we may doubtless find a genuine repre- sentative of Ireland in the earlier missionary Columbanus (d. 615). Guided by the principles which he had learned at home, he thus expresses his belief in the supremacy of Holy Scripture : " lllud Dei ineffabile meditandum est magis, quam eloquendum sit [? est] ; et, exceptis his quae aut Lex aut Frophetaz aut Evan-