Page:The ancient Irish church.djvu/18

 intellectual and spiritual movements in other lands. It is thus that the peculiar monastic character of Irish Christianity is to be explained. If it had been founded earlier or later, monasticism might have been introduced, but it would have been different in kind, and would never have become the sole rule of the Church. On the continent of Europe the old monastic ideas soon became antiquated, and new developments so revolutionized the system that it retained in the end no resemblance to the original institution. Ireland continued through many ages to perpetuate that which in other places was only a passing fashion. In many ways too, as we shall see, Ireland retained for centuries the peculiarities of the age in which she first received the faith; and it is this, indeed, that lends particular interest to her history, for in no other country of Europe could we find, even down to the twelfth century, a survival of the peculiar doctrines and usages that existed in the fifth.

The paganism of the German tribes and Norsemen had also its influence on the Irish Church. First of all it afforded scope for missionary enterprise, and provoked enthusiasm and zeal, which were crowned with abundant success, and which must have reacted most beneficially on the Church that sent forth her children to preach the Gospel. In later years the heathen Norsemen, having made settlements on the Irish shores, brought trial and suffering to the Christians, breaking up many of the religious establishments and schools of learning; and at a still later period, when these same Norsemen had been converted to Christianity they had no small share in revolutionizing the Celtic Church and in bringing it into subjection to the see of Rome.

When it is said that Irish Christianity dates from