Page:The ancient Irish church.djvu/44

 spread rapidly, not only in the East, where it took its rise, but also in the West, where the more practical and less emotional disposition of the people would have led us to suppose it would never have found favour. Amongst its advocates were some of the greatest men of the age. Basil and Athanasius, Augustine and Jerome, Ambrose and Martin, and many besides, vied with one another in extolling the virtues of what was called the 'religious' life, and in inducing men and women to follow its rule.

The movement was at its height when Christianity was first preached in Ireland. Saint Martin had already founded his famous establishments at Tours and Poictiers. Tradition says that Saint Patrick was for a time an inmate of one of these monasteries. He certainly was very much influenced by the example that they presented. Full of enthusiasm for the system, he went forth, and wherever he obtained a footing his first care was to found a religious community.

The appearance presented by these establishments was as different as can well be conceived from anything that we have at the present day. A wall built of earth or of loose stones formed an enclosure, and served as a means of defence against enemies, as well as of separation from the rest of the tribe. Within this cashel or wall were the churches—exceedingly small of size, and quite unsuitable for anything approaching what might be called 'stately' worship. Any one who has ever seen the ruin of an Irish church belonging to the period before the twelfth century will not need to be told that the ritual of that age must have been of the simplest character possible. In some places there would be only one such church within the enclosure. In other places