Teachable Moment: How the Irish Saved Western Civilization

Finnian of Clonard imparting his blessing to the "Twelve Apostles of Ireland"

 1. Who Saved Civilization? The Irish, That's Who!
http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/03/09/bsp/irish.html 

2. Hearts And Minds Aflame For Christ: Irish Monks—A Model For Making All Things New in the 21st Century
http://www.cslewis.org/journal/hearts-and-minds-aflame-for-christ-irish-monks%E2%80%94a-model-for-making-all-things-new-in-the-21st-century/ 

THE REAPPEARANCE OF THE TEXTS OF THE
CLASSICS http://www.tertullian.org/articles/clark_reappearance.htm

3. It Takes a Monk to Save a Civilization
http://chalcedon.edu/research/articles/it-takes-a-monk-to-save-a-civilization/ 

4. Europe and the Irish Monks
http://www.saint-brendan.org/news.asp?p=europe-and-the-irish-monks-by-enzo-farinella 


5.  St. Columbanus, Missionary to Europe

http://www.netplaces.com/irish-history/arrival-of-christianity-in-ireland/st-columbanus-missionary-to-europe.htm

St. Brendan, from German manuscript

6. St. Brendan: Did An Irish Monk Come To America Before Columbus?

http://www.gadling.com/2012/05/16/st-brendan-did-an-irish-monk-come-to-america-before-columbus/

6a. Did the Irish Discover America?

 http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/exploration-of-north-america/videos/did-the-irish-discover-america

7. Irish Monastic Schools

http://www.libraryireland.com/SocialHistoryAncientIreland/II-VII-2.php 

Plus, who else but a remarkable group of people could keep a wonderful sense of humor while painstakingly copying scripts for years and years? Meet Pangur Bán, the Irish cat.

Two Translations of a Poem from the Old Irish

 http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/poems/pangur.ban.html