Enzo Farinella
Europe and the Irish Monks
We knew that the Celts founded the first Europe , but very few are aware that Irish monks had a very important role in Medieval Europe , which they transformed culturally and spiritually . Britain , Scotland , France , Switzerland , Belgium , Austria , Italy , Slovakia , Russia , Iceland , Greenland , America ... are in many ways linked to them .
Bobbio , Fiesole , Lucca , Taranto , Lumièges , Auxerre , Laon , Luxeuil , Liège , Trier , Wurzburg , Regensburg , Rheinau , Reichenau , Salzburg , Vienna , St . Gallen ... are all European towns founded by , or linked to , Irish monks
Many dioceses in France , Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Holland , Italy have an Irish Saint as their Patron . So we find in the 7th century Columbanus , from Leinster , in France and later in Bobbio ; Cathaldus , from Canthy , in Taranto ; Finbar or Redrian in Lucca ; Killian , from Mullagh in Co . Cavan , in Wuerzburgh ;