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;