Scholarship and influence:  Irish monks were not only apostles of souls, but also masters of intellectual life.  Thus in the seventh century the Celtic monastery of Luxeuil became the most celebrated school in Christendom.  Monks from other houses and sons of the nobility crowded to it.  The latter were clearly not intended for the cloister, but destined for callings in the world.

There were outstanding men among these missionaries from Ireland.  St. Virgilius of Salzburg in the eighth century taught the sphericity of the earth and the existence of the Antipodes.  It was this same teaching that Copernicus and later astronomers formulated into the system now in vogue.

St. Columcille himself was a composer of Latin hymns and a penman of no mean order, as the Book of Kells, if written by him, sufficiently proves.  In all the monasteries which he founded, provision was made for the pursuit of sacred learning and the multiplication of books by transcription.  The students of his schools were taught classics, mechanical arts, law, history, and physics.  They improved the methods of husbandry and gardening; supplied the people, whom they helped to civilize, with implements of labor; and taught them the use of the forge, an accomplishment belonging to almost every Irish monk.

The writings of Adamnan, who spent most of his life outside his native land, show that he was familiar with the best Latin authors, and had a knowledge of Greek as well.  His “Vita S. Columbae” ("Life of St. Columcille”) has made his name immortal as a Latin writer.  His book “De Locis Sanctis” ("On the Holy Places”) contains information he received from the pilgrim bishop Arculfus, who had been driven by a tempest to take refuge with the monks of Iona.  On account of the importance of the writings of Adamnan and because of his influence in secular and ecclesiastical affairs of importance, few will question his right to a distinguished place among the saintly scholars of the West.

Irish monks, abroad as well as at home, were pre-eminently students and exponents of Holy Scripture.  Sedulius wrote a commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul; John Scotus Erigena composed a work, “De Praedestinatione” ("Concerning Predestination"); Dungal was not only an astronomer, but also an excellent theologian, as is clear from his defence of Catholic teaching on the invocation of saints and the veneration of their relics.  His knowledge of Sacred Scripture and of the Fathers is exceedingly remarkable.

St. Columbanus, besides other works, is said to have composed an exposition of the Psalms, which is mentioned in the catalogue of St. Gall’s library, but which cannot now be identified with certainty.  The writings of this abbot are said to have brought about a more frequent use of confession both in the world and in monasteries; and his legislation regarding the Blessed Sacrament fostered eucharistic devotion.