Montalembert says:  “In no other country has Catholicism been persecuted with more sanguinary zeal; and, at the same time, none has greater need of her care.”  While the latter observation is open to dispute, it is certainly true that England has never remained quiet under the dominion of Rome.  Goldsmith’s tribute to the English character suggests a reasonable explanation of this historic fact: 

     “Stern o’er each bosom reason holds her state,
     Fierce in their native hardiness of soul,
     True to imagined right, above control,
     While even the peasant boasts those rights to scan,
     And learns to venerate himself as man.”

The fact to be remembered, as we emerge from these ecclesiastical quarrels and the confusions of this perplexing history, is that the monks were the intellectual and religious leaders of those days.  They exercised a profound influence upon English society, and had much to do with the establishment of English institutions.

But, on the other hand, the continent is indebted to England for the gift of many noble monks who served France and Germany as intellectual and moral guides, at a time when these countries were in a state of extreme degradation.  Boniface, the Apostle to the Germans, who is regarded by Neander as the Father of the German church and the real founder of the Christian civilization of Germany, was the gift of the English cloisters, and a native of Devonshire.  Alcuin, the ecclesiastical prime minister of Charlemagne and the greatest educator of his time, was born and trained in England.  Nearly all the leading schools of France were founded or improved by this celebrated monk.  It was largely due to Alcuin’s unrivaled energy and splendid talents that Charlemagne was able to make so many and so glorious educational improvements in his empire.

Notable among the men who introduced the Benedictine rule into England was St. Wilfred (634-709 A.D.), who had traveled extensively in France and Italy, and on his return carried the monastic rule into northern Britain.  He also is credited with establishing a course of musical training in the English monasteries.  He was the most active prelate of his age in the founding of churches and monasteries, and in securing uniformity of discipline and harmony with the Church of Rome.

One of the most famous monastic retreats of those days was the wild and lonely isle of Iona, the Mecca of monks and the monastic capital of Scotland.  It is a small island, three miles long and one broad, lying west of Scotland.  Many kings of Scotland were crowned here on a stone which now forms a part of the British coronation chair.  Its great monastery enjoyed the distinction from the sixth to the eighth century of being second to none in its widespread influence in behalf of the intellectual life of Europe.

This monastery was originally founded in the middle of the sixth century by Columba, the Apostle to Caledonia, an Irish saint actively associated with a wonderful intellectual awakening.  The rule of the monastery is unknown, but it is probable that it could not have been, at the first, of the Benedictine type.  Columba’s followers traveled as missionaries and teachers to all parts of Europe, and it is said, they dared to sail in their small boats even as far as Iceland.