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Bridging
the Old World and the New
In citing Ireland as the native land of the hcresiarch
Pelagius, St. Jerome gave expression to the foreign im-
pression in respect to Ireland's educational proficiency at
the end of the fourth century. St. Patrick in his Con-
fession, composed in the middle of the fifth century, apologizes
for the inferiority of his own to Irish culture, and
his description of himself as a man of single speech from
his birth is indicative of antagonists knowing more tongues
than one. The works of the first Sedulius before 450
A. D., presuming that he was an Irishman, the poems of
Sechnall, and the extant writings of Columbanus, Colum-
cille and their contemporaries, add to the testimony be-
fore the end of the sixth century.
A year before the arrival of St. Patrick, Pope Celes-
tine is recorded as sending Palladius to the "Scots of Ire-
land believing in Christ." But it would appear that up
to the time in which St. Patrick began his great work the
Christians of Ireland were in a great minority and prac-
tised their religion in secrecy.
2. IRELAND'S EDUCATIONAL PROFICIENCY
Long before the advent of Christianity the numerous
schools of the Druids and the bards carried on the tradi-
tion of pagan culture and taught history, poetry, and law,
and there were also academies of a higher grade.
Worth noting is the reference in "Ogygia" to a species of
university established at Tara in the third century by
Cormac, the high-king, son of Airt: "Cormac exceeded
all his predecessors in magnificence, munificence, wisdom,
and learning, as also in military achievements. His
palace was most superbly adorned and richly furnished,
and his numerous family proclaim his majesty and mu-
nificence; the books he published
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and the schools he