CHAPTER XII 
The Breadth and Depth of Irish 
Education 
HE greatest monument left by St. Patrick 
was the organization of education in Ireland 
for this Irish people whom he had learned to 
love as a slave among them and to whom he came 
back with the mission of Christianization. Appar- 
ently Patrick’s whole influence as soon as the Irish 
became converted to Christianity was concentrated 
on the effort to make them understand just as far as 
was possible the reasons for the faith that was in 
them. He himself founded a great school at Ar- 
magh which attracted students from all over Ire- 
land. Before long his disciples were also founding 
schools until Ireland became dotted with institutions 
of learning many of which afforded opportunities 
for education for hundreds of students. Scholar- 
ship was held in high honor and the Irish reverence 
for their bards or poets and for their historians 
which had existed from time immemorial was now 
extended also to these Christian scholars who de- 
voted themselves to the cultivation of their intellects 
through scholarly Christian influence. 
It is interesting above all to realize as we shall 
see in a subsequent chapter that the Irish were not 
exclusive in their provision of educational opportun- 
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