Thank God for the Irish!!!

I just finished this book and have to say I was amazed! It was so good I thought I would do a Book Review on it. I had a desire to read it because, as best I can tell, I am about 20% Irish. Some of it drags a little bit but otherwise, it is a great read. I bet you're all asking, how did the Irish of all people save civilization? To save you the time of reading it, I'll tell you all about in the quick and simple format.

The Roman Empire fell to uneducated barbarians that did not care for learning and cared even less for the Latin and Greek manuscripts found in the empire. When they took over, all education ended. At this same time, St. Patrick began converting the Irish and many of his following became monks with a passion for prayer, education, farming, and most importantly, copying manuscripts and other works of literature (especially the bible). The Irish monks grew in great numbers because Ireland accepted Christianity much easier than other areas of the world. This has been attributed not only to the movement of the Holy Spirit but also to the fact that the Irish pagan belief system was comprised of a god with three heads (so they easily understood the trinity), Irish folklore was filled with supernatural beings (so they understood the unseen spiritual realm), and they made human sacrifices (so they understood not only Jesus' death but also what a living sacrifice meant).

At this time in history, Ireland was the only place in the world where any type of learning/education was taking place! The Irish didn't just keep Christianity and learning to themselves because the Irish monks had a heart for missionary work. Monks set out in all different directions (even to America) to take the gospel to other lands, converting others, and setting up monasteries wherever they landed. During their travels, they also copied whatever literature they found along the way and sent copies back to Ireland. Ireland was an ideal location to store these great works of literature because of it's location on the fringe of the empire where it was away from the major conflicts and disease outbreaks. Experts estimate that at least 50% of all ancient Latin manuscripts in existance were copied by Irish Monks!

We owe alot to the Irish Warrior Monks for all they did. This book is a great read for anyone interested in how God was working in the Dark Ages. It also has the greatest depiction of St. Patrick's life that is currently in print. I highly recommend it!