As we celebrate St. Patrick’s day we may have a wide variety on beliefs about the Irish and their influence upon society. How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill reveals how Patrick not only brought Christianity to Ireland but he preserved Western culture while Europe was being overrun by barbarians. I’m encouraged that my Irish ancestors played a strategic role in the spread of Christianity in the world.

If you are not familiar with medieval history, you may be wondering, “How did the Irish save civilization?” Cahill portrays how Europe transitioned from the classical age of Rome to the medieval era. Ireland made that transition possible. If the Irish monks and scribes had not maintained the record of Western civilization, they would have been lost forever. Patrick fostered a sense of literacy and learning that enabled Ireland to become “the isle of saints and scholars”.

“Wherever they went the Irish brought with them their books, many unseen in Europe for centuries and tied to their waists as signs of triumph, just as Irish heroes had once tied to their waists their enemies’ heads. Where they went they brought their love of learning and their skills in bookmaking. In the bays and valleys of their exile, they reestablished literacy and breathed new life into the exhausted literary culture of Europe” (p. 196).

As Cahill concludes this brief narrative of history he reminds us of the need for saints.  “The twenty-first century, prophesied Malraux, will be spiritual or it will not be. If our civilization is to be saved — forget about our civilization, which, as Patrick would say, may pass “in a moment like a cloud or smoke that is scattered by the wind” — if we are to be saved, it will not be by Romans but by saints” (p. 218).

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Irish Blessing

RickAssociate Pastor – Discipleship.  The Church at LifePark

Professor of Discipleship, Columbia International University

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