n the centuries before the tragic schism that separated the Eastern Church from the Western Church, Ireland was an Island teeming with monasteries and churches. It became the home of thousands of saints, ascetics, and miracle workers of all types, and was the place from which the rest of Europe was evangelized and civilized. Scholars tell us that monks traveled from as far away as Egypt and Syria to join in the spiritual phenomena taking place on that remarkable island.

Now the island is filled with the physical remnants of that era in the form of ruins and sacred sites. It is as though the spirituality of that ancient, almost unremembered time came under some sort of enchantment and was turned to stone, waiting in silence over the centuries for a time of reawakening, when the life is renewed and the ancient places are restored, and the island is known once more as, Holy Ireland, the home of saints and scholars.

St Benan's, Inishmore, Aran Islands

Ladder in St Columba's 'House' leading to a secret room