0:00:06 > 0:00:09IN IRISH:
0:14:04 > 0:14:09Before his time, we mustn't imagine that Irish culture was ignorant,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12but what arrived with Christianity
0:14:12 > 0:14:16wasn't just the knowledge of the three sacred languages -
0:14:16 > 0:14:18Latin, Greek and Hebrew -
0:14:18 > 0:14:23but the whole array of Mediterranean Christian culture
0:14:23 > 0:14:24that came with it.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31So, Ireland has absorbed and is absorbing this wave of ideas.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34What does it do with them? Does it do much with them?
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Oh, it does! It does everything with them.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42The first thing the Irish made themselves masters of was grammar.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46They created a whole library of new Latin grammars,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49and the second thing they did was to make themselves
0:14:49 > 0:14:52the best mathematicians in Europe,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55and the Irish very quickly become the masters of this
0:14:55 > 0:14:57in the whole of Western Europe.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00You've described to us how Ireland absorbed
0:15:00 > 0:15:04so much that was rich from Europe. What did they do with that?
0:15:04 > 0:15:07Did they return the compliment? Did they do anything with it?
0:15:07 > 0:15:10They invented new forms of script.
0:15:10 > 0:15:14In ancient Hebrew, Greek and Latin,
0:15:14 > 0:15:18the writing was continuous, scriptura continua.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23But the Irish broke these up by putting spaces between words.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30Most that you and I take for granted on a modern printed page
0:15:30 > 0:15:34is an invention of the Irish in the 6th and 7th centuries.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39Tell me, then, when Columbanus, in his 40s,
0:15:39 > 0:15:44decides to head to Europe on a missionary endeavour,
0:15:44 > 0:15:46what's in his thinking?
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Well, he knows things that they don't.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54He's got the zeal that the Irish have.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58The Western Empire is running down and has run down.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02There are no more Roman Emperors in the West, it's only barbarian kings.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10The Irish come with no army, with no economic power,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13only intellectual acumen.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17The only thing they have is persuasiveness.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19They are the masters of argument,
0:16:19 > 0:16:25and they are the exhibitors of a peculiarly rigorous religious life.
0:16:30 > 0:16:31IN IRISH:
0:19:31 > 0:19:34We know he met the king. The King of Burgundy.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Sigebert.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Sigebert gave him this area, this space.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48- It was probably a holy area. - A holy place. A sacred place.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Because we found, you can see on this map.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56We found the plan of a temple, a Roman temple,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58just 20 metres from here.
0:19:59 > 0:20:06So a king gives a complete stranger from Ireland called Columbanus
0:20:06 > 0:20:10what you are telling me is a very important Roman site.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13It was an important Roman site.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16But Columbanus was an important person.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Columbanus was like, how to say...
0:20:19 > 0:20:21le representant.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24- The representative. - The representative of the king.
0:20:30 > 0:20:31IN IRISH:
0:22:15 > 0:22:19The city of Luxeuil was an antique city.
0:22:19 > 0:22:26In the middle of the 4th century, there was some Barbarian invasion.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31We imagined, until now, that the city was totally destroyed.
0:22:31 > 0:22:32But, in fact, it wasn't.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35When Columbanus arrived in this city,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39he discovered a Christian community.
0:22:39 > 0:22:46Because in this place, we are in a Christian church of the 5th century.
0:22:46 > 0:22:48- Before Columbanus?- Before Columbanus.
0:22:48 > 0:22:53There was a Christian people one and a half centuries before Columbanus.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00When Columbanus arrived, Luxeuil was a city in decline.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04Christianity in the region was also in decline, so what did he bring?
0:23:04 > 0:23:07What did Columbanus bring to that situation?
0:23:07 > 0:23:12Columbanus impulsed a new spiritual energy.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18He invented a new form of a monastic way of life.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21A monastic way of life that came from Ireland.
0:23:24 > 0:23:25IN IRISH:
0:24:31 > 0:24:34So here we are at the Abbaye Saint-Colomban.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36MAN SPEAKS FRENCH
0:24:36 > 0:24:37MARY IN IRISH:
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Luxeuil became very famous,
0:24:59 > 0:25:03because when Columbanus and the first monks came,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06they brought with them...
0:25:06 > 0:25:10- A scholarship, was it? - A scholarship from Ireland.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15So in Luxeuil, it was like the monastery in Ireland,
0:25:15 > 0:25:19with a very important artistic and intellectual life.
0:25:19 > 0:25:21As soon as they founded the monastery,
0:25:21 > 0:25:27the elite was sent to the monastery for their education.
0:25:27 > 0:25:28Why was that?
0:25:28 > 0:25:32What attracted wealthy parents to send their children here?
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Because the monks were very...
0:25:36 > 0:25:38Had a very good education.
0:25:45 > 0:25:47IN IRISH:
0:27:08 > 0:27:10THEY SPEAK FRENCH
0:27:11 > 0:27:13MARY IN IRISH:
0:27:16 > 0:27:21Before Columbanus, in the first centuries of Christianity,
0:27:21 > 0:27:28the forgiveness of God was given only once in life.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30So, generally speaking,
0:27:30 > 0:27:36people were waiting till the end of life to ask forgiveness of God.
0:27:36 > 0:27:42Sometimes they were waiting too long and it was not possible.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47But for the Irish monks and for Columbanus,
0:27:47 > 0:27:54the idea was every day we have to ask the forgiveness of God.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58This is a new idea that the Irish monks
0:27:58 > 0:28:02introduced into the Catholic church.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06So he's saying you don't have to wait until the end of your life,
0:28:06 > 0:28:07you can have forgiveness every day.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09Exactly. Yes.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13It's a new idea that the forgiveness of God
0:28:13 > 0:28:17is possible if you are sincere.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20This sounds to me like a very different idea of God
0:28:20 > 0:28:27from the harsh, judgmental God to the gentle, loving, forgiving Father.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32Yes. This is the idea of God of love.
0:28:38 > 0:28:39IN IRISH:
0:29:22 > 0:29:23Bonjour.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Merci, monsieur. Merci beaucoup.
0:29:29 > 0:29:30IN IRISH:
0:31:32 > 0:31:36Columbanus seems to have been very well-received generally,
0:31:36 > 0:31:38but then he had problems with the bishops.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42What was it about Columbanus that these bishops didn't like?
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Columbanus founded three monasteries in this area
0:31:46 > 0:31:49without any permission from bishops.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53He asked nothing to the bishops of this area, only from the king.
0:31:56 > 0:31:57IN IRISH:
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Some bishops were very earnest.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34They were really bishops.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38Some of them were people from the high society
0:32:38 > 0:32:42coming from very wealthy families.
0:32:42 > 0:32:48They'd choose the way of the church for political reasons,
0:32:48 > 0:32:55so they were living in towns, sometimes with mistresses,
0:32:55 > 0:32:58and they had nothing to do with gospel.
0:32:58 > 0:33:04Columbanus could not admit such a way of life for a Christian.
0:33:12 > 0:33:13IN IRISH:
0:39:33 > 0:39:37You spent a lot of your career studying and translating Columbanus.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42How does he, the person, come across to you in terms of character?
0:39:42 > 0:39:45I think extremely driven.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49What impresses me about Columbanus is really his energy.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53The energy comes across very strongly in his writings.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55By this stage, Columbanus is a good age.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Yeah, he's probably in his early 60s.
0:40:00 > 0:40:05Yeah, he's trudged across most of Western Europe by this stage.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07Tell me about his spirituality.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12Well, there's something mystical about some of his writings.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15The sense that reason alone cannot comprehend God,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18but also the idea that we are pilgrims on the Earth,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21that we don't really have a home anywhere on Earth,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24so our life is a journey.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28We see this right throughout his religious odyssey on the Continent,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32where he's continually being compelled forward.
0:40:32 > 0:40:36Rome and Italy had a very big attraction,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40so he talks a lot about Rome in his letters.
0:40:40 > 0:40:47Not as the seed of empire, but as the Church of St Peter and Paul.
0:40:47 > 0:40:48So he's attracted to Italy.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56IN IRISH:
0:44:07 > 0:44:10Oh, they played a crucial role throughout Europe, you could say,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13because before Columbanus arrived on the Continent,
0:44:13 > 0:44:17Barbarian tribes like the Vandals had gone through Europe,
0:44:17 > 0:44:21and they had pretty much destroyed all the civilisation
0:44:21 > 0:44:22of the Roman Empire.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30But when the Irish monks arrived,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33they brought classical learning with them.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36They valued classical scholarship very highly.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Their standard of Latin was very high as well.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42So you could say that the Irish helped save
0:44:42 > 0:44:44the Roman culture for us.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47They brought back Christianity to the Continent.
0:44:51 > 0:44:52IN IRISH:
0:45:10 > 0:45:12St Gallen has still got the largest collection
0:45:12 > 0:45:16of Irish manuscripts on the Continent.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20Sometimes in these manuscripts you find notes in the margins
0:45:20 > 0:45:23written by the scribes themselves.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26They are complaining about the arduous task of writing
0:45:26 > 0:45:30or composing little poems, as well as commenting on the text.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34Isn't that just typically Irish? Complaining and composing poetry.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36THEY LAUGH
0:45:42 > 0:45:43IN IRISH:
0:50:18 > 0:50:19IN IRISH:
0:52:49 > 0:52:52Do you think Columbanus' ideas...
0:52:52 > 0:52:53IN ITALIAN:
0:52:57 > 0:52:59- KIDS:- Yes.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02You are all young Europeans.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06When you become a mother or a father,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09will you teach your children about Columbanus?
0:53:09 > 0:53:11Will you tell them about Columbanus?
0:53:11 > 0:53:13Yes.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18Let's take five words that are about Columbanus.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20IN ITALIAN:
0:53:20 > 0:53:22- Respect. - Rispetto. Respect.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24- Honesty. - Honesty.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27- Amore. - Love.
0:53:27 > 0:53:28- Peace. - Peace.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31- Faith. - Faith. Faith.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33- KIDS:- Courage. - Courage.
0:53:33 > 0:53:34Courage.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38IN IRISH:
0:54:46 > 0:54:47IN IRISH:
0:55:25 > 0:55:27THEY SING HYMN
0:55:35 > 0:55:36MARY IN IRISH:
0:57:39 > 0:57:43"A fabric stitched and toughened in its darn."
0:57:43 > 0:57:45IN IRISH: