Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum; Or, Ireland's Ancient Schools and ScholarsHealy, John
History
Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum; Or, Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars
Healy, John
Education -- Ireland -- History
We agree with the learned and judicious Skene that the monastery of
Rosnat, the _magnum monasterium_, which was also called _Alba_[187] and
_Candida_, can be no other than Whiterne[188] in Galloway, or as it is
sometimes called, Futerna. There is no doubt that St. Nennio, Nennius or
Ninian, was the founder of that great monastery, and he may have been the
teacher of some of the great saints from the north of Ireland, whose names
are mentioned above. Furthermore it was through him and his great
monastery that monastic life and discipline were introduced into those
parts of Ireland, where these early saints, his disciples, founded their
own establishments. St. Nennio or Ninian of Candida Casa was building his
new stone church--the White House--in Galloway when he heard of the death
of St. Martin of Tours, whose disciple he had been. Now, Martin died the
11th of November, A.D. 397; and it is manifestly out of the question to
suppose that this Ninian, or Nennio, could have lived on to the year A.D.
570, when he would be at least 200 years of age. This assumes, however,
the identity of Rosnat with Candida Casa. But if Rosnat were a Welsh
monastery, and that Moinenn is merely another name for St. Manchan, or
Manchenus, the Master, as some think; then Moinenn, Bishop of Clonfert,
was very likely that person, and derived his training and knowledge of
monastic discipline, at least to some extent, from that source. We have
seen that St. Brendan spent some time in Wales, and that he belonged to
the Second Order of Saints, which got a Mass from the three great Saints
of Wales. As St. Moinenn had accompanied him in his voyages in the
Atlantic, nothing is more likely than that he would also accompany him to
Wales, and remain there until such time as Brendan founded Clonfert, when
he was called home by the latter to take charge of this new and important
foundation. It is evident, moreover, that he was a man of large culture,
and that during his presidency over Clonfert he laid the foundations of
that celebrity which the school subsequently attained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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