214 



a storm in opposition to the missionary ;* and previously, where he re- 

 lates their efforts to drown the voice of the preacher.-f- 



It is, however, advanced in the life of Gildas Badonicus, that he 

 was invited over in the close of the sixth century, by Anmericus, 

 King of Ireland, to restore the Catholic faith, which had become 

 almost extinct in the country ;:J: and a long account is subjoined of the 

 miracles by which he recalled the people to the true faith ; while 

 Ward, Colgan, and others assert, that the heathen hierarchy, which 

 they call Druidism, lingered in Ireland even in the eighth century ; 

 yet Bede's, or rather Jonas's description, seems far more applicable to 

 its people at this period ;§ and the numerous and distant missions, 

 undertaken by Irish ecclesiastics all over Europe, furnish still better 

 testimony, that the sanction of Providence had rendered their labours 

 comparatively unnecessary at home. 



The history of these glorious missions would claim a volume for 

 itself. Columba early converted the Picts,|| and, as has been mentioned, 

 founded the monastery of lona, so celebrated for learning and classic 

 collections, that according to Gibbon,** it opened a hope of furnish- 

 ing a complete Livy. Fursey, in 637, established Cnobersburgh, now 

 Burgh Castle, in Suffolk. Maidulph is said to have erected Malms- 



• See Vita Columb. lib. 2. c. 34. 



f " Quidam Magi, ad eos propius accedentes, in quantum poterant prohibere conabantur 

 ne de ore ipsorum divinae laudis sonus inter gentiles audiretur populos." — Adaninan, Vita 

 Columb. lib. 1. c. 37. 



I " Ut ecclesiasticam ordinem in suo regno restauraret, quia pene Catholicam fidem in 

 ipsa insula omnes reliquerunt" — Acta Sanctorum, p. 183. 



§ " Gens, quanquam absque reliquarum gentium legibus, tamen in Christiano dogmate 

 florens, omnium vicinarum gentium fidem praepollet." — Columb. Vita, c. 1. 



II Cumian Vita Columboe. — Adamnan, Do. — Trias Thaum. pp. 325, 336, and Bede, Eccl. 

 Hist. lib. 3. c. 4. &c. &c. 



** Vol. 6. p. 246. 



