Above: Map during Anglo-Saxons

Ireland, not only from the neighbouring shores of Britain, but also from the remote nations of the Continent, received from the Irish people the most hospitable reception, a gratuitous entertainment, free instruction, and even the books that were necessary for their studies. Thus in the year 536, in the time of St. Senanus, there arrived at Cork from the Continent, fifteen monks who were led thither by their desire to perfect themselves in the practices of an ascetic life under Irish directors, and to study the Sacred Scriptures in the schools established near the city. At a later period the Anglo-Saxons passed over to Ireland in great numbers for the same laudable purpose. On the other hand many holy and learned Irishmen left their own country to proclaim the faith, to estab­lish or to reform monasteries in distant lands, and thus to become the benefactors of almost every nation in Europe.