Above :

quidem nnrtiiCDWcar sin

Frontispiece to 8t. Luke’s Gospel. Convent of 84. Arnoul, Metz.

With a few exceptions, we have but few and meagre details of the lives and works of individual Irish missionaries who laboured in the various countries of Europe. Of that large multitude of devoted men, who went from Ireland in a con­tinuous succession for three centuries—" the death of one apostle being but the coming of another"— the records are scanty and satisfactory, consisting mainly of casual references made by contemporary writers. The period in Europe was not favourable to the cultivation of letters, and our native annals generally do not make any reference to the Irish ecclesiastics who went abroad except in a few cases. Thus we find it recorded that Vergilius of Salzburg died in 788, Dunchadh of Cologne died A.D. 813, Gilla-na-naemh Laighen, Superior of the monastery in Wursburg, died A.D. 1085; but there is no mention made of Colurabanus, Gall, Cathaldus, Fiachra, Colman or Killian.