HOSPITALITY:
The monastery was usually located so as to be easily accessible to visitors for whom a special Hospice or Guest-house was provided. We have seen that when a guest arrived there was a relaxation of the fast—so strongly had the national characteristic of hospitality pervaded the monastic life.[191] Women, however, were rigidly excluded from the monastery.[192]
LOVE OF NATURE:
Another notable characteristic was the love of the monks for nature, animate and inanimate. This is shown in many ways, such as in the selection of the sites of their monasteries, and in their treatment of animals. Moreover, they often gave expression to their feelings for nature in verse, with the result that they are acknowledged to be pioneers in the field of “Nature Poetry” as well as in many other spheres of intellectual activity.[193]
Having regard to all the facts we have brought together Dr. Healy’s eloquent tribute to Irish monasticism appears to be amply justified. It is worth quoting:
“Fasting and prayer, labour and study are the daily task of the monks in every monastery. How well and unselfishly that toil was performed the history of Europe tells. The monks made roads, cleared the forests, and fertilised the desert. Their monasteries in Ireland were the sites of our cities. … They preserved for us the literary treasures of antiquity; they multiplied copies of the best and newest books; they illumined them with loving care. They taught the children of rich and poor alike; … they were the greatest authors, painters, architects since the decline of the Roman Empire. They were the physicians of the poor; they served the sick in their hospitals and in their homes. And when the day’s work was done in the fields or in the study, they praised God, and prayed for men who were unable or unwilling to pray for themselves. Ignorant and prejudiced men have spoken of them as an idle and useless race. They were in reality the greatest toilers, and the greatest benefactors of humanity the world has ever known.”[194]