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| St. Kevin's Kitchen, Glendalough |
The name Glendalough means a valley of two lakes. Valleys are often thought of as havens and places of peace and prosperity. Glendalough through its long history has contained all of those elements. Travelers could see the round tower of Glendalough from afar off. It served as a beacon, guiding to a place of rest. Visitors to Glendalough would have been given the best room in the monastic city and would have been treated with overwhelming hospitality out of the resources of Glendalough's prosperity. They would have also been protected from the secular world outside the walls because Glendalough was sacred ground where man's only judge was God.
Monastic cities like Glendalough were also havens of learning. But their learning was drawn from their passion in their faith. The monastic communities all over Ireland preserved first religious documents like the Gospels and the Bible. After that they started to preserve works of literature from the secular world. And so, in the same process, writing and through that, learning, was preserved. So through the integration of faith and learning in the monastic cities came the salvation of literature out of a chaos engulfed post-roman Europe.
The history of Glendalough is very interesting and important for understanding its importance in Ireland and its example of how monastic life and cities influenced Irish society. It was founded by a fellow named Kevin. This man had wanted to be a hermit, living in solitude close to God. But because of his reputation in piety, people flocked to him and therefore the foundations of Glendalough as a monastic city was established.
From around the mid-600s to 1497 when the last bishop appointed by Rome: Dennis White surrendered to the English crown, Glendalough was a prominent monastic city and a place of pilgrimage to Catholics all over Ireland. Another piece of evidence pointing at its prominence in history is the fact that Laurence O'Toole, who was bishop of Glendalough, was made the first Irish archbishop of Dublin in 1162.
The cultural impact of Glendalough first to mind is the conversion of the Irish people from a partly-nomadic group grazing cows and sheep to a largely agricultural country. Monastic cities, Glendalough and the others like Clonmacnoise, lived primarily off the land. They grew crops and fished the rivers. The people all around, wanting to be as close to the holiness of the monastic cities as they could, would have mimicked the methods. And it is likely the monks would have taught them as well.
Another cultural impact that can be seen through Glendalough is how Irish society upholds education as something very important. Recently I talked with an older Irish fellow, perhaps his mid-70s, and he told me that the most important thing in education is "book learning." A close second for him was writing. Irish education has long been attached to the church as well.
"Book learning" and writing played essential roles in Irish monasteries and in monasteries established by Irish missionaries. Monasteries such as the one at Iona established by St. Columba. And from Iona came an illuminated manuscript that contains evidence of the Irish love of learning. It is the Book of Kells. It is the jewel of learning. A decorative piece of art in the form of a book. And books are the repositories of knowledge, of learning.
The Book of Kells also contains several different art forms, Germanic, Pictish, and Celtic are the main ones, but there is some debate among scholars as to whether or not there are Carolingian influences as well.
These different art forms seen with the Book of Kells indicate that once Christianity came to Ireland it became connected to the rest of the world. It was no more to be the outskirt island that Rome didn't bother to conquer. In conclusion, it can also be observed that from that time onward to the present, Ireland has remained in constant interaction with its neighbors and countries across the sea.
Also, one of the members of our group, Amanda Barry, wrote this poem in reflection on Glendalough:
When I lay my head down to sleep
This is where my soul goes to rest
The beauty, and the lines in between
Are all here, and put to the test
My soul is at wonder
in this beautiful place
but, when I finally fall asleep
I will see my reflection in God’s face
There is where I belong
And where my soul wants to be
When I finally lay down
This becomes apart of me
Up to the round tower
And down to the castle
Take a hike because
The mountains are not a hassle.
The mountains between the lake
And the river between the ocean
Is where my soul goes at night
When I lie down through the motions.
