Kindle publications by Enzo Farinella

rish monks and pilgrims carried culture, education and Christian values to Austria and the various places they went. Central to their revolution was the ultimate dignity of the human person and the sacredness of each human life, something our European cultures must rediscover today. St. Columbanus, "the white dove", who was the most outstanding representative of Irish asceticism and the "Protector Saint of those who are trying to create a United Europe" (Robert Schuman), spent time in Austria. St. Rupert first and St. Virgil afterwards gave Salzburg this name due to the many salt mines of the locality. They also organized and promoted the miners. The set-up of an educational system for the whole of Austria, with the Schottenschule at its helm, is due to them. The Abbey of St. Peter in the heart of Salzburg’s old town, the oldest monastery in the German-speaking world, looks back on an unbroken continuity to Irish monks, since 696. The Irish Colman, martyrised in 1012 at Stockerau, became Austria's first Patron Saint. In 1232, the Austrian flag’s colours: red – white – red, were waiving in public for the first time in St. Mary’s Church in Vienna, founded several decades before by Heinrich, together with the Schottenstift, the Abbey of the Scotts, as the Irish monks were then called. The University of Vienna, created by Rudolf IV in 1365, was linked also to the Irish monks. Cardinal Christof Schönborn, stated: “The History of Irish Monks & Pilgrims in Europe & Austria is a remarkable contribution to our Christian roots and to the forming identity of Austria and of the whole of Europe”.

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If one wanted a good illustration of that unity in diversity which is one of the many strengths of the European Union, one could hardly do better than to take the relationship between Ireland and Italy.

If through mysterious paths of life we succeed in grasping the importance of values, above all the absolute value of life to every human being, then we can find and attach meaning to the “wanderings” of the individual and together we will learn how to build the common European home and the world of the United Nations.

Skin is only a colour; religion, a leaning that is essentially personal; politics, a way of living, a social-existential reality, but essential values go beyond skin colour, beyond religion and beyond various political systems. Therefore, no-one can assume the right to eliminate a human life or to launch a “jihad” against the right to life of any individual.

To know other cultures means to penetrate in their world in order to establish an authentic dialogue for the best development of every human being as the true Reneissance envisaged.

The task of cherishing and helping the growth of the European identity and of its project of peace and friendship that stands at its foundation, is upon us all. The founding fathers, in fact, had the vision of a Europe, set on concrete values: dignity of the human person, solidarity and subsidiarity, which we must pursue.

Culture and values, so dear to the Irish monks and scholars, must be at the heart and foundation of all rights. To promote them among all the citizens of Europe and of the entire world and to create a feeling of solidarity and belonging to a common destiny, in front of which we are all equal in a universe of justice and peace, is our challenge in the European Union, the most fascinating, courageous and important political project of the last centuries

This is the aim that like a beacon guided our excursus along the strong chain of friendship which for centuries has linked Italy and Ireland.

Ireland should be proud of its cultural and religious contribution, given to the Renaissance of the European Continent in the past.

Helping to grow together is a service. Helping two towns or two countries in the building up of the European Union is a task which every European citizen should feel as his/her own duty.

In analizing the links that bond two countries we would like to highlight the inner power of indigenous cultures which can exalt the reality of larger unions, capable to create a more humane and supportive world.

This inner power is for us the supreme dignity of the human person, which stands or should stand at the base of any society.

Thus, if two countries succeed to understand each other better, the 27 European Countries, engaged in the construction of what appears to be the most fascinating, challenging, courageous and important political project ever proposed in the last centuries and which we call “Common European Home”, should not fail in reaching this gol.

This is the aim which we intend to follow in running through culture as foundation of all values, through the bonds of two different countries and through the value of the twinnings.

Irish monasticism from the 6th to the 14th century was an important stage in human history. Greece before and Italy afterwards, produced similar stages, which contributed substantially to a new face of our Europe and of our world.It was also an Irish monk,

St. Adamnán, who, more than 1,300 years ago, wrote and had approved a law relating to violence against women and children in times of war, forms of violence so often perpetrated by the so called Islamic State and in so many other war zones today. The “Law of Innocents” or “Lex Innocentium”, called in Irish “Cáin Adomnáin”, which was recorded and promulgated by Adamnán and adopted by the Synod of Tara in 697 AD, was designed to guarantee, in times of war, the safety and immunity of a variety of non-combatants, in particular, the killing or abduction of women and children. Yet today, almost 13 centuries after the enactment of Admanán’s Law, countless numbers of women and children are still being indiscriminately seized and viciously slaughtered by unscrupulous followers of deadly ideologies.

And still it was another Irish monk, St. Cuthbert, who, almost 14 centuries ago instituted special laws pertaining to the environment.

St. Columbanus was one of the greatest European of his time.

The Irish monks, through the cultural and religious function of their missionary centres or from their hermitages, transformed the then known world, becoming the point of irradiation of eternal values.

While it is a historical fact that during the Middle Ages the cultural life of Europe, in the main, fell silent, yet, in Bobbio of Italy, in St. Gall of Switzerland, in Salzburg and Vienna of Austria, in Wurzburg and Regensburg of Germany, in Luxeuil of France, - the most important European cultural and religious centres of the time, all founded by Irish monks – classical learning and religious life flourished before being transmitted.

To these Irish monks Europe and Italy owe a lot.

Ireland can certainly claim some share of the credit for her mission to Italy, Britain, France, Belgium and the Low Countries, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and others. Through her monastic centres, her foundations, her schools, her university citadels, her scriptoria, she played an important role in reintroducing classical learning to Europe. Also Pope Francis paid a tribute to the work of her monks, when citing the roots of Europe in front of the Europarliament in Strasburg, on the 25th November 2014, he mentioned the ancient roots coming “from Celtic history”.

The Irish monks believed steadfastly in the power of change. Their work and above all their ideals of respect for the human person and its supreme dignity, for justice, equality and solidarity among all human beings must be for us all a challenge to work in a better way in building together the common European home, which remains the most fascinating, courageous and important political project ever seen in the last centuries.

In 870 AD Heiric of Auxerre wrote in his Life of St. Germanus: “Almost all of Ireland, despising the sea, is migrating to our shores with so many philosophers”.

This is “The Irish Miracle”, as Daniel Rops, the most important Church historian, calls it, stating in “The Miracle of Ireland”: “The Irish Miracle is the second setting out of Christianity, from a country which had just been baptized, and which was immediately dreaming of giving Christ back to the world”.