the most distinguished academies of Athens or of Rome in their heydays of power, and could boast of a cultivation and refinement for which the proverbial elegance of ancient Corinth might seek, but would seek in vain, to supply a parallel. From all parts of Europe -'tis an oft-told tale, but, as so few honors remain to us now-adays, we may be pardoned for dwelling with lingering fondness on the glories of the past - from all parts of Europe flocked the youthful representatives of all that was left of nobility, of elegance, and taste, to receive from the polished Celt the refinement they sought for in vain at home. The Celt was not only scholarly and saintly --hospitality was with him a noble instinct. Not only was learning gratuitously offered to the Continental stranger, but the necessaries, and probably the luxuries of life, were freely placed at his disposal. Gaul and Frank, Angle and Saxon, mingled together on one common ground. They sought from their distant homes that happy isle where piety and learning grew like twin sisters, lovingly together; where peace and plenty smiled beneficently around; where the soil was ever fruitful, and the air for ever genial; where the footstep of persecution had not yet left its bloody track; where smiling faces told of happy hearts, and every boyish dream of the lovely Innisfail found a bright and glorious realization.

Remarkable above the rest of those great seminaries of learning was the Monastery of Banchoir, now Bangor, whose ruins, on the banks of Belfast Lough, still attest its ancient amplitude and splendor. The great St. Bernard, writing of this celebrated school, says that "In the sixth century, under Saint Congal, the Monastery of Banchoir was a most noble one, containing many thousands of monks, and itself the chief of many monasteries. So fruitful was it of holy men, and multiplying so greatly to the Lord, that Luanes 'alone, a subject of the house, founded no less than one hundred monasteries. This I mention," says he, "that the reader may form some notion of the number of religious that existed in those days in Ireland." Amongst the students of this great university, towards the close of the sixth century, under the presidency of St. Congal, was a fair-haired, and probably a fair-faced, youth from Connaught, named Lochan, whose zeal for learning was only second to that which he evinced in the sacred cause of religion. From the complexion of his hair, he was named by his fellow-students Finbarra,

which literally means "fair-haired," and in which you will easily recognize the Anglicised form of Finbar. He was sprung of a Celtic sept, and was born on the shore of the Atlantic, not far from the site at present occupied by the town of Galway. What position in life his parents held, history does not inform us, nor is it a matter of any importance to know. In the great academy of the North he soon attracted, by his piety and genius, the marked attention of the sainted Congal.

At this period of our history the ecclesiastics of Ireland manifested as chivalric a spirit in the fulfilment of their ministry as they do even at the present day. Not content to cherish the light of faith at horne, it was their glory to leave their native land, and preach the religion of Christ to "nations who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death." While some on their own soil imparted the blessings of education and refinement to the stranger, others went abroad over the face of Europe, and to the Pagan and Barbarian communicated the inestimable advantages of civilization and religion. Columba sought the shores of England and Scotland-Columbanus traversed France and Italy and Germany -Gall betook himself to Switzerland -- Fiacrius to Meaux - the learned Virgilius preached at Saltzburgh - Frigidian evangelized Lucca and Fridolin sanctified Lorraine - Finbar was fired with the chivalric enthusiasm of the age, and longed to emulate the labors and partake of the glories of his brethren. But the holy Congal, restraining the impetuosity of the youth, instead of sending him to foreign lands, sought out a spot in his own, where the gifted Lochan might announce the Gospel of the Lord, and preach the glories of the Cross. The South of Ireland - the County of Cork — was the scene selected for the Apostolic labors of the Saint, and thither accordingly he bent his way, accompanied by some fellow-laborers from the academic halls and monastic cells of the far-famed Banchoir. He had previously received the order of priesthood, and was evidently determined to consecrate himself, without reserve, to the service of his Maker.

It is evident to any one who contemplates with a curious eye the ruins of religious edifices strewn throughout the country at the present day, that the saints of old had a peculiarly elegant taste in the selection of sites, distinguished for natural beauty, on

which to erect their monasteries and churches. In this respect our Patron Saint was singularly felicitous. He sought and discovered, by whose assistance I know not, as a site for his first monastery, one of the wildest, most secluded, and most enchanting spots in all the south of Ireland - a spot which has been for centuries the admiration of the tourist, the love of the painter, the delight of the antiquarian - which derives its name from him, and where still, after the lapse of twelve centuries, survive the ruins of those narrow cells wherein he and his fellow-monks passed their solitary lives, and poured forth in blessed unison to the Most High their sighs of repentance and their hymns of praise - I allude to the far-famed Gougane Barra. There, in the midst of an amphitheatre of precipitous mountains, down whose rocky and naked sides rush a thousand streamlets, is found a large and, betimes, a placid lake, in the midst of which is a green island, blooming all the more beautifully by contrast with the barren scenery around. Far away, as it must have been, from the busy haunts of men, it was the beau-ideal of a monastic solitude; and, to the hermitical eye of St. Finbar, its adaptability to his views was evident at a glance. A little monastery was built on the island, and here he and his monks dwelt - we know not how long. But, oh! what a glorious spectacle was that Island monastery in the midst of that mountain solitude! From the rising to the setting of the sun the incense of prayer ascended from that lonely isle, and was wafted by angels over the mountains to the throne of the Most High. The echoes of the hills were never responsive save to the thrilling chorus or the swelling psalm. On a lofty altar, in the open air, many a time did the holy Finbar offer to the Lord the adorable sacrifice of the Body and Blood of his Divine Son, propitiating the wrath of heaven, and bringing down benedictions which fructify amongst us to the present day. Sequestered from all the world, those holy men conversed with God alone! They continually praised the Lord and his works; they gazed on the tall mountains on whose misty tops the royal eagle found congenial eyrie, and praised the omnipotence of Him who had robed them in such majestic grandeur! The placid lake, glistening in the summer sunshine, reminded them of the heavenly Jerusalem whose streets are paved with the purest gold; and when the storm-winds rose, and the tempest shrieked, and when the face of heaven grew black, and the

thousand torrents rushed from the mountain-tops, in furious array, jumping from crag to crag, and then foaming and seething in the lake below; when the forked lightnings flittered from hill to hill with sublime but awful glare, and the booming thunders bellowed forth from mountain to mountain in echoes interminable, the lonely monks, though leading spotless lives, yet trembling for their sins, bethought themselves of the day of doom, and fancied they heard above the storm-clouds the trump of the archangel, and the denouncing voice of Him who "maketh the clouds his chariot and walketh upon the wings of the winds."

Great schemes are matured in solitude; so it was with Christianity. Our Divine Redeemer spent thirty years in the solitude of Nazareth before he came forth to preach the wonders of the Gospel- So was it also with St. Finbar. In the almost impervious recesses of Gougane Barra, he conceived the idea of erecting in some other part of the county a monastery, a church, and a school, by whose triple influence religion and learning might be more widely extended, and a greater measure of glory be awarded to his Creator. Leaving his Island monastery to the care of some of his fellow-monks, he travelled, accompanied by others, along the winding banks of the Lee, and never ceased until he reached the shore of a large lake, formed by the river, about fifteen miles from where it joins the ocean. This lake, my brethren, was called Lough Eire, and spread its waters over the very spot now occupied by the city of Cork. On the southern bank of the lake, on an elevated ground, he found an agrecable site and a luxuriant soil, and there, so to speak, the pilgrim pitched his tent. Having obtained, as some authors assure us, a grant of land from a local chieftain named Edo, he proceeded to build, and soon a large monastery rose, overhanging the Lee, not far from the site of the Queen's College. The grounds attached to the monastery extended from the Lee on the north to the "Lough" on the south, and to a considerable length from east to west. To the monastery a large school or college was attached, and, for the use of the monks and scholars, a church was also raised where the Protestant Cathedral now stands. All things went on well. Religion and learning advanced hand in hand. One thing, however, was wanting to crown the work with complete success, and this was the benediction of the Holy See. Accordingly, the good Saint took up his staff once more,

and braving the perils of the sea and land, and what was more formidable than either, the fierce passions of men, proceeded on his long and difficult pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Apostles. He was accompanied by St. Maidoc of Ferns, and St. David, Bishop of Menevia in Wales, whose friendship he had probably acquired within the hallowed walls of the College of Banchoir. The Pontiff at this time was Gregory the Great. Before that Pontiff had reached the purple he had a pupil named by classic writers Macrobius. This Macrobius was tutor to Finbar, in the monastery of Bangor; and if ever the holy man reached Rome again in the lifetime of Gregory, he must have fully imbued the Pontiff with exalted notions of the sanctity and learning of the fair-haired Lochan. However this may be, Gregory the Great received Finbar with all the respect a Saint deserves, and which a sainted successor of Christ knows so well to display. By that holy Pope Finbar was created first Bishop of Cork. He returned to his beloved monastery full of grace and power, and became the first of a long line of bishops, which lasts in unbroken succession till the present day. The blessing imparted by the successor of Peter to the nascent diocese invigorated the workmen with renewed zeal, and enriched their labors with a golden harvest. The school founded by Finbar soon acquired the proportions of a University, and its fame became so great, that it not only pervaded Ireland, but found an echo on every shore in Europe, and scholars, native and foreign, repaired in such numbers to its halls, that they were soon counted by hundreds, whilst its monks so exerted themselves in manual labor, and gave by their instruction and example such an impetus to industry, that, in the words of Colgan, "a desolate waste was soon changed into a large city." Such was its fame, and such the splendor of this great school, that it sent forth professors to many parts of Europe, from whom even the Roman alumnus was glad to learn the very language and literature of his forefathers. Colgan makes mention of thirty-one of Finbar's disciples who founded monasteries in other places, which they placed under the protection of the parent house. St. Garvan, from whom Dungarvan is called, was a pupil of St. Finbar, as was also his successor St. Nessan, second Bishop of Cork-a man of great piety and learning of whom Pope Innocent III., in a letter dated 1199, makes honorable mention.