Our thanks to Dr Miriam Moffitt for delivering an enjoyable and thought provoking series of talks on Aspects of the Religious History of Ireland.
At the 3rd and final talk in the series, we looked at how the monasteries of the early Irish Church were replaced by a system of continental monasteries, under the care of religious orders such as the Cistercians, Augustinians, Franciscans and Dominicans. Examples of these include Augustinian foundation at Armagh (1134) and the Cistercian monastery at Mellifont (1142).
We noted that many were built at or near the site of foundations of the early Irish Church such as in Louth, where an Augustinian Priory was built on the site of the monastery founded by St Mochu in the sixth century.
We explored how and why the diocesan structure was established in Ireland and how this, coupled with the changes in the monastic system, resulted in a total transformation of religion in Ireland between the years 1100 and 1200.
Image: Louth Augustinian Priory, founded on the site of the 6th century monastery of St Mochu