The Coming of Christianity to Clare

Beginnings

An early life of St. Patrick (Vita Tripartita) says that the saint never visited Thomond. However, it also tells us that the men of Thomond crossed the Shannon to meet St. Patrick and were baptised by him. After that from a hill in Co. Limerick he blessed Thomond 'for the willingness with which they had come with abundance of their gifts'. The hill is probably Knockpatrick, near Foynes, which commands a fine view of Co. Clare.

Shortly after the death of St. Patrick the Irish Church took a direction different from the usual pattern elsewhere. This was due to the very rapid growth of many monasteries which became the focal points for the life of the Church. The bishops had a subsidiary role to that of the abbots of the larger monasteries and, because of the importance attached to the monasteries, the normal diocesan system did not take root.

In what is now County Clare there were two great island monasteries at Iniscathaig (Scattery) and Iniscealtra (Holy Island). St. Senan belonged to the generation after St. Patrick and founded his monastery on Iniscathaig in the first half of the 6th century. The medieval lives of St. Senan are contradictory in many details and it is impossible to sift historical fact from various later additions. However, the attention given to Senan's memory, particularly the extent to which traditions about him have survived in West Clare, shows the important role he must have played in establishing Christianity in the region.

St. Caimin, half brother of Guaire, King of Connacht, went to live a life of solitude on Iniscealtra. Before long his reputation for sanctity attracted many disciples and he had no option but to organise them into a regular monastic community. Christianity was already well established at this stage as Caimin lived about one hundred years after Senan. His death is recorded in the year 654.

The surviving buildings on Iniscathaig and Iniscealtra mainly date from the later medieval period. Among the earliest are the two striking round towers which were built in the 10th or 11th centuries. These served mainly as bell towers but were also used as places of refuge during raids by the Vikings and others. After the great period of Irish monasticism from the 6th to the 8th centuries, the Vikings caused terrible disruption, particularly to island monasteries which were easily accessible to their longships, such as Iniscathaig and Iniscealtra. Iniscathaig was first plundered in 816 and from then on the monks enjoyed little peace. Iniscealtra was first attacked in 837, a disastrous year for many Irish monasteries as the Vikings made their way up the Shannon and other rivers, plundering on their way.

By the early 12th century it was clear that the Irish Church was in need of reform and reorganisation. The monasteries, which had been the focal points of religious life, had declined in importance and the way was ready for the introduction of the diocesan system, which was the norm elsewhere, into Ireland.