ABSTRACT
The close association between spirituality and academic learning in Ireland is well expressed in the characterisation of Ireland as the ‘Land of Saints and Scholars’. It seems that early monastic schools which were founded
in the 6th century saw no confl ict between their love of God and love of learning. It was through the infl uence of the monastic schools in the 8th and 9th centuries that schools and colleges spread rapidly all over the country (Raftery, 2009). In these schools, secular as well as religious (ecclesiastical) learning was catered for. Their subjects included divinity, the scriptures, the classics, literature and science. In those great seminaries, religion in education appeared to sit seamlessly alongside education in secular subjects. As time progressed, religion and education became intertwined between love of God and love of learning. In the words of Raftery, “the history of the labyrinthine connections between the churches, the State and schooling in Ireland . . . dates back at least to the sixth century” (2009, p. 9). Nor were all of their students destined to enter the Church, for a large proportion of them were the sons of chiefs and kings preparing to take their place in civil or military life (Hyland & Milne, 1987).
