Forgotten Masters

Formal education in Ireland began as far back as the 500s AD as I was reminded when looking for Mobhi‘s school on the banks of the Tolka in Dublin.  

According to the historian Sir James Ware there were 164 famous schools in Ireland between 500 and 700 AD. For a population of about 600,000 there would have 4-5 higher institutions in every county.

Mobhi himself was a graduate of Finnian’s Clonard which was already drawing students from abroad. From Clonard came the ‘Twelve Apostles of Ireland’ who went on to found major centres of learning around the country.

By Mobhi’s time this ‘second generation’ were all Irish-born, steeped in the language and traditions of their own people. They continued with the ‘Desert Fathers’ training they had received from the pioneers and expanded the curriculum to include Latin and Greek classics as well as sciences such as astronomy, as understood at that time.

It was not unusual for young children to receive their earliest education from religious women before been sent at the age of six or more to a local monastic school. St Ita was among those who provided schooling for girls as well as boys (such as St Brendan).

Mobhí’s school was one of the ‘higher institutions’ and had about fifty students at a time. Scholars who received their initial training from one master often went on to another in order to learn from his speciality (post graduate study?). Among those who came to Mobhi for a period were Columba of Iona, Comgall of Bangor and Ciarán of Clonmacnoise.

Today only a road sign pays tribute to Mobhi in the area now better known as Glasnevin. The site of his school is occupied by a COI church that is seldom open. Even the Tolka River is now less visible. Once the huts of his pupils were on its west side and when the river was frozen they could walk on the ice over to the church on the east. 

Glasnevin is now a tourist attraction thanks to its National Cemetery, opened in 1832 by Daniel O’Connell. 1.5 million people are now buried there. Many of them are national heroes but Mobhi is not among them. His grave is nearby, unmarked where his school once stood.

When will we see a monument raised to the early educators of Ireland?