Photo by FaithMonsoon

Over the weekend, I spent my time researching and planning for our study of Irish saints as a part of our larger study on the Church in the Early Middle Ages. I previewed a portion of the video "In Search of Ancient Ireland" (which I'd purchased last year for our St. Patrick's Day unit study) and was thrilled to find that it is perfectly suited to our needs. Part II of the DVD contains segments on the following: St. Patrick, St. Brigid, St. Columba, Monastic Treasures & Culture, Seeking White Martyrdom, St. Columbanus, and Irish Pilgrims.

Skellig Michael
The segment "Seeking White Martyrdom" was especially appreciated as just prior to watching the video, my imagination had been captured by Skellig Michael and I'd been avidly researching the island with the hopes of including it in our study. Truly I cannot imagine living in such a place and it humbles me to imagine the determination of the monks who chose to do so! I read every word of The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael, absolutely enthralled. My interest in Skellig Michael then led me to order a copy of Sun Dancing by Geoffrey Moorhouse, followed soon thereafter by Celtic Spirituality by Oliver Davies and How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill (though I have mixed feelings about Cahill's work).

In the midst of all this, I also began researching St. Brendan [the Navigator], who was on my list of saints to cover and is also mentioned in the video. In particular, I enjoyed this post about St. Brendan, as well as St. Brendan and the Contemporary Novel. Naturally, I then had to order Brendan: A Novel by Frederick Buechner, and I'm not sure how I could miss The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin. Goodness, I'm going to be very busy reading, but oh how I'm looking forward to it! Unfortunately, my books won't arrive until later this week, which scarcely allows me any time for preparation before our study (slated for next week, yikes).
A few additional sites of interest:

2 Comments:

  1. Dana Leeds said...
    Your photo of Skellig Michael brought back memories of our trip to Ireland & Scotland this summer. I'm not Catholic, so we didn't visit with the saints in mind. But, I thought you might enjoy browsing through my posts (lots of photos) of our vacation - just to see the countries though the eyes of a fellow homeschooling family. :-) (Just go to my blog and click on Vacation - Ireland & Scotland on sidebar... or just search for one of those words.)

    Dana

    Dana
    Kristine said...
    Oh wonderful, thanks for sharing this! What a great trip & what terrific photos!

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