Today Christians Celebrate Feast of Blessed Marianus Scotus

Blessed Marianus Scotus

Bl. Marianus Scotus — Image: San Sebastian College Recoletos – Manila

(EWTN) Marinus Scotus was one of those rare Irish Monks who migrated to the continent and influenced the spread of Christian culture throughout Europe. Marianus was a scribe and a calligrapher of great skill. Marinus became a Monk at a very early age and in 1067 set out with a few Companions on a pilgrimage to Rome, enroute they stopped in Germany and were invited by the Bishop of Regensburg (Ratisbon) to settle there.

Marinus and his Companions had brought with them that marvelous love of learning together with beauty so distinctive of Irish Monasticism and their Monastery became a center for creation of beautiful manuscripts and commentaries on the scriptures, done with consummate skill and artistry. — The fame of their Monastery named St. Peter’s, soon spread throughout the whole of Europe. Like Bobbio in Italy and Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland, their Monastery became a center for Christian learning and culture.

St. Peter’s and a companion Monastery dedicated St. James to become the headquarters of a renaissance of Irish monasticism on the continent. — In time, their congregation numbered 12 Monasteries and the Monks, were highly regarded for their holiness, their devotion to learning and for the beautiful manuscripts that came forth from their hands. In their scriptorium, they carried on the tradition of the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow — For almost four centuries, all of the Monks were recruits from Ireland and Ireland continued to supply Monks funds and other resources for the growth of the Abbey and its foundations.

The significance of Blessed Marianus Scotus is indicated in: A Study of History (available at Amazon.com) by Arnold J. Toynbee: “The period of Irish culture superiority over the continent and over Britain may be conveniently dated from the foundation of the Monastic university of Clonmacnoise in Ireland A.D. 548 to the foundation of the Irish Monastery of St. James at Ratisbon, circa A.D. 1090 Throughout those five and a half centuries, it was the Irish who imparted culture and the English and the continentals who received it.”

Blessed Marianus Scotus died on this date in 1098 Germany Ratisbon, subsequent to his death, he was honored as a Saint with his feast day being observed on this date.

More here from Catholic Encyclopedia/New Advent

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