County Louth Archaeological and History Society Monasteries of Louth Author(s): Laurence Murray and Lorcán P. Ua Muireadhaigh Source: Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jul., 1904), pp. 23- 36 Published by: County Louth Archaeological and History Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27727755 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 05:37 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. County Louth Archaeological and History Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 188.72.126.181 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 05:37:55 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ffipnazievie? of ?<mtl?* PART I.?THE PRE-NORMAN MONASTERIES. (Two Illustrations.) HE constitution of the early Irish church was essentially monastic. There was then nothing like what we have now in the parochial system. St. Patrick, when estab lishing the Christian religion in Ireland, had to deal, not with the country as a whole, but with the separate clans was and septs among whom the country parcelled out. He saw that, for such a country, the monastic system was very suitable.