The great age paled. the sun went out. but not before Ireland had kindled the flame of Christian culture on the Continent. kept learning and letters alive in those very dark ages. Many. many weary centuries of grinding poverty and brutal tyranny were to follow until in the 20th century of the Christian era the Isle of the Saints came once more into its own. with freedom to learn. to worship. and to develop its own resources. Meanwhile. if we recall that in the history of our own countr- the great host of Irish immigrants who for 2 centuries have landed on our shores have been largely poor and of primitive learning. let us remind ourselves at the same time that at the most critical juncture in the history of European Christianity. Ireland. and Ireland alone. held the torch aloft. To quote an eloquent paragraph in the elaborate brochure issued by the Irish Ministry of External Affairs in 1950: On her alone. from the sixth to the ninth centuries. fell the main burden of preserving European civilization and of propagating the Christian faith on which that civilization depended.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization about Irish immigrants being poor and of primitive learning.