It is 575 A.D. and thirteen-year-old Fingal Domnall is on his way to Bangor, the greatest monastic school in Ireland. Fingal is making the journey alone, as his father died when he was very young. Tired from his journey on foot, Fingal watches as a wealthy man, a red-haired boy his age and servant pass him by without greeting or acknowledgement. Later another traveling party approach and this time Fingal doesn't bother to look. But the boy, Diarmid is friendly and greets Fingal, telling him they are headed for Bangor. Dairmid's father, Finian Mor, King of the Tribe of Connor will be placing his son in the care of the Abbot Comgall who is considered a very holy man. They offer to take Fingal the rest of the way.
Because he is poor, Fingal will enter the monastery as a "poor scholar" which means he must work to pay his way through the school. Fingal is assigned to work on the farm and to share a hut with the other two new boys. His master in his studies will be Brother Columban which thrills Fingal.
In the large refectory, Fingal meets Diarmid and the red-haired boy who ignored him, Cahal MacNellan, whose father is a chieftain. Despite Fingal's claim that his father was "tutor to the children of Connacht's king..." and was also "far cousin to my lord Abbot", Cahal is furious that he has to share his hut with a "common peasant". His complaint to Brother Columban is promptly dismissed.
Cahal mocks Fingal as the three boys work to build their hut, when he learns that Fingal has no books from which to study and that he is working on the farm. However Diarmid is eager to help Fingal, willing to lend him his books. To help him learn the Greek alphabet, Brother Columban carves the alphabet into a heavy flat stone which Fingal takes back to his hut. It isn't long before Fingal begins making good progress in his studies.
Fingal witnesses the holiness of Columban who heals a dying horse. It is at this time that Columban first challenges Fingal as to his reasons for coming to Bangor. Shortly after this, a ship arrives bearing strangers, men and boys from Gaul, who beg to study at Bangor so they can return to their homeland to "teach in our land where men are lost to God, and His word is no longer known!" They tell Comgall that the destruction of Gaul by the invasion of the Huns has resulted in religion having "died among the ruins of the churches!...And that seems true though it is more than a hundred years since Gaul was ravaged! The cities lie in fragments and wild beasts roam in ruins grown no different from the forests. The churches are abandoned. God is dead." They indicate that although the people are still Christian, "they do not know any longer what it means, and in some places they have gone back to the old pagan gods. There are no schools, no teaching: learning is withered, my lord Abbot, and religion lost." Other than Monte Cassino and the work of Benedict, Europe is dark.
This dire revelation that Gaul had "never recovered through the long years from the crushing feet of Attila's destroying armies which had devastated cities, razed churches, and quenched for generations the light of European learning" leads Columban once again to approach the abbot with the request to travel to Gaul. Once again the abbot refuses to allow him to leave, as he dearly loves Brother Columban.
In the autumn, the monk Colmcille sails into Bangor from Iona to reveal that the faith is now spreading through the pagan kingdoms of Scotia and Northumbria and even into Wales as a result of the missionaries. Fired by Colmcille's zeal, Columban again requests to follow what he believes to be God's will in going to Gaul and is again refused by the abbot Comgall. Columban asks Colmcille to pray for him and by morning, Comgall has relented and given his permission for Columban to leave.
As the monks build a ship for Columban to sail to Gaul, Fingal hatches a plan to stowaway on the ship to be with his beloved Columban. The thought of staying at Bangor to continue his studies without his beloved Brother Columban make Fingal desperate. Diarmid agrees to go with him only so that he can get to Gaul faster. However, Cahal who hates Fingal, overhears their plans and when the time comes in the spring for Columban to sail, he reveals their plan to the holy monk. Fingal and Diarmid are hauled off the boat and reprimanded. However when another group of Franks arrive some months later, Fingal is determined to try again. This time Diarmid refuses to go along with his plans. Fingal is successful in sailing to Gaul, and has many adventures as he journeys across the country to meet up with Columban. Ultimately Fingal must come to realize the importance of putting God first, even before his beloved Columban.
Discussion
In Fingal's Quest, Madeleine Polland has crafted an engaging and thoughtful historical novel set in 6th century Ireland and France that offers young readers a chance to learn about this time period and to explore some unique themes. There are few novels set in this era, so Fingal's Quest makes for interesting reading.
Polland references many historical events in her novel which are centered around the life of a real saint, St. Columban. In the late 500's A.D. Ireland was a country richly steeped in the Catholic faith. Monasteries were the center of learning and deep faith. Young men like Columban were determined to live holy lives. Columban was a handsome young man who was determined to overcome great temptations against chastity. To overcome these temptations, Columban tavelled to Lough Erne where he studied under Sinell, the abbot of Clauinis. He then travelled to Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland, to a monastery led by the abbot Comgall. Columban was filled with the desire to preach and travel to Europe but Comgall was unwilling to let him do so. Eventually Columban travelled along with twelve monks, through Great Britain to Gaul. His mission was to revive the Catholic faith and the culture, destroyed by the Huns.
While the Catholic faith still existed in Gaul, the culture had collapsed and people no longer led Christian lives. The church was also in disarray, with bishops and priests lax in their faith as well. This was mainly due to the ruinous invasions of Attila the Hun, known as Attila the Scourge of God. Attila had been at war with various parts of the Roman Empire for years. He was known for his cruelty and as a destroyer of cities. In 451 A.D. he invaded Gaul, destroying the country as he went, razing to the ground entire towns and cities. Eventually he was stopped at Orleans, in the battle of Chalons.
As in the novel, King Gontram, who was the grandson of Clovis, the first king of the Franks, supported Columban and his monks in their preaching and gave Columban the ancient Roman castle of Annegray. Columban established several monasteries in France and Italy which became centers of learning and culture.He also set about attempting to reform bishops and clergy who had grown lax and refused to follow the rules of the faith.
Fingal's Quest explores the theme of love and how this virtue can be misapplied to both things and people in our lives, preventing us from doing God's will. Fingal meets Brother Columban at Bangor and like the Abbot Comgall forms a deep attachment to the holy monk. For Fingal, it is the absence of a father and the "...immediate impression of the strength and gentleness he had longed for in a father..." that draws him to Brother Columban. But Fingal soon learns that Abbot Comgall also has a similar attachment to the holy monk. He is told by one of the boys that Brother Columban " was among the first monks to join Comgall in Bangor" and that the abbot "dotes on him" and will not let him leave. It is Columban's "...heart's desire to go to Europe and preach the word of God in the land where it is lost. There have been Franks come from Gaul who tell how their land is abandoned, and Columban feels that God has called him as he called Abraham to go to a far land. But Comgall will not hear of it. He loves him far too much, and holds him close." Columban remains obedient to his superior.
Fingal fails to see his love of Brother Columban, mirrored in the abbot's same love, has overtaken his love of God. Columban first attempts to explain this to Fingal after the miraculous healing of the horse."I speak of the love of God which you must learn to put first before all other loves, if you would be professed and serve God well. If you love God truly, then He will help you to come close to those who are close to Him. And who are closer than the animals and the things that grow?" Fingal believes he loves God because he has left his home and his mother to serve God but Columban challenges the young boy to examine his heart more closely.
When Fingal and Diarmid are discovered hiding in Columban's ship, Fingal argues that Columban's leaving means there is nothing for him at Bangor. But Columban tells him, "There is everything for you here, Fingal, my son. Everything you need for the life in God which you tell me you want to follow. But you must follow it for the love of God and God alone. No one else will do. Fingal!" He warns Fingal, "....how long have I been held captive here by the love which my lord Abbot bears me? Held even against what I knew to be the will of God. Take care, Fingal - take care- of the chains of human love!"
Sadly it takes Fingal several years to learn this lesson. In this regard, Fingal's Quest realistically demonstrates to young readers how spiritual growth can take years and often involves some painful experiences. Fingal does eventually travel to Gaul where he is enslaved and then freed to finally meet up with Brother Columban at the ruins of Annegray. Fingal is not allowed to enter the novitiate at Annegray. As the months pass, the people Fingal met on his travels through Gaul in search of Columban and whom he led to the the faith, enter the novitiate at Annegray. When Fingal bitterly confronts Abbot Columban, he finally admits that he came to Annegray not to seek God but to seek the monk who has been like the father he lost.
Fingal doesn't learn the lesson about human love until he is asked to journey to a town across the mountains for herbs for Brother Columban the Younger who is dying. However, when Fingal returns to Annegray, the sick monk has died. One of the lay brothers, Remi tells Fingal that Abbot Columban's tremendous love of Brother Columban the Younger led him to pray to God that the seriously ill monk would not die. The sick monk told his fellow religious that it was Abbot Columban's prayers which caused the him great suffering. "So the love of my lord Abbot chains me in agony, and he will not let me die and reach my rest in God." When Abbot Columban was told this, he realized that he was guilty of the same sin as Fingal. Fingal goes to see Abbot Columban and tells him that this had made him understand his own failing. "It has brought me to understanding. I think I knew from the first what it was you warned me against, but my heart was willful and I would not see. But I would serve God truly. And I know now the power of human love that could step between me and even the throne of God. I will learn to love God first." This is the ultimate lesson of Fingal's Quest. Fingal tells Abbot Columban he will return to Bangor and "offer himself in penitence to Abbot Comgall and start again."
Madeleine Polland was an exceptional writer of Catholic historical fiction whose stories featured interesting characters set in eras that appealed to young readers. The mark of a good historical fiction writer is the ability to craft a setting that is realistic and true to the era of the story. Polland does this admirably, especially in her portrayal of the extent of decay and collapse in Gaul in the 6th century. For example, the character Julius, whose family is one of the few who have retained their culture, who befriends Fingal tells him what happened in Gaul. "When the barbarians came swarming in...the beautiful stone halls and houses and the state building of the Romans were torn down in panic to strengthen the walls of the towns. But they were not to be kept out, and afterwards the walls crumbled and no one cared to maintain them. So the poor people take the stone to this day for thei building of their homes. You will see mud huts held up with Doric columns; slabs of marble quarried and polished and chiselled with love in the finest quarries of Italy are used to support their filthy thatch. And they take no heed of it. Beauty is dead in Gaul, Fingal and the love of it. Not only is religion lost - oh, yes, they are Christians, but they have forgotten what it means - but except among a few, culture is lost. Art, literature, sculpture, music, the fine art of building - they all mean less than nothing to these children of Attila."
This passage conveys the profound destruction of an entire culture and the desperate state of life, in a country ruined by an invader whom history remembers for his cruelty and rapaciousness.
Fingal's Quest will definitely appeal to readers of all ages who enjoy historical fiction. A highly recommended read!
Book Details:
Fingal's Quest by Madeleine A. Polland
Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company Inc. 1997
191 pp.
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