Just 500 years or so after the death of Christ, the first monks arrived on Skellig Michael, an island 12km from Ireland's south west coast, lying at the very edge of the then known world. The monastery that they established in this inhospitable environment remains one of the most remarkable testaments to human faith on earth. The island was the westernmost sacred site along a long line of ancient pilgrimage places running from Mount Carmel in Palestine through Greece, Italy and France to Ireland.
