It cannot be denied that religion played a major role in the lives of our ancestors in Ireland and Scotland. It not only provided structure to their spiritual lives, it influenced social relations, political connections and even warfare. And this religious influence covers a broad range of practices, from early paganism, to Celtic Christianity, to Roman Christianity and on into Protestantism. I have found it interesting that often those who are most interested in their Celtic heritage focus almost exclusively on the early pagan spirituality when considering Celtic religion. Their attraction to the misty (and mystic) isles fits nicely with the flavor and images of druids, standing stones, and nature worship, even when the actual historical period that interests them is a thousand years after pagan worship was abandoned.

Recently, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in the Celtic forms of Christianity, and this new interest is precisely because much of that mystical Celtic approach to life was adopted into Christian worship. The poetic mysteries appeal to the post-modern mind. The focus on God’s creation and our connectedness with it appeals to our ecological mind. The reduction of hierarchy and structure appeals to our individualistic mind. While it is easy to romanticize and overemphasize these aspects of the Celtic approach to Christianity in history, it cannot be doubted that the Celtic sensibility is a thread that runs through its entire religious history. We will focus here on how and when Christianity actually became Celtic.

Kildoltonback, Scotland

Christianity came to the British Isles along with the Romans as early as the second century, and there is reason to believe that Ireland also had some exposure to Christianity even though the Romans never controlled the island. Long before Patrick, there were Christian communities in Ireland, and even a bishop sent at their request. At this time, the Christian communities were much like those established all over the Roman Empire. As Christianity became the official religion of the Empire, the Church soon began to adopt empirical approaches to hierarchy, discipline and uniformity. It was male dominated, authoritarian, rational and legalistic. And this worked to create a homogenous and powerful organization for the spread of the faith.

But in 407, the Romans withdrew their legions from Britain and very quickly lost its administrative hold on the Celtic world. Without this empirical structure, the Church also became more isolated and we might envision a highly formal garden slowly returning to a more natural state. For at least the next 200 years, the Christian communities in the British Isles were effectively on their own and without the dictates from Rome, the Celtic churches began to adopt the flavor and style of the Celtic people in numerous ways.

First, just as the Celtic political structure was that of the tribe or clan, the Celtic Church began to be centered on a series of relatively autonomous monasteries. The Abbot replaced the Bishop as the leading figure, and the focus became local and rural. Second, the Celtic Church was less male-dominated. There were more women in leadership roles and celibacy was not required of the clergy in most areas. Third, the Celtic love, and even worship of nature, came to influence theology. We see a shift toward a positive view of God’s creation, including mankind itself. In its extreme form, this led to the Pelagian heresy, in which it was believed that Man was essentially good, in opposition to the Church’s teaching of inherent sinfulness. Even the Celtic love of tales and lore found expression in the Celtic Church where the post of Scribe (Scribhnidh) was one of great honor. In an Irish monastery, the penalty for killing a Scribe was the same for that of killing a Bishop or Abbott.

There were other outward differences that developed, such as the dating of Easter, the method of baptism, the style of the tonsure, some liturgical processes, etc, and oddly enough to our modern minds, these were the major issues of conflict when the Roman Church once again came into contact with the Celtic Church. Inevitably, as the Roman Church regrouped, they turned their eyes once again northward. In 597, a new mission was sent to Britain, headed by Augustine (although not the Augustine of Hippo) to bring the Celtic Church back under more direct Roman control. And, ultimately, this is what happened. In a series of synods held throughout the islands, such as the Synod of Whitby in 664, the decisions were made to adopt the Roman ways and come fully under their control.

This transition did not take place overnight, and in some areas change was particularly slow. In Scotland, the Celtic monastery of Iona was not disbanded until the Benedictine Abbey was built in the 13th Century. But the pressure against the Celtic traditions continued to be felt even into the Reformation where the reciting of the Celtic Christian prayers and poetry was discouraged and even banned because they were regarded as pantheistic or pagan in origin; which, of course, it may have been, at least in the fact that it carried on a Celtic sensibility and approach to life.

With further repression, the Highland Clearances and the troubles in Ireland, there was a significant loss of the Celtic Christian traditions. But this was not the death of the Celtic concepts of Christian faith. In the early 1900′s, the prayers were preserved and translated and became a cornerstone for a resurgence of interest in Celtic Christianity throughout the century.

So, those who are most interested in their Celtic heritage and who love the sensibility and life approach unique to the Celt need not focus solely on pagan spirituality. There exists a rich heritage of Celtic Christianity to be explored.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 10:17 pm and is filed under 2007 April, history. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.