Celtic Christianity - part 1

Jack Jenner, Ulverston

Over recent years there has been a widespread resurgence of interest in Celtic things, especially in a whole range of churches. Religious groups within movements as diverse as Eastern Orthodoxy and Charismatics have shown considerable interest. This fascination was preceded by Celtic studies which go back at least to the 19^th century and include serious research as well as romantic nostalgia. All of this has produced a crop of historical studies, liturgies and anthologies of prose and poetry. It is a minefield to traverse and full of pitfalls for the unwary.

When it comes to our islands it is difficult to be certain who the Celts were. To quote from the programme article Celtic cross of a Channel 4 documentary on The Celts: ‘Far from being flame-haired Irish warriors or sun-worshipping Welsh druids, the original were a collection of tribes living along the upper Danube, in what is now called Austria and Switzerland. Their superior craftsmanship gave them a technological edge over their neighbours. Iron ploughs made them skilled farmers, while state-of-the-art weaponry was used to savage effect – no Celt considered himself to be worthy of the name until he had a set of severed enemy heads to display to his dinner guests.’

There have been Celts in the British Isles since at least 400 BC – whether they invaded or settled peacefully is not certain. What is sure is that by the time the Romans invaded in force in the first century AD Celtic tribes were well established. They migrated from the European mainland in two main waves, identified increasingly with the different languages, the Goidelic-speaking peoples (Gaelic) who ended up in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, and the Brythonic-speaking peoples who came to Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. The Romans conquered most of Britain but not the very north. The Celtic, or British, inhabitants were over-run by Anglo-Saxon and Jutish invaders after the Roman legions withdrew around 410 AD. Because of the Roman incursions the original Celtic people were restricted to Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall. Some Celts had mixed with the Romans, but the Roman presence followed by the later Anglo-Saxons, pushed Celtic Britons to the margins, notably to the two parts of the British Isles that would later emerge as the linguistic and cultural strongholds of the Celts – Caledonia (northern Scotland) and Ireland. The Celts were not Christian by definition. They predated Christianity by several hundred years as a collection of tribes and were part of the unbelieving Gentile world in great spiritual darkness, involved in gross pagan worship and idolatry, including human sacrifice.

The Celtic churches

Christianity probably came to Britain with the Roman legions, the spread of the faith being certainly helped by the infrastructure of the Roman Empire, resulting in the gradual conversion of the various Celtic peoples to the Christian faith. Thus a strong and lively Celtic church existed in Britain and Ireland before the Germanic invasions took place. We know that there were British bishops at church councils at Arles, 314 AD, and Rimini, 359 AD. There are records of the martyrdoms of Alban, Julius and Aaron. Such great numbers of Celts were converted that to be British and Celtic meant to be Christian. After the legions left there appear to have been some 150 years of warfare in Britain between the invading Anglo-Saxons and the original Celtic inhabitants. So when Augustine came from Rome in 596 he came into the conflict between the Anglo-Saxon conquerors and an indigenous church among a persecuted people.

A monk called Gildas writing c.550 describes the state of the British church and the Anglo-Saxon invasions. He describes the church as largely corrupt as a result of its contact with the world. Similar corruption took place in other parts of the Roman Empire and in Egypt some Christians sickened by the immorality of the cities and their impact on the church had fled into the desert to live as hermits. By c.320 groups of hermits were building simple homes for themselves in close proximity and so developed the early monasteries. The evidence would suggest that similar monastic communities came into Britain. The example seems to have come from Gaul but the inspiration from Egypt where many monks lived ascetic lives denying themselves marriage. These were not like the great monasteries of the Middle Ages, but probably collections of huts with a common meeting place or chapel. Thus Celtic Christianity took a form based on the monastery rather than the congregation and its leading figures were abbots rather than bishops. It maintained for a long time a spirit of bold independence in the face of the papacy’s claims to exercise authority over all Western churches as the one patriarchate of the West. It fostered a rare and intense love of the natural world of creation, beautifully expressed in Celtic prayers, hymns and poems. Some examples of early Celtic blessings:

‘May the road rise up before you,
may the sun be always on your face,
and the wind be to your back,
and until we meet again,
may the Lord keep you in the palm of his hand.’

‘Deep peace of the running wave to you,
deep peace of the flowing air to you,
deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
deep peace of the shining stars to you,
deep peace of the Son of peace to you.’

The Celtic missions

It was in Ireland where the monasteries really became significant, although early Irish records indicate that the inspiration came from Wales and Scotland. Ireland was never part of the Roman Empire and the origins of Christianity there are obscure. What seems certain is that there were Christians in Ireland before the arrival of Patrick, 390-461, whose life spans the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain.

Patrick was probably born to Christian parents in southern Scotland. In his youth he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave in Ireland, where in spite of the Christian presence, paganism with a heavy emphasis on magic was widespread. He lived among the pagans and used as a herdsman and harshly treated. During this time he gave himself to prayer and experienced conversion. After about six years he managed to escape and made his way to Gaul where he joined the household of Bishop Germanus of Auxerre, possibly hoping to spend his days there. During that time he had a vision which summoned him back to Ireland as an evangelist among the pagan people. There were pockets of Christianity, but Ireland was a tribal society in which Druidism continued to be strong.

He arrived back in Ireland in 432. According to tradition he had already been consecrated bishop and exercised a roving commission. He came to land untouched by Roman culture and organization. The people were warlike and superstitious; there were no towns and Christianity had to be adapted to the Irish tribal structure. He set up his base in Armagh and was active mainly in the north and west. Many legends survive. He is credited with a number of writings, many undoubtedly spurious, but his Confessions are considered genuine. He vigorously promoted the monastic life with its tough asceticism which emphasised fastings, vigils and lengthy prayers. He devoted the rest of his life to crusading against the supernatural powers of pagan religion that reigned in Ireland, conquering all their dark magic in the mighty strength of Christ. His well-known poem, Patrick’s Breastplate, shows the sense of warfare between the Christian and the demons, and its feeling that the natural forces of creation are on the believer’s side in this conflict:

I bind to myself today
the strong name of the Trinity,
through belief in the Three,
through confession of the One,
the Creator of all…

I bind to myself today
the strength of heaven,
the light of the sun,
the radiance of the moon…

Christ be with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me…

Patrick’s missionary labours were so successful that he is often called ‘the apostle of Ireland’. He wrote: ‘I am greatly in debt to God who has bestowed his grace on me so largely, that many people were born again to God through me. The Irish who never had the knowledge of God and worshipped only idols and unclean things, have now become the Lord’s people, and are called the sons of God; and the sons and daughters of Irish kings are now monks and virgins of Christ’ (Nick Needham, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power; vol I, p305).