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The eminent historian Alfred P Smyth offers one comprehensive insight on
Irish Christian history which we need to bear in mind when considering this
theme. "The origins of Christianity
in this island are shrouded in mystery".
The reason for this is that Ireland in the fifth century (the period
when the identification with Christianity first began) was just emerging from
pre-history, having only recently
come into contact with literate societies beyond its borders. Thus there were few
written records from the time of how and where Christianity first took root.
What we do know about the
origins of Irish Christianity
For many, the starting
point for Christianity in Ireland is 432 with the much vaunted arrival of St
Patrick. The legend would tell us that the land was entirely pagan, and that
through Patrick’s strenuous and almost solo efforts, Ireland was
converted. It was not quite as
simple as that though there is more to the legend than an historical sceptic
might presume.
What we do know from the
writing of Prosper of Aquitaine is that Bishop Germanus of Auxerre who was sent
to Britain by Pope Celestine to combat the Pelagian heresy in 429, had been
sent at the instigation of a certain deacon from the papal court named
Palladius. We are further informed by Prosper that this same deacon Palladius
was ordained by Germanus in 431 and despatched to ‘take charge of those Irish
believing in Christ.’ This is the
earliest documentary evidence we have that there were enough Christians in Ireland
to warrant the sending of a bishop.
We know little or nothing of the outcome of that mission except that
Prosper claims that Celestine, through Palladius, made the barbarous island
Christian. Other writers claim Palladius was either killed early on in his
mission or left after being rejected by the Irish. The most general view is
that he probably left not long after arriving. Some even believe that Patrick and Palladius were one and the same
person. The point to remember,
though, is that we do not have enough evidence to come to definitive conclusions
about some of these issues.
Saint Patrick
Given that we know very little about the first Christians and first
missionaries on the island, Ireland is in the very unusual position of having
two highly significant documents from the hands of an early fifth century
bishop, Patricius (Patrick) who
was unquestionably a leading figure in the evangelization of the Irish. The Confessio
(St Patrick’s testimony of faith written at the end of his life) and his Letter Against The Warlord Coroticus reveal
the mind and heart of a passionate missionary who had a phenomenal impact on
the spread of Christianity in Ireland.
While Patrick’s psyche is what you might call an open book, there is
tremendous controversy about his origins and his theological perspective. The received wisdom about Patrick is
that he grew up somewhere on the western seaboard of Britain, with Scotland,
Wales or Cumbria being the most likely locations. However, one scholar more recently has questioned the whole
western seaboard hypothesis. Alfred P Smyth argues that
Patrick’s origins ought never
to have been tied to the western seaboard of Britain because [in his two
writings]he repeatedly describes a cultural setting for his family and for
their society at large which reflects the [Roman] villa culture of lowland
Britain.
This revisionist perspective makes Patrick most definitely a Roman
Englishman whose spiriting away to Ireland was the result of an inland raid
which involved the transportation of slaves to the coast. An interesting and undisputed fact of
Patrick’s history is that he grew up in a family with strong religious ties,
his father being the deacon Calpurnias and his grandfather, the priest,
Potitus. These were the days when celibacy was not compulsory and priests and
deacons were permitted to marry.
Bishop Stephen Neill, the Anglican missiologist and church historian,
outlines the received picture of Patrick’s life which we can work with even
while acknowledging that there are unresolved questions. According to this scheme, Patrick was
born somewhere in Britain about 389AD and was carried off into slavery by a
band of marauding Irishmen. His Christianity was extremely nominal and it was
in captivity that he came to know the reality of God. Here is his verbatim record of his conversion which stands
alongside Augustine’s Confessions as
one of the great spiritual autobiographies.
I was at that time about
sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken
into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our
desserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were
we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord
brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations,
even to the ends of the earth, where I, in my smallness, am now to be found
among foreigners.
2
And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order
that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart
to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth
and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned
sense or even distinguished between good and evil, he protected me, and
consoled me as a father would his son.
Reading this account one can
sense the deeply personal nature of Patrick’s faith. The following clip from the 1960s RTE series Give Up Your Oul Sins is an entertaining
rendering of the traditional Patrick story highlighting his profound prayer
life, visionary experiences, escape from Ireland and eventual Macedonian call
to be a missionary to the land of his captivity.
Patrick returned to Ireland
as a missionary bishop in 432. Was
it Mayo or Ulster which was his base? We cannot be absolutely certain, but what
we do know is that he had phenomenal missionary success. He tells of journeys
to regions ‘where never anyone had come to baptize, or ordain clergy, or to
confirm the people.’ When his labour was completed, which many believe was around 461, the country was a largely Christian country (Neill). In
Patrick’s own writings we are given a sense of the impact of his ministry to
the heathen Irish. He asks this question:
41
So, how is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God but,
always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a
people of the Lord, and are called children of God; the sons of the Irish
[Scotti] and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and
virgins of Christ.
He includes this fascinating
snapshot from his ministry with this account of the conversion of a high-born
Irish woman.
42
And there was, also, a most beautiful, blessed, native-born noble Irish woman
of adult age whom I baptized; and a few days later she had reason to come to us
to intimate that she had received a prophecy from a divine messenger [who]
advised her that she should become a virgin of Christ and she would draw nearer
to God. Thanks be to God, six days from then, opportunely and most eagerly, she
took the course that all virgins of God take, not with their fathers' consent
but enduring the persecutions and deceitful hindrances of their parents.
Notwithstanding that, their number increases, (we do not know the number of
them that are so reborn) besides the widows, and those who practise
self-denial. Those who are kept in slavery suffer the most. They endure terrors
and constant threats, but the Lord has given grace to many of his handmaidens,
for even though they are forbidden to do so, still they resolutely follow his
example.
From Patrick to Celtic Christianity
Patrick’s words recount the
origins of monasticism in Ireland.
It would seem that for many of the original Irish converts this was the
natural expression of discipleship.
Thus an early link emerges between the first great missionary of the
Irish and the subsequent Celtic monastic church which is essentially the Irish
missionary heritage.
Included below is a useful
summary of the impact of the Celtic church written by Ray Simpson, the author
of Celtic Spirituality. Arguably, it is an account written
through somewhat rose-tinted glasses though it does highlight vital facets of
the Celtic expression of faith.
Long
before conflicts so tragically divided Christianity, the Celtic Church came to
flower. It existed from the fifth to the twelfth centuries. The Celtic churches
were orthodox in faith but diverse in practice, evangelised and maintained
unity through friendship, respected women’s gifts, felt spiritually linked to
creation, were bathed in the supernatural, and kept learning alive through the
Dark ages.
The Celtic church
was unique in many ways. The centre of life was not the diocese but the
monastery and the senior ecclesiastical figure was the Abbot and not the
Bishop. The four outstanding Celtic monasteries were Killiney,
Clonard, Bangor and Clonmacnoise.
Monastic faith was often reckless and extreme by modern standards. There
are tales of monks who would recite the whole Psalter while plunged in icy
water, or stand so long in prayer with arms crossed that the birds had time to
build their nests in their hair.
But what was most indomitable about them was their missionary spirit.
Celtic Christianity in context
To understand the
Celtic missionary spirit, one must
become more familiar with the canvas on which Celtic missionary activity was
played out. Essentially the Celtic mission took place in the context of what
has become known as the Dark Ages.
Roman civilization
had been destroyed in Europe in the wake of the sack of Rome in 410 AD. Barbarian northern tribes (largely
Germanic) had invaded the empire and destroyed the arts, architecture and libraries of Europe.
For 500 years, the task of the Western Church was to win these ‘barbarian’
peoples to Christianity,
re-convert the Arian barbarians (those who had already imbibed a
heterodox version of Christianity) to orthodox faith, and ultimately renew the faith of the Christian populations
who had fallen into laxity and immorality during this time of great cultural
upheaval.
The fact that this was
achieved to any significant extent was down to three factors – royal favour (e.g.
the conversion of various Anglo-Saxon kings), martyrdom and monasticism, and more particularly Celtic monasticism. Within a century of Patrick’s death,
Irish Celtic Christians were taking the faith beyond the land of their birth
into a Europe that was decimated by the destruction of Latin civilization. The first well-known Celtic monk to
leave Irish shores was the nobleman Columba who founded a monastery on Iona in
Scotland. From there the Celtic
monks evangelized the Picts (who were another Celtic tribe). It was after Columba’s death in 597 that
the mission work of Iona entered its most significant phase. Within a century of Columba’s arrival
in Iona (563AD) the Picts were substantially Christian.
By the early 7th
century (633AD), Iona commissioned
an entourage led by Aidan to establish a monastic community on a tidal island
called Lindisfarne, off the coast of North East England. This place was to prove as vital a
missionary centre as its mother house, Iona. From Lindisfarne,
monks penetrated far down into England and those areas held by the pagan
Angles and Saxons. This was a case
of cross-cultural mission to the Germanic Anglo-Saxons.
In considering cross
cultural Celtic mission, it is
impossible to ignore the ministry of Columbanus and the community of monks at
Bangor Abbey. Columbanus became what
some have termed ‘a wanderer for Christ’ who at the age of 40 set out on his
travels. His first port of call was eastern France where he founded a monastery
at Luxeuill in Burgundy. 20 years subsequent to this he fell foul of the
Burgundian court and set out with his Celtic monks to preach the gospel to the still
pagan peoples who lived around Lake Constance. Driven out once again by
Burgundian influence, he retired to die in another of his famous
foundations, the monastery of
Bobbio in Italy. This brief
overview of Columbanus’ ministry gives us an impression of the sweep of Celtic
missionary expansion. One of the monks who accompanied Columbanus from Ireland
was Gall who became the ‘apostle’ of north eastern Switzerland. The legendary bear who came out of the
woods to help him build his hermitage is still to be seen in the coat of arms
of the Swiss city, St Gallen.
According to Methodist missiologist George Hunter III, Columbanus’
monastic followers founded a vast network of sixty or more monastic
communities, learned a dozen or
more languages and cultures, planted churches and lay the groundwork for the
subsequent conversion of the majority of the Germanic peoples.
If this reading of European
history is accurate, Celtic
Christianity had over several generations of sustained mission re-evangelized
Europe and helped bring Europe out of the dark ages. Even the monks who stayed
behind in the monasteries had a huge role in this undertaking because of their
labours in the scriptoria or specialised writing rooms where they copied the
learning of the past onto new parchment, thus preserving for posterity much of
the classic literature of Greece and Rome. It is for that kind of reason that
Thomas Cahill could write the book, How
The Irish Saved Civilization and the race as a whole became known as ‘the
land of saints and scholars.
The demise of the Celtic church
What was it that eventually brought Celtic enthusiasm and the Celtic way
of mission to an end? Some
scholars (e.g. Hunter and Bosch) argue that it was the Roman wing of the church
with its demand for absolute conformity that ultimately inhibited and finally
eclipsed this form of mission. Bosch expresses the argument in these terms:
By and large …Catholicism
endorsed the principle that a ‘missionary church’ must endorse in every detail
the Roman innovation of the moment.’
Thus Roman absolutism (according to this view), won out in the end and
the great lessons learnt about mission were lost.
What can we learn from Celtic
Christianity?
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| Acessed at tbphfx.blogspot.ie |
This final segment of the post must carry a significant caveat with it.
In attempting to answer the above question I am presenting a somewhat idealised
form of Celtic Christianity. The
reality was much less pristine and wholesome than would appear from the
principles enunciated below. Nevertheless the values we will explore genuinely
found their roots in a Celtic approach to faith.
Radical Model of
Evangelism.
In contrast to many current approaches to evangelism which are
individualistic and sporadic in nature, the Celts usually evangelised in teams.
Moreover, these teams were committed long-term to their place of mission.
Radical Formation for Mission.
In the monasteries monks were trained to live lives of depth, compassion
and power for mission. This was
usually through a five fold learning framework. (a) They were taught how to use
solitude to enhance spiritual growth. This was achieved through voluntary
isolation in a primitive cell in some out of the way setting. (b) They
developed the practice of accountability in which a monk spent time with a soul
friend (anamchara) who was not so much a spiritual director but a peer to whom
he was vulnerable and accountable. (c) Monks were also placed in what amounted
to a small group led by someone with acknowledged spiritual maturity. In Taize
they would call this an approfondisement group,
a deepening group. (d) They enjoyed the whole gamut of common life (‘life
together’ as Bonhoeffer once put it when describing the seminary life of
members of the Confessing Church in Nazi Germany) where through meals, work,
worship, and laughter they (e) gained knowledge and insight about ministry and
spirituality which fitted them for mission.
Radical Model of Prayer.
The Celts learned how to use the imagination in prayer and so-called
right brain activities involving intuition and creativity fuelled their prayer
life. They learned how to see the reality of God in the ordinary things of the
world.
Radical Model of Interior
Mission
The Celtic monasteries showed profound hospitality to visitors of all
sorts. One might say these monks
did not just penetrate communities external to them but invited people to be
their guest and brought them into the spiritual life of the monastery. Through
their exposure to this life, to fellowship with the monks etc, they found their
way to faith.
Marked Contrast With Roman
Model of Evangelism.
All of this amounted to a radical contrast with the Roman model of
mission which was much less relational and far more rationalistic, according to
George Hunter.
Roman Model
Celtic
Model
Presentation
Fellowship
Decision
Ministry and Conversations
Fellowship
Belief,
Invitation to Commitment
Contextualizing the Gospel.
Hunter III argues that in contrast to the Roman wing of the church, the
Celts were gifted at contextualizing the gospel so that it made sense in terms
of what already was significant within the culture. The following example may
suffice.
The doctrine of the Trinity
This was part of the received tradition of
Christian belief which easily lent itself to contextualization amongst the
Celts. The Irish, perhaps from the teaching of the druids or the primal
religion that preceded the druids, were aware that Ultimate Reality was mysterious
and complex, and were comfortable with paradox. They were also intrigued by numbers. Brendan Lehane notes
that the number three was especially powerful, and that their characteristic
way of structuring thought about complex matters was
the
triad, an arrangement of three statements which summed up a thing or a person,
a quality or mood, or simply linked otherwise incompatible things. Three false
sisters were said to be ‘perhaps’, ‘maybe’ and ‘I dare say’: three timid
brothers ‘Hush’, ‘Stop’ and ‘Listen.’ The three keys that unlock thoughts were
drunkenness, trustfulness, love… If there were paradox or a pun in a triad, so
much the better….the Irish had their liking for riddles too….Everyone was felt
to be spiritually tied to three …lumps of earth, the three sods of fate. The
first was that on which he was born, the sod of birth. Second was that on which
he died. And the third marked the place of his burial.
(Brendan Lehane, The Quest of
Three Abbots:The Golden Age of Celtic Christianity)
Moreover, the Irish Celts even imagined some of
their gods and (especially) goddesses in groups of three. One god was believed to have three
faces! Given such knowledge of the people and the culture, many missionaries
would readily perceive that the Irish had been ‘shaped’ by history, by culture,
and by preparatory grace to appreciate a Trinitarian explanation of God. Thus when Irish seekers ask Patrick how
Christinaity understands God, he withdraws, from the bank of Christian
doctrine, the doctrine of the Trinity. The following summary expresses the
significance of the Trinity for Celtic spirituality:
The
doctrine of the Trinity became the foundational paradigm for Celtic
Christianity. The doctrine informed the people’s piety as well as the
theologians’ theories. The understanding of God as a unity of three persons,
bound together in love, became the Celtic model for the Christian community;
the understanding of God as a family of three persons defined the Christian
family. Celtic Christians lived their daily lives, from waking up to cleaning
up, from working to retiring, aware of the presence, protection, and guidance
of all three persons of the Trinity.
Their
understanding of the doctrine was like the Roman understanding, with two
exceptions: First, Romans emphasised the oneness, or unity of the Trinity more
than the Celts. Second, the Roman Christians emphasised the ‘transcendence’ of
the Triune God (later expressed visibly in their Gothic cathedrals), and they
seem to have experienced God as distant if not remote, except for Christ’s
‘real presence’ in the sacraments.
The Celtic Christians emphasised the ‘immanence’ of the Triune God as
companion in this life and the next, in their experience the veil between earth
and heaven was thin – creation was almost sacramental in itself.
Acknowlegment
of Nature
Sometimes the Celtic mission context served not
only as a theatre for adapting the presentation of Christianity; it also
functioned as a catalyst for recovering something essential and precious within
Christianity. The Celtic approach to nature was a very distinctive feature of
Christianity, and also represented an important Christian recovery.
Potential
Limitations of Celtic Christian Theology
What creates most unease about Celtic
Christianity is their doctrine of human nature. The Celtic Christians believed in the basic goodness of
creation (even though infected by sin) and matched this by a belief in the
essential goodness of human nature which one could appeal to in evangelism. In this sense they were closer to the
Greek church who believed that sin had neither obliterated the image of God nor
destroyed the human capacity to seek God. Ian Bradley tells us that Celtic
Christianity viewed ‘human nature not as being radically tainted by sin and
evil, intrinsically corrupt and degenerate, but as imprinted with the image of
God, full of potential and opportunity, longing for completion and perfection.’
(The Celtic Way)
The Roman church, influenced by Augustine, had
a much less sanguine view of things. For Augustine, Jesus Christ saves us by rescuing us from sin and the
consequences of the Fall. For the Celtic apostles, Jesus Christ also comes to
complete his good creation.
Arguably, Celtic Christianity’s theological optimism about human nature
cannot account for something like the Holocaust whereas Augustine’s more
pessimistic doctrine does make sense of large scale depravity.
What
may be ultimately learned from the Celtic Christian Legacy?
1.
‘Belong, believe, behave’ as
the model for evangelism as opposed to ‘behave, believe, belong.’
2.
The re-integration of
creation into theology and the Christian worldview. Augustine saw creation as an evidence of God’s power, the
Celtic Christians saw it as evidence of God’s love.
3.
The emerging postmodern
culture is increasingly populated by ‘new Barbarians’ who are suspicious of
institutions, authority and metanarratives but open to ‘spirituality. The Celtic practices are a way to open
up spirituality to these postmoderns.
4.
The use of the arts and
creativity for church life, nurture and evangelism.
5.
The church as a place of
hospitality and service.
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