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Celtic Saints: Passionate Wanderers
Who were the Celtic saints of Britain? Why did them embark on long pilgrimages? Where were they going and what prompted them to make such journeys? Elizabeth Rees recreates the experiences of many of the well-known and lesser known Celtic missionaries, saints, monks, nuns and martyrs, pieced together through archaeological and literary evidence. Furnished with maps of sites mentioned in the text, routes taken and drawings of artefacts and buildings.
- GenresChristianity
208 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2000
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February 22, 2018
Contents
Preface
Chapters:
1. The origins of Celtic Christianity
2. Patrick and the Early Irish church
3. Irish Nuns, Monks and Missionaries
4. David and South Wales
5. Celtic North Wales
6. Beuno and Winifred
7. Ninian, Kentigern and Strathclyde
8. Columba and Argyll
9. The Pictish Church
10. The Southwest: Somerset and Cornwall
11. Samson, Petroc and Eastern Cornwall
12. The Isle of Man, by Roderick Geddes
13. Aidan, Cuthbert and Northumbria
14. Celtic Saints: Passionate Wanderers
Gazetteer
Notes
Bibliography
Index
I would be lying if I said that this gripped me from the outset, it didn’t; largely perhaps because sources for the earlier period and its saints are much scarcer. There is a sense overall of a vast list of saints names linked with names of places where they’d wandered and worked and which incorporated the saint’s name into its own (some easier to see than others). There would invariably be details of the saint’s hut, hermitage or weem (cave) usually with a “holy” well nearby.
As I turned more pages and found myself in the 5th/6th centuries there was more to get my teeth into. It was interesting reading of the links between monarchies/tribal leaders and the priesthood. A surprising number of these kings/chiefs became leaders of monasteries they had founded, usually once their fighting days were over, thus becoming wandering missionaries. Not that they entirely lost the art of fighting (particularly in Ireland). These eminent newly christianised missionaries dida mighty fine job of cursing their enemies! Movements between Brittany and Wales, Ireland and Wales, east Cornwall and Wales, were very interesting as were the religious and cultural fusions – Celtic British/Romano/Germanic/Scandinavian. A good example of this is in Elizabeth Rees’s description of the 8th century Ruthwell Cross which was possibly set up initially on the sea shore as a boundary marker between Anglian Northumbria to the east and British Galloway and Strathclyde to the west. Celtic and Germanic themes are side by side. Christ is portrayed as a triumphant warrior with a Germanic moustache rather than the usual beard, wearing a cloak and sash and clasping his hands in peace. The poem The Dream of The Rood is inscribed in both Latin and Anglo-Saxon runes on the cross. Its story is told movingly by the rood/tree of the cross:
‘I raised a great king,
liege-lord of heaven…
I dared not bow down.
Men reviled us both.
I was all moist with blood
which poured from his side…
I saw it all,
overwhelmed with grief,
wounded with arrow shafts.
They laid him down, limb-weary.
They stood at the corpse’s head:
they saw the Lord of heaven.’
Apart from those on the front and back cover of the book there are no photographs in the book, which is a shame; although there are some fine and endearing illustrations by the author’s sister. The author is a Roman Catholic nun.
I had to smile to myself when reading of Kentigern (British for Chief Prince) an important Celtic missionary saint. Neither Bede nor Adomnan, Columba’s Anglo-Saxon biographer mention him, regarding him as belonging “an unorthodox and inferior race” to quote the author. In other words both saintly writers show themselves also to be old fashioned no – nonsense racists !!!
The Gazetteer looks extremely useful if planning to visit, as I intend to, some of the many sites described in the book.
Preface
Chapters:
1. The origins of Celtic Christianity
2. Patrick and the Early Irish church
3. Irish Nuns, Monks and Missionaries
4. David and South Wales
5. Celtic North Wales
6. Beuno and Winifred
7. Ninian, Kentigern and Strathclyde
8. Columba and Argyll
9. The Pictish Church
10. The Southwest: Somerset and Cornwall
11. Samson, Petroc and Eastern Cornwall
12. The Isle of Man, by Roderick Geddes
13. Aidan, Cuthbert and Northumbria
14. Celtic Saints: Passionate Wanderers
Gazetteer
Notes
Bibliography
Index
I would be lying if I said that this gripped me from the outset, it didn’t; largely perhaps because sources for the earlier period and its saints are much scarcer. There is a sense overall of a vast list of saints names linked with names of places where they’d wandered and worked and which incorporated the saint’s name into its own (some easier to see than others). There would invariably be details of the saint’s hut, hermitage or weem (cave) usually with a “holy” well nearby.
As I turned more pages and found myself in the 5th/6th centuries there was more to get my teeth into. It was interesting reading of the links between monarchies/tribal leaders and the priesthood. A surprising number of these kings/chiefs became leaders of monasteries they had founded, usually once their fighting days were over, thus becoming wandering missionaries. Not that they entirely lost the art of fighting (particularly in Ireland). These eminent newly christianised missionaries dida mighty fine job of cursing their enemies! Movements between Brittany and Wales, Ireland and Wales, east Cornwall and Wales, were very interesting as were the religious and cultural fusions – Celtic British/Romano/Germanic/Scandinavian. A good example of this is in Elizabeth Rees’s description of the 8th century Ruthwell Cross which was possibly set up initially on the sea shore as a boundary marker between Anglian Northumbria to the east and British Galloway and Strathclyde to the west. Celtic and Germanic themes are side by side. Christ is portrayed as a triumphant warrior with a Germanic moustache rather than the usual beard, wearing a cloak and sash and clasping his hands in peace. The poem The Dream of The Rood is inscribed in both Latin and Anglo-Saxon runes on the cross. Its story is told movingly by the rood/tree of the cross:
‘I raised a great king,
liege-lord of heaven…
I dared not bow down.
Men reviled us both.
I was all moist with blood
which poured from his side…
I saw it all,
overwhelmed with grief,
wounded with arrow shafts.
They laid him down, limb-weary.
They stood at the corpse’s head:
they saw the Lord of heaven.’
Apart from those on the front and back cover of the book there are no photographs in the book, which is a shame; although there are some fine and endearing illustrations by the author’s sister. The author is a Roman Catholic nun.
I had to smile to myself when reading of Kentigern (British for Chief Prince) an important Celtic missionary saint. Neither Bede nor Adomnan, Columba’s Anglo-Saxon biographer mention him, regarding him as belonging “an unorthodox and inferior race” to quote the author. In other words both saintly writers show themselves also to be old fashioned no – nonsense racists !!!
The Gazetteer looks extremely useful if planning to visit, as I intend to, some of the many sites described in the book.
March 13, 2022
This book was a wonderful overview of these Celtic saints. It's a really good reference book (I admit to skimming much of it) for anyone who wants to know a bit of the timeline and chronology of Celtic Christianity (No, St. Patrick was not the first to bring Christianity to Ireland). Perfect reading for the month of March, when we celebrate St. Patrick's Day (in our American way)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews