I also like the legend about the kid monk who was sent on a quest for the Augustinian Rule. Very Celtic, very full of wondrous happenings, and very annoying to Augustine-Italy haters. :)

The article on “Celtic Christianity” from the Encyclopedia of Early Christianity is very helpful. Here’s a snatch: “This Christianity has been of special interest to those who have interpreted it as a form of nonecclesiastical or at least noninstitutional religion. Earlier partisans saw the Celts as proto-Protestants, rejecting the works and pomps of Rome, but modern devotees concentrate more on a supposed Celtic individualism, harmony with the natural world, and a constant awareness of the supernatural and mysterious. Not surprisingly, these traits have appealed more to artists and poets than to historians … When missionaries from Rome began to arrive in the British Isles at the end of the sixth century, adherents of old British Christianity clashed with advocates of Catholic Christianity over such customs as the date of Easter and the proper tonsure of monks … The differences were more matters of national and ecclesiastical identity than doctrinal … [T]he vast majority of western Celtic Christians shared the rites and beliefs of their continental co-religionists.”

Edited by a Baptist, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity is a sober and dispassionate book, hardly the stuff of Romish propaganda.

The Celts are convenient because they — like other early-Christian groups you and I have discussed — left behind sparse and somewhat indecipherable remains. So we can project whatever we want onto them. A most offensive recent instance of this is Thomas Cahill’s bestseller How the Irish Saved Civilization, which contrasts the elfish, nature-lovin’ Patrick (“Please. Call me Pat.”) with the dark, obsessed and se%ually repressive Augustine (imagine Simon Bar Sinister and Dick Dastardly from the old Saturday-morning cartoons). I don’t think any of these Celtic fantasists really want to live by the ancient Irish penitential books. Gosh, I sure don’t.

I haven’t read a whole lot in this area, but I’ll scan the shelves for some good titles for you. A scholar I trust recommends Patrick: The Pilgrim Apostle of Ireland, a recent scholarly biography of the Godfather of Green Beer.

I found this article interesting in light of the recent “Journey Home” discussions with Anglican converts in Britain. When I lived in Britain, I understood that a common perception is that at least some of what keeps some Anglicans from returning home to Rome is the belief that the early Celtic monks had the true religion, that their differences with Rome were more than just differences over human tradition. I’d like to learn more about the practices of the early Celts (i.e. Columba, Aidan). Can you suggest any books, or possibly feature a blog item on what were the differences between Celtic Britain and that established by St. Augustine of Canterbury? Did both sides have the same Sacred Tradition?

Again, thanks for sharing so much of your knowledge with us! The Lord has truly blessed you with so many gifts. I appreciate your honesty and humility.

Pilgrim pal,

Maryella Hierholzer