THE CELTIC CHURCH

By Elise Cormode
13 October 1992

            Celtic Christianity has always held a fascination for some because of its difference from mainline Catholic Christianity.  Indeed, for a time, the independent British churches of the early middle ages, with their tendencies toward asceticism and strong missionary convictions, held out vibrant example for the rest of Christendom.  In one of the ironic circles of history, this church helped evangelize the Jutes, Angles and Saxons who had pushed the Celtic people off the continent and later out of south-eastern Britain.  However, by the 1200s the Celtic Church had become absorbed into the Church of Rome.

            The term "Celtic Christianity" is usually applied to the Christian community which existed in the British Isles prior to the mission of St. Augustine (A.D. 596-7), and that which functioned independently of the Anglo-Roman Church after that point (Zimmer, p.468).  It is thought to have been founded in the second or third century by missionaries from either Rome or Gaul (ODCC, p.256).  Some scholars feel that with Roman travel, there may have been Christians in Britain in the first century, although there was no organized church per se.  As Zimmer puts it, "Had there been organized or individual missionary effort, tradion would have preserved the names" (p.468).  Interestingly enough, tradition does maintain that Joseph of Arimathea, fleeing Palestine, established the church at Glastonbury (McNeill, p.17), although this is doubtful (the story is used now and again when distance from Rome is beneficial to the British). 

            Regardless of origin, the Celtic Church was well enough established by the fourth century to send delegates to the Synod of Arles in 314 (regarding the Donatist problem) and the Council of Aruminum (Rimini) in 359 (regarding the Arian heresy), and obviously considered itself and active member of the Church at large (Zimmer, p.468).  However, the early Celtic Church is also thought to have been confined to the lower classes until the late fourth century when evidence appears that it spread to more wealthy citizens and the army (ODCC, p.256).

            The Celtic Church appears to have been relatively unaffected by the multiple heresies that plagued the early church in and around the Mediterranean.  Pelaguis was a Briton, but Pelagianism made no real impact there before 421 when several of his followers sought refuge in Britain and began to teach (ODCC, p.257).  It is not that the Celtic Church was out of touch with the continent.  Germanus of Auxerre (who is said to have been the teacher of Patrick, missionary to Ireland and Illtud, missionary to Wales), twice visited Britain to combat Pelagianism in 429 and 447, but problems were relatively minor (ODCC, p.552).

            Darkness fell on Christian Britain when the waves of Saxon invasion in the fifth century "submerged Celtic culture" (ODCC, p.257) and destroyed the Celtic Church in the territory they occupied.  Christianity survived in the mountains of Cornwall and Wales, however, it was cut off from the continent; thus prompting Gregory the Great to feel the Church needed to be reestablished in Britain.  He sent Augustine who to that point had been the Prior of St. Andrew's Monastery in Rome.  Augustine landed at Kent in the summer of 597 and within a few months, King Ethelbert of Kent formally adopted Christianity.  His wife, Bertha, daughter of Charibert, a Frankish King, was already a Christian.  The Franks at that time were predominately Christian and Charibert insisted his daughter be allowed to continue to practice her faith among the Jutes, who along with the Anglo-Saxons, ruled Britain south of the Humber River (ODCC, p.456).  Unlike the Romanized Celts they had displaced, they were not Christian before Ethelbert's conversion.  Within a year 10 000 Anglo-Saxons had been baptized (Hecht, p.354).   Around 603 Augustine, now Archbishop of Canterbury, attempted to reach an agreement with the Celtic Churches on matters of discipline and practice, but failed (ODCC, p.106).

            The separation the Celtic churches had experienced in the fifth and sixth centuries was part of the reason they found it hard to accept what Roman Christianity had become when they were approached by Augustine.  The Synod of Whitby (A.D. 664) partially bridged that gap, with Celts of northern Britain accepting Roman jurisdiction (Hecht, p.354), although independent churches in Wales and Ireland remained for many years (ODCC, p.257).

            Christianity first came to the the southern part of what is now England with Romans.  The conversion of Scotland, Ireland and the many small islands to the north was the work of Celtic missionaries.  Having been pushed out of the south, they re-entered Britain from the north. One of these was Ninian, the first recorded Christian missionary to Scotland.  He lived between 360 and 432.  Some accounts say he was the son of Christian Briton chieftain, who, after making a pilgrimage to Rome, returned to work among the Picts.  Reliably, he was the first bishop of Galloway (that part of Scotland above the Solway Firth that reaches toward Ireland).  He established a church and monastery at Whithorn, Caledonia (Scotland), so named because it was a whitewashed stone building, a break with the British tradition of wooden churches.  By the sixth century it had become a leading centre of Anglo-Saxon monasticism.  Ninian had great success among the Celts in the area, and somewhat less influence on the Picts, although he paved the way for the later efforts of Columba and Kentigern (E.B., Vol 8, p.719).

            Christianity was more widely spread and became more established through the work of Celtic clergy coming  to Caledonia with the Scots settlers from Ireland.  The best known of these missionaries was Columba, who established a monastery at Iona, an island about half way up Scotland's west coast (much further north than Ninian's work at Whithorn) in 565.  He did a lot of work among the Picts, as well as supporting the Scots' king Aidan (Simpson, p.109).

            Aidan, in turn, and his successor, Cuthbert (Hecht, p.354), established the Celtic Church in Northumbria (the northern most part of what is now England) in the 630's (note that this is after the start of Augustine's Roman work in the south; Celtic and Roman monks met each other part way across the island!).  In 644 (at the Synod of Whitby) the king of Northumbria was forced to chose between Celtic and Roman forms of Christianity.  He chose Roman, although the Scots and Picts remained Celtic.  They adopted some Roman standards in the eighth century (i.e. the dating of Easter), but for all intent and purposes remained Celtic until the eleventh century, as the Celtic pattern better suited the tribal nature of the people (Simpson, p.109).  This tribal nature was probably part of the reason the episcopal organization the Patrick (probably the most famous name attached to Celtic Christianity) tried to set up in Ireland never really took a strong hold.  Although the Irish church respected the foundation of Peter in the church at Rome, it "pursued its own separate trajectory" (Herrin, p.609).

            There are two very notable elements of Celtic Christianity.  One was its highly ascetic monasticism.  The monasteries of northwestern Ireland and Scotland were inspired by those in Egypt, and observed strict penitential discipline.  To avoid the kind of attacks that were problematic for Italian monasteries, these Celtic institutions often sought secular protection. (Herrin, p.609).

            The second notable feature of Celtic Christianity was its organization into communal groups, each headed by an abbot.  They did not recognize the authority of Rome.  They did nurture extraordinary missionary zeal.  Since the Celtic church did not have the territorial organization of the Roman church, it's "communities of missionary monks" (Simpson, p.109) were well suited to the task of evangelization.  Wandering Celtic missionaries were known as "peregrini" (wanderers).  In addition to their work in Ireland, Scotland and Northumbria, they also did extensive work in continental Europe.  This inspired the Anglo-Saxon Christians, many of whom joined them in the work on the continent, one of the results of which was the advent of Christianity in Scandinavia (Hecht, p.354).

            The strength and simplicity of the Celtic Christians was remarkable.  Once converted to "the Way", they remained faithful despite repeated invasion by non-Christian forces.  Their devotion and missionary convictions helped change the face of pre-Christian Europe.  Although formally absorbed into the Catholic Church by the twelfth century, elements of Celtic Christianity have remained and still serve as an example.

 

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