Editing Celtic Christianity (section)

==Other British and Irish traditions==
A number of other distinctive traditions and practices existed (or are taken to have existed) in Britain or Ireland, but are not known to have been in use across the entire region. Different writers and commenters have identified different traditions as representative of so-called Celtic Christianity.<ref>This list includes information from {{cite book |first=Charles |last=Plummer |chapter=Excursus on the Paschal Controversy and Tonsure |title=Venerablilis Baedae, Historiam Ecclesiasticam Gentis Anglorum |editor-first=Charles |editor-last=Plummer |orig-year=1892 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1975 |pages=348–354 }}</ref>

=== Alleged Coptic (Alexandrian) influences ===
One tradition traces elements of Celtic Christianity in Ireland and in Gaul to the [[Coptic Church]] which developed in and around [[Alexandria]] in Egypt.<ref>
For example:
{{cite web
|last1                = Saxby
|first1               = Geoffrey
|title                = The Celts and Copts and St Anthony - Notes on pre-Augustine Coptic and Celtic churches
|url                  = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344691781_The_Celts_and_Copts_and_St_Anthony_-_Notes_on_pre-Augustine_Coptic_and_Celtic_churches/link/5f89aada299bf1b53e2c1d6a/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19
|website              = ResearchGate
|publication-date     = October 2020
|access-date          = 4 March 2025
|quote                = The ancient monastic order, the [[Culdees]] appear to have had their roots in the Egyptian ancestry of the Celtic church.  This was acknowledged by, the English scholar-monk [[Alcuin]] who, in a letter to Charlemagne described the Celtic Culdees as {{lang | la | pueri Egyptiaci}}.  There were possible apostolic connections [...]. 
}}
</ref>

===Monasticism===
[[Image:National Library of Ireland MS G10 p24.jpg|thumb|right|Excerpt from the [[Martyrology of Oengus]]]]
Monastic spirituality came to Britain and then Ireland from Gaul, by way of [[Lérins Abbey | Lérins]], Tours, and Auxerre. Its spirituality was heavily influenced by the [[Desert Fathers]]. According to Richard Woods, the familial, democratic, and decentralized aspects of Egyptian Christianity were better suited to structures and values of Celtic culture than was a legalistic diocesan form.<ref name=woods/> Monasteries tended to be cenobitical in that monks lived in separate cells but came together for common prayer, meals, and other functions. Some more austere ascetics became hermits living in remote locations in what came to be called the "green martyrdom".<ref name=woods/> An example of this would be Kevin of Glendalough and [[Cuthbert]] of [[Lindisfarne]].

One controversial belief is that the true ecclesiastical power in the Celtic world lay in the hands of [[abbots]] of monasteries, rather than bishops of [[dioceses]]. While this may have been the case for centuries in most of Ireland, it was never the rule throughout the Celtic world at large.<ref name=Corning1/><ref name=Koch433>{{harvnb|Koch|2006|p=433}}</ref> It is certain that the ideal of monasticism was universally esteemed in Celtic Christianity.<ref name=Herren13>{{harvnb|Herren|Brown|2002|p=13}}</ref> This was especially true in Ireland and areas evangelised by Irish missionaries, where monasteries and their abbots came to be vested with a great deal of ecclesiastical and secular power. Following the growth of the monastic movement in the 6th century, abbots controlled not only individual monasteries, but also expansive estates and the secular communities that tended them.<ref name=Hughes311312>{{harvnb|Hughes|2005|pp=311–312}}</ref> As monastics, abbots were not necessarily [[Holy Orders (Catholic Church)|ordained]] (i.e. they were not necessarily [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priests]] or bishops). They were usually descended from one of the many Irish royal families, and the founding regulations of the abbey sometimes specified that the abbacy should if possible be kept within one family lineage.<ref>[[Dáibhí Ó Cróinín|Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí]] in {{harvnb|Youngs|1989|pp=13–14}}</ref>

This focus on the monastery has led some scholars, most notably [[Kathleen Hughes (historian)|Kathleen Hughes]], to argue that the monastic system came to be the dominant ecclesiastical structure in the Irish church, essentially replacing the earlier [[Episcopal polity|episcopal structure]] of the type found in most of the rest of the Christian world.<ref name=Hughes311>{{harvnb|Hughes|2005|p=311 and note }}</ref> Hughes argued that the ''paruchia'', or network of monasteries attached to an [[abbey]], replaced the diocese as the chief administrative unit of the church, and the position of Abbot largely replaced that of bishop in authority and prominence.<ref>{{harvnb|Hughes|2005|p=312}}</ref> According to this model, bishops were still needed, since certain [[Sacraments (Catholic Church)|sacramental]] functions were reserved only for the ordained, but they had little authority in the ecclesiastical structure.<ref>{{harvnb|John|2000|pp=32–34}}</ref>

However, more recent scholarship, particularly the work of [[Donnchadh Ó Corráin]] and [[Richard Sharpe (historian)|Richard Sharpe]], has offered a more nuanced view of the interrelationships between the monastic system and the traditional Church structures.<ref name=Hughes311/> Sharpe argues that there is no evidence that the ''paruchia'' overrode the diocese, or that the abbot replaced the Bishop;<ref name=Herren13/> Bishops still exercised ultimate spiritual authority and remained in charge of the diocesan clergy.<ref name=Hughes311/> But either way, the monastic ideal was regarded as the utmost expression of the Christian life.<ref name=Herren13/>

The focus on powerful abbots and monasteries was limited to the Irish Church, however, and not in Britain. The British church employed an episcopal structure corresponding closely to the model used elsewhere in the Christian world.<ref name=Corning1/><ref name=Koch433/>

Irish monasticism was notable for its permeability. In permeable monasticism, people were able to move freely in and out of the monastic system at different points of life. Young boys and girls would enter the system to pursue Latin scholarship.  Students would sometimes travel from faraway lands to enter the Irish monasteries. When these students became adults, they would leave the monastery to live out their lives. Eventually, these people would retire back to secure community provided by the monastery and stay until their death. However, some would stay within the monastery and become leaders. Since most of the clergy were Irish, native traditions were well-respected. Permeable monasticism popularised the use of vernacular and helped mesh the norms of secular and monastic element in Ireland, unlike other parts of Europe where monasteries were more isolated. Examples of these intertwining motifs can be seen in the hagiographies of [[St. Brigid]] and [[St. Columba]].<ref name="de Paor 1958">{{cite book|last1=de Paor|first1=Máire|last2=de Paor|author1-link=Máire de Paor|first2=Liam|title=Early Christian Ireland: Ancient Peoples and Places|year=1958|publisher=Frederick A. Praeger}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2017}}

This willingness to learn, and also to teach, was a hallmark of the "permeable monasticism" that so characterised the Irish monastery. While a hermitage was still the highest form of dedication, the monasteries were very open to allowing students and children within the walls for an education, without requiring them to become monks. These students were then allowed to leave and live within the community, and were welcomed back in their old age to retire in peace. This style of monasticism allowed for the monastery to connect with, and become a part of, the community at large. The availability of the monks to the people was instrumental in converting Ireland from paganism to Christianity, allowing a blend of the two cultures.<ref name="de Paor 1958"/>{{Page needed|date=May 2017}}

====Wales====
{{main article|Clas (ecclesiastical settlement)}}
According to [[hagiography|hagiographies]] written some centuries later, [[Illtud]] and his pupils Saint David, Gildas, and [[Deiniol]] were leading figures in 6th-century Britain.

Not far from Llantwit Fawr stood [[Cadoc]]'s foundation of [[Llancarfan]], founded in the latter part of the fifth century. The son of [[Gwynllyw]], a prince of South Wales, who before his death renounced the world to lead an eremitical life, Cadoc followed his father's example and received the religious habit from St. Tathai, an Irish monk, superior of a small community at Swent near Chepstow, in Monmouthshire. Returning to his native county, Cadoc built a church and monastery, which was called Llancarfan, or the "Church of the Stags". Here he established a monastery, college and hospital. The spot at first seemed an impossible one, and an almost inaccessible marsh, but he and his monks drained and cultivated it, transforming it into one of the most famous religious houses in South Wales.<ref name=Chandlery>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15585a.htm |last=Chandlery |first=Peter |title=Welsh Monastic Foundations |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=15 |location=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |date=1912 |access-date=18 December 2015 }}</ref> His legend recounts that he daily fed a hundred clergy and a hundred soldiers, a hundred workmen, a hundred poor men, and the same number of widows. When thousands left the world and became monks, they very often did so as clansmen, dutifully following the example of their chief. Bishoprics, canonries, and parochial benefices passed from one to another member of the same family, and frequently from father to son. Their tribal character is a feature which Irish and Welsh monasteries had in common.<ref name="newell">{{cite book |last=Newell |first=E.J. |title=A History of the Welsh Church to the Dissolution of the Monasteries |date=1895 |publisher=Elliot Stock |location=London |pages=72 |language=en |chapter=Chapter III |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/historywelsh00neweuoft |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2017}}

Illtud, said to have been an [[Armorica]]n by descent, spent the first period of his religious life as a disciple of St. Cadoc at Llancarvan. He founded the monastery at Llantwit Major. The monastery stressed learning as well as devotion. One of his fellow students was [[Paul Aurelian]], a key figure in Cornish monasticism.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15582b.htm |last=Thurston |first=Herbert |title=Welsh Church |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=15 |location=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |date=1912 |access-date=19 November 2013 }}</ref> Gildas the Wise was invited by Cadoc to deliver lectures in the monastery and spent a year there, during which he made a copy of a book of the Gospels, long treasured in the church of St. Cadoc.<ref name=Chandlery/> One of the most notable pupils of Illtyd was St.&nbsp;[[Samson of Dol]], who lived for a time the life of a hermit in a cave near the river Severn before founding a monastery in [[Brittany#Religion|Brittany]].

St David established [[Monastery of Saint David, Wales|his monastery]] on a promontory on the western sea. It was well placed to be a centre of Insular Christianity. When [[Alfred the Great]] sought a scholar for his court, he summoned [[Asser]] of Saint David's. Contemporary with David were [[Saint Teilo]], Cadoc, [[Padarn]], [[Beuno]] and [[Tysilio]] among them. It was from Illtud and his successors that the Irish sought guidance on matters of ritual and discipline. Finnian of Clonard studied under Cadoc at Llancarfan in [[Glamorgan]].

====Ireland====
{{further|Termonn}}
Finnian of Clonard is said to have trained the [[Twelve Apostles of Ireland]] at [[Clonard Abbey]]. 
[[File:BookMullingFol193StJohnPortrait.jpg|thumb|[[John the Evangelist|Saint John]], [[evangelist portrait]] from the [[Book of Mulling]], Irish, late 8th century]]
The achievements of [[insular art]], in [[illuminated manuscript]]s like the [[Book of Kells]], [[high cross]]es, and metalwork like the [[Ardagh Chalice]] remain very well known, and in the case of manuscript decoration had a profound influence on Western medieval art.<ref>{{harvnb|Nordenfalk|1977}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}; {{harvnb|Pächt|1986}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> The manuscripts were certainly produced by and for monasteries, and the evidence suggests that metalwork was produced in both monastic and royal workshops, perhaps as well as secular commercial ones.<ref>{{harvnb|Youngs|1989|pp=15–16, 125}}</ref>

In the 6th and 7th centuries, Irish monks established monastic institutions in parts of modern-day Scotland (especially Columba, also known as ''Colmcille'' or, in [[Old Irish]], ''Colum Cille''), and on the [[Continental Europe|continent]], particularly in Gaul (especially Columbanus). Monks from Iona Abbey under [[Aidan of Lindisfarne|St. Aidan]] founded the See of Lindisfarne in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria in 635, whence Gaelic-Irish practice heavily influenced northern England.

Irish monks also founded monasteries across the continent, exerting influence greater than many more ancient continental centres.<ref>{{harvnb|John|2000|p=36}}</ref> The first issuance of a papal privilege granting a monastery freedom from episcopal oversight was that of Pope Honorius I to [[Bobbio Abbey]], one of Columbanus's institutions.<ref>{{harvnb|John|2000|p=37}}</ref>

At least in Ireland, the monastic system became increasingly secularised from the 8th century, as close ties between ruling families and monasteries became apparent. The major monasteries were now wealthy in land and had political importance. On occasion they made war either upon each other or took part in secular wars – a battle in 764 is supposed to have killed 200 from [[Durrow Abbey]] when they were defeated by [[Clonmacnoise]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hughes|2005|p=317}}</ref> From early periods the kin nature of many monasteries had meant that some married men were part of the community, supplying labour and with some rights, including in the election of abbots (but obliged to abstain from sex during fasting periods). Some abbacies passed from father to son, and then even grandsons.<ref>{{harvnb|Hughes|2005|pp=313, 316, 319}}</ref> A revival of the [[ascetic]] tradition came in the second half of the century{{which|date=November 2022}}, with the [[culdee]] or "clients ([[vassal]]s) of God" movement founding new monasteries detached from family groupings.<ref>{{harvnb|Hughes|2005|pp=319–320}}</ref>

===Rule of Columbanus===
The monasteries of the Irish missions, and many at home, adopted the Rule of Saint Columbanus, which was stricter than the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], the main alternative in the West.  In particular there was more [[fasting]] and an emphasis on [[corporal punishment]]. For some generations monks trained by Irish missionaries continued to use the Rule and to found new monasteries using it, but most converted to the Benedictine Rule over the 8th and 9th centuries.{{efn|The main source for Columbanus's life or vita is recorded by [[Jonas of Bobbio]], an Italian monk who entered the monastery in Bobbio in 618, three years after the Saint's death; Jonas wrote the life c. 643. This author lived during the abbacy of Attala, Columbanus's immediate successor, and his informants had been companions of the saint. Mabillon in the second volume of his "Acta Sanctorum O.S.B." gives the life in full, together with an appendix on the miracles of the saint, written by an anonymous member of the Bobbio community.}}

===Baptism===
Bede implies that in the time of Augustine of Canterbury, British churches used a baptismal rite that was in some way at variance with the Roman practice. According to Bede, the British Christians' failure to "complete" the sacrament of baptism was one of the three specific issues with British practice that Augustine could not overlook.<ref>{{harvnb|Lloyd|1912|p=175}}</ref> There is no indication as to how the baptism was "incomplete" according to the Roman custom. It may be that there was some difference in the [[confirmation]] rite, or that there was no confirmation at all.<ref name=Lloyd177/> At any rate, it is unlikely to have caused as much discord as the Easter controversy or the tonsure, as no other source mentions it.<ref name=Lloyd177/> As such there is no evidence that heterodox baptism figured in the practice of the Irish church.<ref name=Corning1/><ref name=Koch433/> The Celtic Christians may have used triple immersion in Baptism, and may have been slow to adopt infant baptism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nash |first=John F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TL1MAwAAQBAJ |title=The Sacramental Church: The Story of Anglo-Catholicism |date=2011-02-09 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-60899-789-3 |language=en}}</ref>

===Accusations of Judaizing===
A recurrent accusation levelled against the Irish throughout the Middle Ages is that they were [[Judaizers]] - that they observed certain religious rites after the manner of the Jews.<ref name="flech"/> The belief that Irish Christians were Judaizers can be observed in three main areas: the Easter Controversy, the notion that the Irish practised obsolete laws from the [[Old Testament]] and (not unrelated to this) the view that they adhered too closely to the Old Testament. Quite apart from the intricate theological concerns that underpinned the debate over Easter in early 7th-century Gaul, Columbanus also found himself accused of [[Quartodecimanism]], a heresy whose central tenet was observing Easter on the same date as the eve of the Jewish [[Passover]], namely the fourteenth day of the Jewish lunar month of [[Nisan]]. Although this accusation was raised at a time of heightened political tensions between Columbanus and the Gallic bishops, some historians have cautioned that it ought not be dismissed as a mere ruse because the Gauls may have been genuinely worried about blurring the boundaries between Gallic Christians and their Jewish neighbours.<ref>{{harvnb|Stancliffe|1992|pp=211–12}}</ref> That the Irish practised obsolete Old Testament laws is another accusation that repeats itself a number of times in the early Middle Ages, most famously in the case of the 8th-century Irish charismatic preacher, [[Clement Scotus I]] (fl. 745), who was condemned as a heretic, in part for urging followers to follow Old Testament law in such controversial matters as obliging a man to marry his widowed sister-in-law upon his brother's death.<ref name="Meeder">{{harvnb|Meeder|2011|pp=251–80}}</ref> One example for the Irish tendency to adhere closely to the Old Testament is the ''Collectio canonum Hibernensis'', a late 7th- or early 8th-century Irish canon law collection which was the first text of church law to draw heavily on the Bible, and in particular the Old Testament. In Scotland similar accusations surround the supposed [[Scottish pork taboo|cultural taboo concerning pork]]. The Celtic Church is also thought to have observed the [[Sabbatarianism|seventh day as the Sabbath]].<ref>{{Cite book |last =Flick |first =A. C. |title =The Rise of the Medieval Church |publisher =G. P. Putnam's Sons |year =1909 |location =New York and London |pages=237}}</ref>