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The Culdees (Irish: Céilí Dé, lit. 'Spouses of God'; pronounced [ceːlʲiː dʲeː]) were members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and then in Scotland, subsequently attached to cathedral or collegiate churches; they lived in monastic fashion though not taking monastic vows.[1]
According to the Swiss theologian Philip Schaff, the term Culdee or Ceile De, or Kaledei, first appeared in the 8th century. While "giving rise to much controversy and untenable theories", it probably means servants or worshippers of God. The term was applied to anchorites, who, in entire seclusion from society, sought the perfection of sanctity. They afterward associated themselves into communities of hermits and were finally brought under canonical rule along with the secular clergy. It was at the time the name Culdee became almost synonymous with secular canon.[2]
According to François Bonifas, however, the Culdean Church was founded in the 2nd century and restored by Saint Patrick in Ireland in the 5th century.[3]
Ireland
In the course of the 9th century, nine places in Ireland are mentioned (including Armagh, Clonmacnoise, Clones, Devenish and Sligo) where communities of Culdees were established.[4]
Óengus the Culdee lived in the last quarter of the 8th century and is best known as the author of the Félire Óengusso, "the Martyrology of Óengus". He founded Dísert Óengusa near Croom in AD 780. Maelruan, under whom Oengus lived, drew up a rule for the Culdees of Tallaght that prescribed their prayers, fasts, devotions, confession, and penances, but there is no evidence that this rule was widely accepted even in the other Culdean establishments. Fedelmid mac Crimthainn king of Munster (820–846) was said to have been a prominent Culdee.[5]
According to William Reeves, they were analogous to secular canons and held an intermediate position between the monastic and parochial clergy. In Armagh, they were presided over by a Prior and numbered about twelve. They were the officiating clergy of the churches and became the standing ministers of the cathedral. The maintenance of divine service, and in particular, the practice of choral worship, seems to have been their special function and made them an important element of the cathedral economy.[6]
However, after the death of Maelruan in 792, Tallaght is forgotten, and the name Ceile-De disappears from the Irish annals until 919, when the Four Masters record that Armagh was plundered by the Danes but that the houses of prayer, "with the people of God, that is Ceile-De", were spared. Subsequent entries in the annals show that there were Culdees at Clondalkin, at Monahincha in Tipperary, and at Scattery Island.[1]
The Danish wars affected the Culdee houses. Clondalkin and Clones disappeared altogether. At Clonmacnoise, as early as the eleventh century, the Culdees were laymen and married, while those at Monahincha and Scattery Island, being utterly corrupt and unable, or unwilling, to reform, gave way to the regular canons. At Armagh, regular canons were introduced into the cathedral church in the twelfth century and took precedence over the Culdees, six in number, a prior and five vicars. These still continued a corporate existence, charged with the celebration of the Divine offices and the care of the church building: they had separate lands and sometimes charge of parishes. When a chapter was formed, about 1160, the prior usually filled the office of precentor, his brethren being vicars choral, and himself ranking in the chapter next to the chancellor. He was elected by his brother Culdees and confirmed by the primate, and had a voice in the election of the archbishop by virtue of his position in the chapter.[1]
As Ulster was the last of the Irish provinces to be brought effectually under English rule the Armagh Culdees long outlived their brethren throughout Ireland. The Culdees of Armagh endured until the dissolution in 1541 and enjoyed a fleeting resurrection in 1627, soon after which their ancient property passed to the vicars choral of the cathedral.[4][6]
Scotland
In Scotland, Culdees were more numerous than in Ireland: thirteen monastic establishments were peopled by them, eight in connection with cathedrals. The Ionan monks had been expelled by the Pictish king Nechtan son of Derile in 717. There is no mention of any Culdees at any Columban monastery, either in Ireland or in Scotland, until long after Columba's time: in 1164 that Culdees are mentioned as being in Iona but in a subordinate position.[7] The Culdee of Loch Leven lived on St Serf's Inch, which had been given them by a Pictish prince, Brude, about 700.[8] In 1093, they surrendered their island to the bishop of St Andrews in return for perpetual food and clothing but Robert, the bishop in 1144, handed over all their vestments, books, and other property, with the island, to the newly founded Canons Regular, in which the Culdees were likely incorporated.[4]
The Culdee chapel in St Andrews in Fife can be seen to the north-east of its ruined cathedral and city wall. It is dedicated to "St Mary on the Rock" and is cruciform. It is used by the local St Andrews churches for their Easter morning service. In the early days there were several Culdee establishments in Fife, probably small rude structures accommodating 30 or 40 worshippers, and possibly such a structure stood at or near the present church. In 1075 AD, the foundation charter of Dunfermline Church was granted by King Malcolm III, and amongst the possessions, he bestowed on the church was the Shire of Kirkcaladinit, as Kirkcaldy was then known.[9] Crínán of Dunkeld, the grandfather of Máel Coluim III, was a lay abbot, and tradition says that even the clerical members were married, though unlike the priests of the Eastern Orthodox Church, they lived apart from their wives during their term of sacerdotal service.[4]
The pictures that we have of Culdee life in the 12th century vary considerably. The chief houses in Scotland were at St Andrews, Scone, Dunkeld, Lochleven, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, Abernethy and Brechin. Each was an independent establishment controlled entirely by its own abbot and apparently divided into two sections, one priestly and the other lay. Culdee priests were allowed to marry. At St Andrews about the year 1100, there were thirteen Culdees holding office by hereditary tenure, some apparently paying more regard to their own prosperity than to the services of the church or the needs of the populace. At Loch Leven, there is no trace of such partial independence.[4]
Nineteenth Century Scottish historian of religion and Presbyterian minister James Aitken Wylie asserted in his History of the Scottish Nation, Vol. III., "The 12th century, particularly in Scotland and Brittany, was a time when two Christian faiths of different origins were contending for possession of the land, the Roman Church and the old Celtic Rite. The age was a sort of borderland between Culdeeism and Romanism. The two met and mingled often in the same monastery, and the religious belief of the nation was a mumble of superstitious doctrines and a few scriptural truths".[citation needed]
A controversial movement to put Scotland's church under the authority of Rome was inaugurated by Malcolm III's wife, Queen Margaret and carried through by her sons Alexander I and David I. Gradually the whole position passed into the hands of Thurgot and his successors in the bishopric. Canons Regular were instituted and some of the Culdees joined the Roman Catholic church. Those who declined were allowed a life-rent of their revenues and lingered on as a separate but ever-dwindling body till the beginning of the 14th century when excluded from voting at the election of the bishop, they disappear from history. In the same fashion the Culdee of Monymusk, originally perhaps a colony from St Andrews, became Canons Regular of the Augustinian order early in the 13th century, and those of Abernethy in 1273. At Brechin, famous like Abernethy for its round tower, the Culdee prior and his monks helped to form the chapter of the diocese founded by David I in 1145, though the name persisted for a generation or two.[4]
By the end of the thirteenth century, most Scots Culdee houses had disappeared. Some, like Dunkeld and Abernethy, were superseded by regular canons: others, like Brechin and Dunblane, were extinguished with the introduction of cathedral chapters. One at least, Monifieth, passed into the hands of laymen. At St Andrews, they lived on side by side with the regular canons and still clung to their ancient privilege of electing the archbishop. But their claim was disallowed at Rome, and in 1273 they were debarred even from voting. They continued to be mentioned up until 1332 in the records of St Andrews, where they "formed a small college of highly-placed secular clerks closely connected with the bishop and the king".[10]
England
Similar absorptions no doubt account for the disappearance of the Culdees of York, the only English establishment that uses the name, borne by the canons of St Peter's about 925 where they performed in the tenth century the double duty of officiating in the cathedral church and of relieving the sick and poor. When a new cathedral arose under a Norman archbishop, they ceased their connection with the cathedral, but, helped by donations, continued to relieve the destitute. The date at which they finally disappeared is unknown.[citation needed] These seem to be the only cases where the term "Culdee" is found in England.[4]
Wales
The term "Culdee" is rarely found in Wales. We do not know the fate of the Culdean house that existed at Snowdon and Bardsey Island in north Wales in the days of Giraldus Cambrensis, mentioned (c. 1190) in Speculum Ecclesiae and Itinerarium respectively. The former community was, he says, sorely oppressed by the covetous Cistercians.[4]
Hector Boece in his Latin history of Scotland (1516), makes the Culdees of the 9th to the 12th century the direct successors of the Irish and Ionan monasticism of the 6th to the 8th century. Some have suggested that these views were disproved by William Reeves (1815–1892), bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore.[4] James A. Wylie (1808–1890) makes a strong case that the Culdees (Keledei) of Scotland are related to the Celtic Christian Pelagian spirituality of the monks of Iona.[citation needed]
Reeves suggests that Maelruan may have been aware of the establishment of canons in Metz by Archbishop Chrodegang, (died 766), as an intermediate class between monks and secular priests, adopting the discipline of the monastic system, without the vows, and discharging the offices of ministers in various churches.[11]
Early Culdee Sites
Tallaght Abbey became the mother house of the Culdee (Céile Dé) movement. Tallaght or Tamlacht in Irish means 'burial ground', it was a pagan plague-burial ground that was connected with the people of Parthalón. It was such an important institution that it and the monastery at Finglas were known as the "two eyes of Ireland". Saint Máel Ruain was founder and abbot-bishop of the monastery of Tallaght (Co. Dublin, Ireland). He had been a disciple of Óengus the Culdee, a son of a Óengobann, a king of Dál nAraidi. The monastery produced a comprehensive martyrology of Irish Culdee Saints and some non-Irish Saints ina manuscript known as the Félire Óengusso Céli Dé in Tallaght Monastery. Today St. Maelruain's stands on the grounds the original monastery once stood.[12] Máel Ruain and Óengus were said to have been the authors of a text, which sets out the rule of the Céilí Dé monks.[13][14] One of the earliest Celtic Rite books, the Stowe Missal was completed in Tallaght Monastery, not long after the death of Saint Máel Ruain and then carried by an anchorite called Máel Dithruib to the monasteries at Terryglass and Lorrha. Saint Máel Ruain was known to be a Anam Cara to this same abbot, Máel Dithruib of Terryglass.[15] The abecedarian hymn of Archangelum mirum magnum is attributed to Mael Ruain. The Hiberno-Latin hymn is in praise of St. Michael, whose name is associated with the founding of the Tallaght Monastery, a copy of the song is found in Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek.[16]
Other Culdee monasteries and saints
Armagh (Ard Mhacha)
Some of the locations of the earliest Culdee churches were sited near or on top of what used to be important Pre-Christian sites. In Ireland, a notable example is when Saint Patrick choose to build his first stone church in Ireland, he decided to build it as close as possible to the Ancient Druidic site of Emain Macha. The oldest of the two Cathedrals in Armagh is located on a steep sided hill which Queen Macha allegedly had chosen as a defence of the ancient Fortress at Emain Macha in Pre-Christian times.[17]
Blathmac
The find in 1953 of the old Irish poems of Blathmac, constituted the largest ever addition of text to the corpus of Early Irish, some parts of it also still remain untranslated and unpublished due to its poor condition. They were discovered among a collection of ancient seventeenth century manuscripts, which had once belonged to the Brehon and scribe Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, it was found by a twentieth century [clarification needed] Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies scholar, Nessa Ní Shéaghdha. The poems were edited and published eleven years later by James Carney in Vol. 47 of the Irish Texts Society monographs. They date back to the 8th century, possibly earlier and consisted of detailed references to the importance Christ and to the Virgin Mary. Carney had suggested that Blathmac may have originally come from filí and druidic background but later been a convert to become part of the Culdee Reform movement through a detailed study of the structure of his poetry, which resembled in style to the Félire Óengusso.[18][19]
Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis)
An important Culdee monastery was Clonmacnoise: the Annals of the Four Masters mention Conn na mbocht (Conn of the Paupers), who was head of the Culdees and Bishop of Clonmacnoise. Much of the information of Pagan or Pre-Christian Ireland was transferred into text by monks and scholars for the first time at Clonmacnoise from what had previously been Orally passed down generations. With the arrival of the Christian age, the Martyrology of Oengus highlighted the growing emergence of the religious power of Clonmacnoise in contrast at that time to the diminishing importance of the Pre-Christian site of the Cruachan. The Rathcroghan Pagan tale of the Táin Bó Cúailnge was first written down by Celtic Monks at Clonmacnoise, Lebor na hUidre also has references to the Pre-Christian site of Cruachan, one of the key scribes was Máel Muire mac Céilechair. Other manuscripts originating or connected with Clonmacnoise include, Chronicon Scotorum, Book of Lecan and Annals of Tigernach.
In the Book of Lecan it describes a particular story of the last Pagan King in Ireland Diarmait mac Cerbaill and details about his subsequent death. There was a prophecy by the Kings druid Bec mac Dé, who told of a threefold death he uttered on the day of his death, when he meet Colum Cille. Diarmait mac Cerbaill was murdered by the then king of Cruthin, Áed Dub mac Suibni. According to some early texts Irish kings Diarmait mac Cerbaill and Muirchertach mac Ercae may have both died a threefold death on Samhain, which may be linked to human sacrifice, similar to the dead victims discovered in Irish bogs, it was a ritual in ancient Ireland to sacrifice a king or someone of high status around the time of Samhain, which according to Annals of the Four Masters it is an ancient tradition that goes back to the worship of Crom Cruach, a Celtic god associated with the harvest, Samhain and he is also associated to the headless horse man or Dullahan, as part of the Sídhe in Irish Mythology.
Soon after Diarmait's death Áed fled to the island of Tiree, where it was said he trained to be a Culdee priest, much to the disgust of both Columba and Adomnán. Columba himself on hearing the news had prophesied by means of a curse that a threefold death would happen to the bloody murderer Áed Dub mac Suibni.[20][21]
Devenish Island (Damh Inis)
A Culdee (Céilí Dé) community on Devenish Island, Lough Erne in Fermanagh was founded by Saint Molaise, it consisted of an oratory and Round tower. The Devenish Island carried on the Pre-Christian tradition of Stone Carved heads structures that existed on the Pagan Boa Island also on Lough Erne, the lake itself bursts with legend, with its own banshee and ghosts. According to much older pre-Christian folklore the first ever settlement on the Island was said to have been established by Ollamh Fodhla.[22][23]
St. Seachnall's Church, Dunshaughlin (Cill Sechnaill, Dún Seachlainn)
Sechnall (Secundinus) was the founder and patron saint of Domhnach Sechnaill, Co. Meath, who went down in medieval tradition as a disciple of St Patrick and one of the first bishops of Armagh. Although modern historians have disputed his connection with St Patrick and suggested this was later tradition in fact invented by Armagh historians in favour of their patron saint and that Secundinus is more likely to have been a separate missionary, possibly a companion of Palladius.
Secundinus was the author of an early Latin hymn in praise of St Patrick, known as Audite Omnes Amantes ("Hear ye, All lovers") or the Hymn of Secundinus written in trochaic septenarius, the earliest copy of which is found in the late 7th-century Antiphonary of Bangor.
Fore Abbey (Mainistir Fhobhair)
The Christian monastery at Fore was founded by St Feichin, it was estimated that there were as many as 300 monks and 2000 students in residence. Today, all that remains is the pre-Norman building of St Feichin's Church, which was built in the 12th century, on top of the original monastery, the ruins are located near the passage tomb and megalithic at Loughcrew Cairns. It was claimed that St Feichin once acted as a mediator between the Muimne, Luigne and Laigne of Connacht and Meath. The saint's name may derive from the old Irish word for fiach, which means raven. The name is explained in this manner in a note added to the Félire Óengusso, which says that he received this name when his mother saw him gnawing on a bone and exclaimed "my little raven!" The place name of "Fore" is the anglicised version of the Irish "Fobhar", meaning "water-springs". There are two wells associated with St Feichin: one was called Doaghfeighin well and the other Tobernacogany from the Irish meaning "Well of the Kitchen".
Scattery Island (Inis Cathaigh)
A Céile Dé Monastery existed on Scattery Island or Inis Cathaigh which consisted of a monastery and Round Tower. The island was once the hermitage of Senán mac Geircinn, a 6th-century saint. The saint's name of Senan is said to have derived from the Christianised and masculinised version of Sionann (pronounced Shannon), a pagan River Goddess associated with the source of the River Shannon. The Old Irish word associated with the name of the island is cathach, also called a Phéist. The word cathach translates as "sea serpent", which formed part of the Aos sí in Irish folklore; it was a legendary sea monster going back to Pre-Christian times that once inhabited the island and terrorised the people on the island. Cathach is also associated with the word "battle" which Saint Senan fought and won against the giant serpent. According to legend the cathach advanced "its eyes flashing flame, with fiery breath, spitting venom and opening its horrible jaws", but Senan made the sign of the cross, and the beast collapsed and was chained and thrown into the dark waters of Doolough Lake.
A hagiography of Saint Senan and Amra Senáin ("The Eulogy of Senán") is contained within the Lebar Brec manuscript and also it contains explicit information such as the sex of the cathach that had lived on the island. The poetic eulogy was written by a friend of St Senan called Dallán Forgaill, who was a Chief Ollam of Ireland. Once Senan had expelled the Cathach, he drove him from Scattery into the dark waters of Doolough Lake. A local chieftain called Mac Tail, hired a druid to put a spell on the saint. However, as the druid landed on a nearby island, a tidal wave enveloped him and swept him to his death. The island is still pointed out as Carraig a Draoi or The Druid's Rock. It lies between Hog Island and Scattery, and can be seen at low tide.[24][25]
In the Psalter Cathach of St. Columba, the opening paragraph letter of Q (Qui Habitat) is decoratively depicted a serpent like head of a fishy beast with its mouth open and wearing a collared cross, the large letter looks like a lower case "g" but is in fact a "q" for "Qui habitat", the opening words of Psalm 91 which translate as "He who dwells". The psaltar was the central reason for what was known as the Battle of the Book near Benbulbin. Like Saint Senan, in Scottish folklore Saint Columba had a very similar encounter with a watery beast in the form of the Loch Ness monster in AD 565.
Another important monk who also trained and later served as bishop of Inis Cathaigh after the passing of Saint Senan was Saint Áedán who had been a disciple of Saint Senan on the island. In the Félire Óengusso, Saint Aidan is described as Aedán in grían geldae, Inse Medcoit which translates as "Áedán the brilliant sun of Inis Medcoit", Inis Medcoit being the old Irish for Lindisfarne, an Old Irish form of the Cumbric spelling of Ynys Medcant, which was the language of the Hen Ogledd.
Culdees in Scotland
In Scotland a sacred pagan site had existed on the Island of Iona also known as Innis na Druineach (Isle of the Druids) before Saint Columba settled on the island and established a small Culdee hermitage. Later a significant figure in the 9th century Culdee movement in Scotland was Diarmait of Iona. Diarmait took over the abbacy of Iona at time when it was plunged into the depths of turmoil and facing uncertain future during early 9th century with the abbey being continuously attacked and pillaged by Viking Raids, many of the relics of Columba were transferred to Abbey of Kells, an abbacy that was refounded by Diarmait of Iona's predecessor Cellach Cellach mac Congaile. Although Kells Abbey had actually already been founded centuries before by Columba around 550 AD on the permission of the High King Diarmait mac Cerbaill, in the space of only a decade of the abbey's initial establishment, the same High king on the advice of his Brehon, passed a damning judgement against Columba over the copying of a Saint Finnian's book, which sparked the beginning of a period of huge upheaval for the monk, he instigated a bloody rebellion against the king which resulted in many deaths. After a period of deep reflection, Columba travelled to Inishmurray and confessed his guilt to an aged hermit and his Anam Cara called St Molaise, who told him in order to seek penance, he advised the monk to permanently leave his homeland and attempt to convert as many pagan people to the Christian faith as the 300 lives he lost as result of the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561. Not long after, Columba set sail to Dál Riata or Western Scotland and founded Iona Abbey in 563.[26][27]
In the late 9th century many of the Columban relics of Iona during the Viking raids went to Dunkeld, possibly firstly via Kells. The Lia Fáil, once used by Columba to inaugurate Áedán mac Gabráin, the King of Dál Riata, he performed what was said to be the first ever Christian anointment of an Irish or British king.[28] Áedán mac Gabráin was the first of a line of Scottish kings mentioned in The Prophecy of Berchán written by St Mobhi of Glasnevin. The stone of Destiny was later transferred in the 9th century due to the heavy Viking raids, from Iona to Dunkeld. The abbacy of Dunkeld had become for a short period the main seat of Power and Religion in Alba, the stone was later moved onto Atholl and finally to Scone Abbey. Scholars such as Thomas Owen Clancy credited Abbot Diarmait of Iona as being an instrumental figure in the spread of the Céli Dé church beyond Iona into the land of the Picts and Alba, the Céli Dé movement was seen as a reformed Post-Columban form of the Celtic Christian church. Diarmait of Iona had strong associations with the monastery of Tallaght, he is sometimes confused with a contemporary, disciple of Mael Ruain, a Culdee abbot called Diarmait mac Aeda Róin, of Castledermot, son of Áed Róin and a descendant of the Dál Fiatach mentioned in Unity of Mael Ruain.
Diarmait of Iona would have had the Old Gaelic title of Comarbae which was a special hereditary status initially applied to the Abbot of Iona in medieval Scotland. Generally an abbot considered to be a Comarba was regarded as Chief Bishop of the Kingdom and claimed certain rights and exemptions for themselves. The Abbots were in fact landowners and owned extensive lands known as Termonn, their tenants were afforded certain privileges based on the fact that the seating Abbot was of the same blood, a successor of the founding saint and a keeper of the relics of the founding Saint. The last Abbots of Iona to hold the title of Coarb was mostly likely Diarmait of Iona and his successor Indrechtach. The final Monks and the Columban Relics of Iona escaped to newly founded monasteries, the title of Coarb followed them onto these new monasteries such as Dunkeld. The position of Coarb was not necessary just confined to the abbots of Columba at Iona. It was applied to the Celtic Christian abbots related the principal saint in general, for example the Clan MacLea were the "Coarb of Saint Moluag" of Argyll. The Book of Armagh described St Patrick's, Comarba as being Torbach mac Gormáin. An Old Irish law tract exists on the relationship of the Celtic Christian church and early society called Córus Bésgnai which forms part of the Senchas Már.
The religious historian and antiquarian, Godfrey Higgins believed the Culdees were the last remains of the druids and that of the hereditary Abbot of Iona position of Coarb was related to the Phoenician tradition of the Corybantes, ancient people of the Cronus, like the priests of the Galli they worshipped Cybele, a goddess similar in many respects to Brigid, both representative of a Pagan Earth, Fetility and Mother Goddess. Corybantes were also associated with the Curetes or Kuretes, gods of the wild mountainside, inventors of the rustic arts of metalworking, shepherding, hunting and beekeeping. Many of the key abbeys and Priories in Scotland were founded and built on top of sites that were already Celtic Christian Culdee places of worship. A notable example is Culross Abbey, built on top of an ancient church already established by the Culdee of Saint Serf of St Serf's Inch. The name of Culross, comes from the Scottish Gaelic of ‘Cuileann Ros’ which relates to the Holly Tree, in plain English it translates as ‘Holly point. Many of the Culdee sites in both Ireland and Scotland may have been key Druidic places of worship in Pre Christian times, as indicated by the distinctive features or characteristics related the natural surrounding landscape in the Gaelic place names.
Iona Abbey
The founder of the Iona Abbey, Saint Columba, before traveling to Scotland, was under the care of Cruithnechán and he developed a deeply religious feeling which was to lead to such great results, and he received the name in Old Irish of Coluim-Cille meaning "Dove of the Cell", the word Cille meant an anchorite's cell, it only became associated with the broader meaning of "church" in a later form of Irish. According to the ancient Irish records in the Leabhar Breac, it was because he so often, he came from the cell in which he read his psalms to meet the children of the neighbourhood and the children would say: "Has our little Colum come today from the cell in Tir-Lughdech in Cinell Conaill?". While living at Iona, he also had his own wooden hermits cell located on the 'Tòrr an Aba' which translates to "the mound of the abbot". Coluim-Cille was later Latinised to Columba, the name is associated with broad categories of doves and pigeons, coincidently also in Hebrew the translation for dove is Iona which derives from the biblical god Yonah .[29][30]
Dunkeld
Saint Columba was a descendant of the royal dynasty Cenél Conaill similarly to the Culdee abbot of Dunkeld. The builder of Dunkeld Cathedral itself was Constantín mac Fergusa, it replaced the much earlier church built by Columba. The cathedral is commemorated by the Martyrology of Tallaght, which stated it as one of the principal Céli Dé monasteries of the day. As a patron of the Céli Dé, he was a key reformer for the movement in Dunkeld perhaps a collaborator of Abbot Diarmait of Iona, in the Martyrology it describes him as Constantin Brito no mac Fergusa do Cruithnechaib, i.e., a Briton, son of Fergus, of the Picts. When the kings of Dalriada were absorbed into the new unified Kingdom of Alba, the Tanist Stone was for a short period moved to Dunkeld and then later onto Scone Abbey.
Moot Hill
The druidic mound of Moot Hill, was the location for the Scottish Culdee's to build Scone Abbey(later owned by the Augustinian canons), today the Scone Palace is built on the land were the monastery once stood. Moot hill was similar to the Hill of Tara in its prehistory importance, Moot hill or Statute hill was known as a Brehon hill, a judicial place of assembly in pre-Christian times, its name has also been connected to the historical village of Muthill, an important Culdee centre. The name Muthill translated in Scottish gaelic to Maothail which means soft ground, possibly related to the Maigh Rein. The Maigh Rein consisted of a race of ancient people called the Conmhaícne who were heavily associated with Sliabh an Iarainn. In Celtic mythology, It was said the Tuatha de Danann, first arrived in Ireland on 1 May (Bealtaine) through a Féth fíada or "in dark clouds" over the mountain of Sliabh an Iarainn.[31]
Monymusk Priory
The earliest Christian missionaries to arrive in Monymusk in Aberdeenshire were the Culdees or 'Servants of God’, predating the Augustinians arrival and the building of Monymusk Priory. They were likely to be the followers of St. Ninian and his missionaries from Whithorn and into the land of the Picts. The name Monymusk derives from the Old Gaelic words "Muni or Muine muisc" which translates "noxious thicket or bush".The Culdee monks seem to have been an eremitical society of missionaries whose presence was felt in various parts of Europe and who objected to any form of conformity to a central ecclesiastical organisation. The Monymusk Reliquary is the most priceless surviving relic of the Celtic Church in Scotland. Originally it contained a bone of St. Columba, was venerated as a sacred relic and carried before the Scots army at Bannockburn. The earliest Culdee Prior of Monymusk, had the ancient Gaelic title of Máel Brigte or in the later Latinised translation of Bricius meaning "devotee of St. Brigit".
Fortingall
The village of Fortingall or in Gaelic Fartairchill, means "Escarpment Church", i.e., "church at the foot of an escarpment or steep slope". A Christian church was first founded in the village by Coeddi, bishop of Iona. In the grounds of the old church, there is what is estimated by some to be up to a 5000 years old yew tree, believed to be the oldest living tree in all of the British isles. Both the Gaelic pagan fire festivals of Samhain and Beltaine were celebrated at the nearby sacred mound of Càrn na Marbh, going back well before even the earliest Christian presence was established in the area.
Kingdom of the Rhinns
The Martyrology of Óengus gives details about the ancient Norse-Gael, Kingdom of the Rhinns also referred to as Na Renna or Kingdom of the isles, that once existed in the Western isles of Scotland and included other key locations along the Irish Sea. This kingdom includes the region of Galloway, a name that derives from the old Irish of ‘Gallgaidhel’, which means ‘foreigner (gall) living among the gaels (gaidhel)’, it referred to the population mix of Scandinavian and Gaelic ethnicity that inhabited Galloway in the Middle Ages. The Galloway area included a hammer-shaped peninsula in the extreme southwest of Wigtownshire in Scotland. The founding ruling dynasty of this Norse-Gael Kingdom was the powerful Uí Ímair or Dynasty of Ivar, founded by Ímar.
The 9th-century Félire Óengusso commoration of Saint Blane on the Isle of Bute, in which it described him as 'Blááni epscopi Cinn Garad i nGallgaedelaib', which translates as ‘Feast of Bláán, bishop of Kingarth in Gall-Ghàidheil', it seemed to suggest that at the time of Saint Blane in Kingarth and the Isle of Bute, the region was part of Na Renna and the Diocese of the Isles. The Norse-Gael, Kingdom of the Rhinns finally fell when the last king Magnus VI surrendered and conceded the Western Isles to the Kingdom of Scotland at the Treaty of Perth in 1266. Many of the kings of the Kingdom of the Isles are recorded in the Irish annals such as Annals of the Four Masters, Annals of Tigernach, Annals of Inisfallen and Senchus fer n-Alban.[32][33]
Some of the first Norse settlers on Orkney, Faroe's and Iceland were said to be Norse–Gaels, referred to as Vestmenn. When Scandinavians first set foot on these islands they found a community of Culdee monks, referred to as papar. Numerous place names in Orkney are named of these same eremitic Gaelic monks such as Pabbay,"Island of the papar (Culdee)" or Pabay.
Culdees in Wales and Cornwall
Although the name ‘Culdee’ is rarely used to refer to the Celtic Saints in Wales and Cornwall, many of them began as hermits, passed on pre-Christian druidic beliefs and traditions into the new Christian age. They originally lived as anchorites and anchoresses, established isolated retreats in the wilderness such as bogs, forests, and small offshore isles, generally in locations and places that held a significance going back to Druidic times, later these sites became major Celtic Christian monasteries. The most famous of the “insular” hubs of monastic life were on Anglesey and Bardsey. The Celtic Christian Church in Wales remained independent of the Holy See up to the late Middle Ages, it resisted any Gregorian reforms that Canterbury and Saint Augustine tried in impose on the early Welsh Church.
Saint David
Before the writings of St David's cult by chronicler Rhygyfarch in the 11th century, St David already had a significant reputation not only in Wales, but across the Irish Sea. The earliest known reference to the Saint David was to be found in the Catalogue of Irish Saints(AD730) as one of three Welsh saints along with Saint Cadog and Saint Gildas described as the ‘holy men of Britain’. The earliest recording of his feast day of the 1st Marsh was written in both the Latin Martyrology of Tallaght and the Old Irish Martyrology of the Félire Óengusso, both most likely the work of the same author, and certainly of the community of the Céli Dé of Tallaght around 800 AD. As early as the 9th century, the Celtic Culdee monks at Tallaght monastery referred to Saint David's old hermitage as ‘Dauid Cille Muni’ meaning David's cell of the thicket, in old Irish ‘Muni’ or ‘Muine’ (modern Irish) which translates to thicket or bush grove, from which came the cognate and old Welsh translation of ‘Mynyw’ and the Latin of ‘Menevia’. The title of ‘Mynyw’ was as much attributed to the actual Saint as to the place, it moved with him through his life from his earliest hermitage. It has been suggested he spent his infancy, was educated and established his earliest ascetic community at a place called Henfynyw, which in a mutated form means the Old (Hen) bush (Mynyw). The bishop of Mynyw can be traced right back to the Pre-Roman times and the ancient Celtic people of the Demetae also known as the Déisi, a race that once populated much of the Kingdom of Dyfed. In the Welsh triads, it mentions Mynyw as being one of the locations of the three courts of King Arthur, the other two being Celliwig and Pen Rhionydd.[34]
Officially the feast day of Saint David was first established around 10th century initially in the early writings of the Annales Cambriae and then formerly celebrated from the 12th century, when he was canonised by Pope Callixtus II in 1120. David was officially recognised at the Holy See by Pope Callixtus II in 1120, thanks to the work of Bernard (bishop of Menevia). The Cathedral of St Davids or Menevia, was Britain's smallest city and began life as a humble tiny hermit's cell situated beside the river Alun. The River Alun flows southwestwards to St Brides Bay, the bay's derives its name from the Welsh version of the name Saint Brigid called Sant Ffraid. Scholars such as Sabine Baring-Gould, had suggested contrary to the popular belief that the Welsh Brigid(Sant Ffraid) was distinct and not likely to be Brigit of Kildare. She was an Irish nun in legend that first landed from the sea on a floating piece turf at Glan Conwy, in North Wales. The Martyrology of Donegal described her as ‘Brigid of Cille Muine’, where she had her Monastic Cell, with a feast day of 12 November. To the North of the bay is St David's Head, which according to the Culhwch and Olwen, was the location where the mythical Wild boar of the Twrch Trwyth first landed after crossing the Irish sea from Ireland before setting out its eventful journey through south wales and on to Cornwall.[35]
The Welsh Celtic Scholar John Rhys had discussed a region just in the vicinity of St Davids or Mynyw, referred to in the Welsh Chronicle and the Synod of Chester as ‘Moni Iudeorum’. Rhys says that some scholars suggest this word, Iudeorum or Judeorum, may relate to the "Jutes," a Germanic tribe in Northern Europe, but that he believes such a view incorrect. Instead, Rhys put forward the view that they were of Canaanite Phoenicians origins, distantly related to ancient people of Munster and the Milesians race who had invaded Ireland and brought with them the Ogham Alphabet. The Demetae similar to other Celtic Briton tribes such as the Dumnonia were possibly descendants to the Phoenicians and have a lineage traced back to Hispania. The lands of Dumnonia were sometimes associated with the mythical islands of the Cassiterides such as the island of Ictis.[36][37]
Caldey Island
Caldey Island history stretches back to over 1500 years to when the first Celtic monastery was built there in the 5th century. The island was named Ynys Bŷr after Saint Pyr, the sixth century, Pyr is named as abbot of the monastery around the year 500 in the Life of St Samson, he replaced Samson of Dol, the son of Amon of Demetae and Anna of Gwent. Since the early 20th century it has been home to a group of Cistercian monks, who carried on the Celtic traditions that had existed. There is a Caldey Ogham Stone in St Illtyd's Church, part of the Old Priory on Caldey Island. The stone dates to 5th or 6th Century, and it contains inscriptions both in Latin and in the ancient Ogham script which originated in Ireland, has inscribed on it 'Magl Dubr' meaning ‘the tonsured servant of Dubricius’ made by St Samson Abbot of Caldey Island. The ogham stone would have belonged to the old Celtic Christian church that existed before the present chapel, it was dug up in the priory grounds in the 19th century.[38]
Sant Ffraid (Saint Brigid) and the Celtic Saints of North Wales
Sant Ffraid (Brigit) of North Wales was believed to be an Irish nun in legend that first landed from the sea on a floating piece turf at Glan Conwy. She also has strong connections with the island Anglesey. She is the patroness saint of Trearddur bay which had a similar myth to Glan Conwy, that she was said to have arrived from Ireland on a floating piece of turf. The River Braint on the Menai Straits in Anglesey shares its name with the Saint but was actually named after her much earlier pre-Christian predecessor the pagan goddesses of Brigid. An ancient piece of Welsh bardic poetry called ‘Gofara Braint’ describes the river overflowing and bursting its banks after the killing one of the last kings of the Brigantes called Cadwallon ap Cadfan. It depicts the old Celtic tradition that the king was married to the land and the river flooding its banks represents the land goddess in deep mourning at the news of his passing. The poem possibly dates back to an old oral bardic tradition in Wales and found as part of ‘The folds of the bards’ in the Book of Taliesin. The Celtic scholar D. A. Binchy put forward the theory that the Welsh word ‘Brenin’, instead of meaning ‘king’ had originally meant ‘a consort of the tribal goddess Brigantia’.[39][40] The rivers name ‘Afon Braint’ may also have originated from early Irish settlers who had colonised the North Wales during the Sub-Roman period. Celts tended to name their lakes and rivers after goddesses. The name of Llŷn Peninsula is thought to be of Irish origin. ‘Llŷn’ translates from the Old Irish word for a tribe of Irish called the Laigin, of which the province of Leinster also derives its name. Ptolemy called the peninsula Ganganorum Promontorium (English: Peninsula of the Gangani); the Gangani were a sea-mobile tribe of Irish Celts, with possibly strong connections with the Coriondi tribe associated with South Leinster. Writers such as Charles-Edwards, Waldman and Mason had suggested a Coriondi link with a Northern Celtic tribe of Ancient Britons called the Corionototae.
An important Celtic saint of Llŷn Peninsula called Saint Beuno was first registered as a Celtic Saint with a feast day 21 April in the ninth-century in both the Irish martyrologies of Tallaght and of Gorman. He established the monastery of Clynnog Fawr which translates into English to 'the place of the holly-trees', according to legend it was said on his death bed to have had visions of the ‘all the saints and druids’. St Beuno's well was traditionally used for the treatment of sick children, after bathing the treated child was carried to St Beuno's chapel and laid on rushes overnight on Beuno's tomb. Holy wells dedicated to Celtic saints or monasteries, in fact, would have once been connected with a Celtic goddess or female deity.[41]
Bardsley Island seems likely to have been a seat of the Culdees, or Colidei, the first religious recluses of Great Britain, who sought Islands and desert places as hermitages, so they might in security worship the true God. The Convent at Bardsey (Enlli) was one of the most ancient religious Institutions in North Wales, established by the king of Llŷn Einion Frenin, who also founded a College on that Island, about the middle of the 9th Century. Dubricius, Archbishop of Caerleon, who had resigned in favour of St Davids, retired to Bardsey, where he died about the year 612, from which circumstance, it is evident that there must have been a religious establishment here prior to that period. Gerald of Wales writing in Speculum Ecclesiae about 1220, used the term “coelibes sive coli dei” translates as “celibate or to worship God” to refer to the hermit Celtic monks of both Enlli as well as for the monks of Beddgelert, Coli dei (Anglicised as Culdees) "is not Latin as Gerald assumes, in translating it as worshipers of God. It comes from the Old Irish of Céilí Dé, meaning "servants of God".[42][43] In the old orchard next to the 13th century Christian monastery on the island was discovered in 1998 by Ian Sturrock what was later classed as ‘the rarest apple trees in the world’.
Historians such as John Koch, Eric P. Hamp and several others put forward the view that the broader regional name of Gwynedd was in fact linguistically related to the Old Irish word of "Féni", which was a word in ancient Ireland meaning a pure aboriginal people, similar to the word Goídel, it associates with a tribe that inhabit the woods and forests, a Freeholding (Féine) class of people and according to Lebor Gabála Érenn as the name ‘Féni’ suggests were distant descendants of the legendary figure of Fénius, alleged to be one of the mythical inventors of the tree alphabet called Ogham. In Primitive Irish the word ‘weidh-n-‘ meant "Forest People" or "Wild People", while in Proto-Indo-European a combination of gwyn (“white, fair”) and ‘weydh’ (“wood, wilderness”). The Welsh word for an Irishperson or Goidel was ‘Gwyddel’ which also has the double meaning in Welsh of "wild or barbarian". In Latin Gwynedd was called ‘Venedotia’ comes from the Brythonic of ‘Ueneda’ which means ‘Warrior Bands’, similar to the ‘Fianna’ who formed part of the Feni. Venedotia also possibly relates to the tribes of the Irish Venii and also to the British Venicones, an ancient Celtic tribe which once originated in what is today Fife, north of the Forth, a part of Scotland later associated with a strong tradition of providing the ancient legal office of "High Brithem" or in Latinised form of Justiciar of Scotia. The founding family of Earldom of Fife was Clan MacDuff, who were also the hereditary Abbots of the Culdee abbey at Abernethy, which features a Round tower, a typical landmark of many early Culdee monasteries. Scholars have suggested that 'Afarnach's hall' in the Old Welsh poem of the Pa gur was a reference to Abernethy mentioned as part of Arthurian legends, in the poem Arthur leads a band warriors against creatures of the otherworld similar to that depicted Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna in Irish mythology. The earliest reference to the town of the Venicones tribe was by Ptolemy as being ‘Orrea’ situated at Carpow, located on the same lands of Abernethy, once owned by a king of the Picts, Nechtan, also close to Pickish hill fort of Clatchard Craig, now controversially partially destroyed. During Roman times it was recorded as ‘Horrea Classis’ in the Ravenna Cosmography, a military stores base for the Roman fleet. The Venii tribe were also connected with what Ptolemy referred to them as the Venicnii in Donegal, they were identified being part of the Irish Feni, more tan likely related to the Northern Uí Néill. The Kingdom of Gwynedd was founded by the Venicones who were part of the Kingdom of Manaw Gododdin, north of the Forth. Brythonic-speaking, Kingdom of Manaw Gododdin would later become part of Hen Ogledd, the name ‘Manaw’ derives from the Celtic sea god Manann or Manawydan as known in Welsh mythology.[44] One of the earliest Kings of Gwynedd was the legendary High King known as Maelgwn which means in Middle Welsh name meaning 'Princely Hound or Warrior’, a great-grandson of Cunedda.
Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin seems to indicate that Niall of the Nine Hostages maybe a descendant of the Gaulish seafaring Celtic tribe of the Veneti. According to Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Niall's great ancestor was the legendary figure of Túathal Techtmar, possibly a name that comes from an earlier Gaulish god of Toutatis (“Ruler of the Tribe”). Túathal Techtmar was a leader of the northern branch of the Venii (tribes-men) in Ireland and notably lead the overthrow of the Laigin (Lance men) tribe at Tara around AD 300. The Venii tribe in Ireland only later formerly changed name to a class of people known as the ‘Irish Feni’, when Conn Cétchathach first established the Kingdom of Connacht and the Leath Cuinn, dividing of island North and South along the Esker Riada.
Saint Govan
Saint Govan was a hermit who lived in the side of coastal cliff near Bosherston, Pembrokeshire. St. Govan's Chapel is built into the side of a limestone cliff, walls constructed from limestone, and consists of two chambers, one in the front and one in the back. He was believed to have been a disciple of Ailbe, who lived in Solva further along Pembrokeshire coast. Govan had served as an abbot at Dairinis under Ailbe, and he was also a disciple of St Senan at the monastery of Inis Cathaigh. ‘Govan’ comes from the cumbric version of the original old Gaelic name for the saint was ‘Goban’ which means ‘a disciple of a blacksmith’, the origin of the name probably goes back to a legendary figure known as ‘Goban Saor’ associated with an ancient island (mound of dry land) on bog land called Derrynaflan which translates as ‘oak of the flanns’, a place which also served as a key Céli Dé monastery in Ireland. A number of Irish Saints share the name of Saint Goban, other forms of the name include Gowan, Gofan (Welsh), and Gobain.[45][46]
In the Arthurian legends, one version of the death of Sir Gawain, a myth which is more attributed to Welsh folklore, was said to have been laid to rest under Saint Govan's Chapel, having retired to live out his days on the site as a hermit after his uncle Arthur's death.
Saint Modomnoc
The Félire Óengusso names the beekeeper at Saint Davids monastery as a disciple called Modomnoc, who is said in myth on Saint David's consent to have introduced the honeybee to Ireland on his return to the island from Wales. In Celtic mythology bees were seen as beings of great wisdom and as spiritual messengers between this world and the gods of spiritual realm. The Irish Pagan Goddess Brigid was said to have kept an apple orchard in the Otherworld, the bees of her hives carried their magical golden nectar into the living world, Brigid is strongly connected with an island close to Glastonbury tor called Brides mound. The old and Celtic name for Glastonbury was Avalon, which means the ‘island of the apple orchards’, it stems from the Welsh word for apple ‘afal’. The apple tree was represented by ‘Queirt’ in the Celtic Ogham alphabet, the fruit has a strong association with islands and the Otherworld in Celtic Mythology, such as Tír na nÓg. Honey was the key ingredient of mystical alcoholic beverage of mead, according to the Brehon laws it was used in the pagan inauguration process for kings, the name is associated the sovereignty goddesses of Medb also known as the "mead-woman" or "she who intoxicates".[47][48][49][50]
Saint Máedóc (Aidan) of Ferns
There had been several Irish saints named Aidan but this one seems to have been one of the most important and is mentioned in the Welsh triads as one of the three close disciples of Saint David. Aidan, referred to in Old Irish as Mo-áed-óc which translates as my (Mo), dear little (óc or óg) and sandwiched in between the name Áed. The anglicised name of ‘Marmaduke’ derives from the old Irish of ‘Máel Maedoc’ meaning devotee of Maedoc. The word ‘Máel’ translates ‘devotee of’ and is also associated with the followers of a number important Christian religious figures such as Máel Coluim (Columba), Máel Brigte (Brigid) and Máel Ísu (Jesus). Saint Máedóc traveled to Wales to study under Saint David at Menevia in Pembrokeshire for several years. Welsh tradition maintains that Aidan succeeded Saint David as the abbot of Menevia and for that reason Wales later claimed jurisdiction over Ferns in Wexford because a Welsh abbot founded it. The shrine of Breac Maodhóg is a relic associated with Saint Maedoc.[51]
He became the first Bishop of Ferns after King Brandub of the Uí Ceinnselaig, a royal dynasty of Leinster granted him lands in the area, before Aidan's appointment the parish previously came most likely under the jurisdiction or see of Saint Sletty of Fiach. The monastery of Saint Marys Abbey in Ferns was built by the king leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, who was a Gaelic king noted in Irish history for his shady dealings with the Normans and the Earldom of Pembroke which ultimately lead to the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. In Pre-Norman times, Ferns was once the ancient capital of Leinster and the seat of Diarmait Mac Murchada and his descendants.[citation needed] where he established a monastery.[52]
A story about a stag was attributed and depicted in many artworks associated to both Aidan of Ferns and also to his namesake Aidan of Lindisfarne, about one day as he was sate reading in Connacht, a desperate stag took refuge with him in the hope of escaping pursuing hounds. Aidan miraculously by reciting his prayers made the stag invisible, and the hounds ran off. The story possibly relates to the myth that some early Celtic Saints developed a miraculous powers known as the spell of concealment which were special powers passed down from the Druid magic mist of a Pre-Christian era.[53]
Saint Máedóc (Aidan) of Llawhadan
Saint Máedóc (Aidan) was also connected with the Welsh parish of Llanhuadain, the name translates as the "monastic enclosure (Llan) of St Aidan", the village is part of the broader community of Narberth, which was steeped in Welsh Pre-Christian history and mythology. Llanduadain and Robeston Wathen formed part of the ancient administrative area of Narberth Hundred. On one side of Narberth is Clynderwen, there is a bilingual Latin-Old Irish Ogham stone with the inscription Votecorigas written on it, who was a King of Dyfed in the early to mid-6th century.[54]
The town of Narberth itself was connected to the Welsh Otherworld, its name stems from the ‘Gorsedd Arberth’ which translates as the Throne Mound, it was located near Pwyll's court, just south of the town and was seen in ancient Welsh myth as a key portal to the kingdom of the otherworld, the Welsh Gorsedd Arberth is a hill equivalent to the Sidh or a Teamhair in Irish mythology, a sacred inaugural and ancestral mound.
It was on the Gorsedd Arbeth near the court of Dyfed the legendary prince of Dyfed, would become Pwyll Pen Annwn (Pwyll Head of the Annwn) when he had his first meeting with the otherworldly woman Rhiannon and they gave birth to a son Pryderi fab Pwyll, born in Narberth. Pryderi became the ruler of the seven Cantref of Dyfed and he was part of the mythical figures of Llŷr in Welsh mythology. In the Mabinogi third branch, Manawydan son of Llŷr and Rhiannon take a walk to the throne of Arberth (Gorsedd Narberth) to look over the land from the top of the mound when a great mist of enchantment falls on them. When the mist lifts, the entire kingdom of Dyfed was deserted, everyone and everything had disappeared without trace. The stories of the Mabinogion originated out of a middle Welsh oral tradition passed down generations which were later transferred to written text.
Rhiannon has similarities with Queen Macha in Irish Mythology. She represents the fertility of the land in the form of a Celtic Sovereignty goddesses, granting her future husband sovereignty as king of the land through the act of marriage. She also had strong connections with horses similar to Queen Macha who also had her prize Liath Macha and Dub Sainglend ("grey of Macha"), who later features as one of the two Cú Chulainn chariot-horses in the tale of the Táin Bó Cúailnge.
Saint Illtud
In Wales, Saint Illtud was a very important Culdee figure in Celtic Christianity, he founded a monastery and college, a University of the Celtic Saints in Llantwit Major. The college known as Côr Tewdws is understood to have been founded c. 395, making it the earliest school, former or extant, in all of Great Britain. It has also been referred to as "the oldest college in the world". Other examples of Culdee hermitages are Saint Tudwal's Islands and Penmon abbey on the Isle of Anglesea, an island which has strong druidic history.[55]
Saint Ailbe
The Martyrology of Tallaght lists the feast dates of five principal Pre-Patrician Christian Saints as being Abbán of Moyarny, Ailbe of Emly, Ciarán of Saigir, Declán of Ardmore and Ibar of Beggerin. All are said to be originally from Munster and also as being the earliest recorded Christian Saints that had existed in Ireland prior to the arrival of Saint Patrick. Most notable of the five is Ailbe of Emly, he is the patron saint of Munster and also known as St Eilfyw in Wales, where he founded a tiny community called St Elvis in Wales believed to have been one of the smallest parishes to be established in Britain, which is named after him, its just four miles north of the ancient city of St Davids. It's been suggested by certain scholars that it was Saint Ailbe who baptised Saint David 454 AD at Port Clais in Dyfed. In 2000 Terry Breverton, a lecturer at Cardiff University, while promoting his book, suggested that the rock star Elvis Presley's ancestral roots came from the Celtic prehistoric site of Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire and may have had links to a chapel at St Elvis.[56][57]
Celtic Christianity in Cornwall
One of the earliest Celtic Christian Churches found in Britain is St Piran's Oratory and Old Church in Perranzabuloe, dating from the 6th century. A Cornish saint called Saint Madron was said to have been a disciple of Ciarán of Saigir, some scholars have suggested he may have been a Christianisation of the pre-Christian, pagan goddess of Modron, mother to Mabon.
Bride's Hill (Glastonbury)
At St Michael's Church Tower on Glastonbury Tor, there's a carved depiction of Saint Brigid milking a cow at the entrance to the tower, Brigit has strong connections with nearby ancient Hermitage settlement of Bride's Hill located on an island in the Avalon Marshes. The Glastonbury Tor hill itself is associated with the Welsh Otherworld in Pagan times going back possibly centuries before the Christian church was built on its peak.[58]
The term Culdee has been improperly applied to the whole Celtic church, and a superior purity has been claimed for it. It has also been asserted, that the Kelts or Culdees were the forerunners of Protestantism. Protestant writers alleged that the Culdees had preserved Celtic Christianity, free from supposed Roman corruptions, in one remote corner of western Europe. This view was enshrined in Thomas Campbell's Reullura:
- Peace to their shades. The pure Culdees
- Were Albyn's earliest priests of God,
- Ere yet an island of her seas
- By foot of Saxon monk was trod.[4]
However, Schaff maintains, "...this inference is not warranted. Ignorance is one thing, and rejection of an error from superior knowledge is quite another thing. ...There is not the least evidence that the Keltic church had a higher conception of Christian freedom, or of any positive distinctive principle of Protestantism..."[2]
- In The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry there is a rack railway called the Culdee Fell Railway. One of the steam locomotives is named Culdee. In the Island of Sodor's fictional language of Sudric, 'Culdee' is said to translate as 'Companion of God', the mountain being named for the island's Patron Saint, Machan. The Rev. Awdry often used names from religion and the Anglican Church as placenames in his books. The island of Sodor where the series takes place, for example, is named after a Church of England Diocese, the Diocese of Sodor and Man.
- Geoffrey Moorhouse's 'Sun Dancing', the fictional sections feature an account of a particular ascetic Culdee
- Stephen Lawhead's novels Byzantium, Patrick, and the Celtic Crusades trilogy focus on the Cele De.
- J.P. Moore's short story "Useful Visions" is set in a Culdee monastery.
- A colony of Culdees in Iceland appears in H. Warner Munn's fantasy novel, Merlin's Ring.
- Culdees are a prominent part of the story of the "Tile Cutters' Penny" by Caiseal Mor
- In Proinsias Mac a' Bhaird's Tairngreacht, a modern sect of Céile Dé or 'Culdees' engage in a conspiracy against the Vatican.[59]
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