THE STORY OF THE CELTS

St. Patrick and Celtic Christianity

St. Patrick's first introduction to Ireland was quite unpleasant, years as a young slave in pagan Ulster. He was the son of Romanized Briton who served as an administrative official for the empire in northwestern Britain. When the heathen Irish ushered Patrick away in a raid, they had no clue to the irony that he would someday foster their conversion to Christianity. But Patrick escaped slavery, made his way back to mainland Europe, took theological training, and eventually was ordained a Catholic bishop. Rome allowed Patrick to return to Ireland as a missionary, and thus began the reality which exists today, where 93 percent of the people of the Irish Republic are Roman Catholic. It wasn't easy in the beginning. Patrick (circas 389-461) established his cathedral church at Armagh in the north, and from there travelled the length and breadth of Ireland, some say engaged in intense spiritual battle. His opposition were the pagan druids, and their god Crom Cruach, who was fond of human sacrifice, not to mention the promiscuous fertility goddess Sheela-na-gig. The stories of St. Patrick are full of miraculous trials by ordeal with the druids, where the God of the Christians proved victorious. Something happened, because by the time of Patrick's death about half of Ireland was converted to Christianity, and his followers soon converted the rest. Churches and monasteries were swiftly founded all over Ireland, filled with newly converted Celtic peoples and Irish monks. In How the Irish Saved Civilization, author Thomas Cahill tells how Irish monks preserved a great deal of Latin literature in their scriptoriums, and how monasteries founded by Irish monks were built throughout Britain and a swath of mainland Europe-- helping bring civilized thought back to a continent ravaged by Germanic barbarians. Many of Cahill's claims are also found in the article entitled the "Celtic Church" in the 1966 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. What might be called Celtic Christianity had its own particulars, but foremost was its allegiance to the Irish monastic abbots, as opposed to the diocesan bishops; the Irish monasteries preceded St. Benedict and used their own rule, until St. Benedict's Rule became nearly universal in the West in later centuries. The growth of Celtic Christianity was a product of the missionary zeal of the early Irish monks. Irish St. Columba (c. 521-97, also called Columcille) founded the monastery at Iona, in western Scotland, and as the pagan Anglo-Saxons were destroying the Christianity brought to Britain by the Romans, the Irish monks were bringing Christianity back to the British isle by way of the founding of monasteries. (St. Columba's monastery on Iona preceded St. Augustine of Canterbury's first missionary work with the Anglo-Saxons by thirty years.) The Celtic church was further expanded on the European mainland by Irish St. Columbanus (c. 540-615, also called Columban) who built a monastery in Gaul, where Christianity had at one time been swamped by the pagan Franks. His followers built Celtic-based monasteries all over Europe--in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and even as far as Vienna, Austria. The golden age of the Celtic Irish church was from the fifth to the ninth centuries. From this period there are over fifty Irish saints of the Roman Catholic Church, including people like St. Brigid (d. 525), St. Aidan (d. 651), St. Kevin (d. 618), St. Brendan (d. 577), St. Eugene (d. 618), St. Kiernan the Elder (d. 530), St. Declan (6th century), and numerous others. (A longer list of these Irish saints is in footnote # , and it may be interesting from this list to see some of the old Celtic Irish names of the period.)

Art and Learning in Irish Monasteries

With St. Patrick came Latin. Because of the Latin alphabet, Irish Celts could now write. This became one of the major duties of the Irish monks. The monks copied Church writings, and as mentioned earlier, preserved Latin literature and Celtic myths. They even produced new writings, like the "Voyages of St. Brendan," thought to be about an early visit of Irish monks to the Americas. The Celtic church produced great scholars of the day. Irish masters taught Alcuin (b. 735), the greatest mind at Charlemagne's court. Johannes Scotus Eriugena (b. 810) was the most learned Greek scholar of the West in the Dark Ages. Sedulius Scotus (c. 848) was noted for his scholarship and his poetry. The Irish monks made beautiful books--illuminated manuscripts. Here they employed the earlier La Tene Celtic art-style to the painted page of Christian codexes. The most famous is the Book of Kells, an 8th century work from the Irish monastery of that name. The pages are filled with interlacing patterns and stylized images of men, spirits, and animals. The Lindisfarne Gospels is book made in the monastery of that name in northeastern England--the monastery founded by the Irish monk St. Aidan. The Book of Durrow is also noteworthy. In the visual arts, Celtic Christianity produced wonderful metalwork, such as the case for St. Patrick's bell, and the 7th century Ardagh Chalice. The stonework included the famous Celtic crosses; a rough sketch of a Celtic cross is attempted below:

The Staying Power of the Celts in Ireland

Celtic influences have remained strong in Ireland, partly due to its historical circumstances, partly due to the determination of the Irish people. For one thing, neither the Romans nor the Anglo Saxons attempted to conquer Ireland, so there was any interruption of Celtic culture there for the first millennium of the Christian era. Even when the Christians came to Ireland, and overcame Celtic paganism there, the Irish developed a particular form of Celtic Christianity that turned out to be quite influential.

The Vikings terrorized the Irish for two hundred years beginning in 795 AD, but these Norsemen never gained overall sovereignty there and were eventually driven out. In some ways, the Vikings added to the Irish culture, because they founded the first cities in Ireland: Dublin, Limerick, Cork, Wexford, and Waterford. Some remnants of the Viking populations in these towns remained and assimilated into the Celtic populations.

The Norman-English made their first excursions into Ireland under King Henry II in 1170. This invasion by Richard de Clare, the Earl of Pembroke (called Strongbow by the Irish) marked the opening glint of an unhappy period for the Celtic peoples. Soon Henry II arrived, and gradually most of Ireland was under English control. Yet these English slowly intermarried and assimilated into the Irish culture. By 1400 the only area really loyal to the English king was a small area around Dublin, called the Pale. The Irish had retained their Celtic traditions despite a strong threat.

But, the most forceful violations were to come. In 1541, King Henry VIII renewed England's interest in Ireland and forced the Irish parliament to declare him king. Despite revolts by Shane O'Neill and then his nephew Hugh O'Neill, the Irish had lost their political independence, for a time at least.

Two important elements of Celtic Irish culture became threatened over the next four centuries. First the Irish Gaelic language. In 1550, and even 200 years later, the majority of the Irish people spoke their Celtic Gaelic. By 1900, though, English became the majority language in Ireland--with Gaelic spoken mostly on the western coast.

The other cultural element threatened was Catholicism, the Irish legacy of Celtic Christianity. Despite extreme efforts by the English to impose Protestantism, the Irish clung to the religion brought to them by St. Patrick. And many experts say this is what made Ireland different from Scotland and Wales--to the Irish, Catholicism was the cement that held them together, and fostered their independence of mind and wish for political independence.

The Easter Uprising of 1916 was focused on the takeover of the post office in Dublin. From this arose the Irish War of Independence, which lasted until 1921, when the British recognized the Irish Free State. In 1949, Ireland became a republic.

So became what author Thomas Cahill calls the only Celtic nation state in the world--Ireland. And the Irish go to great trouble to maintain its Celtic traditions, as described in the next section.

The Celts Today

The Celts, and Celtic peoples, are alive and well today. Celtic culture is well documented and preserved, and there are millions of people on different continents who make it a point to identify with that culture.

In Ireland

Irish Gaelic, a Celtic language, is one of the official languages of Ireland, along with English. Gaelic is taught in schools, and there are "Gaeltacht" areas, as in parts of Co. Donegal, where the use of Gaelic by native speakers is officially encouraged by the government. According to the World Book Encyclopedia, one in five people in Ireland can speak Gaelic (about 700,000 people), and one in 20 speak Gaelic every day (about 100,000 people).

Still, the English language is not going to disappear in Ireland, and most don't want it to--English is a very versatile language. Even so, the Irish have a distinctive way of expressing English. Scholars say that there is a form of Hiberno-English (or Irish English) that is different than Standard English. Irish speakers of English have their own usages and grammatical construction, and it's widespread.

And the Irish accent, the brogue that so delights people, sets Ireland's English apart--there are Celtic sounds found therein. The literary expressions found in the work of Ireland's James Joyce (Ulysses and Finnegan's wake), and in plays like "Playboy of the Western World" by J.M. Synge are full of Irish Celtic flavorings. Recently the Nobel Prize in Literature went to Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who bears Ireland's form of English well.

The World Almanac, in its section on the Republic of Ireland, says that the majority ethnic group of Ireland is "Celtic," and that there is an English minority. Celtic expert Frank Delaney, who presented the BBC series on The Celts, echoes Thomas Cahill in reporting that Ireland is the world's only Celtic nation state.

The World Book Encyclopedia suggests that a "Celt" of today is someone who is the native speaker of a Celtic language. I think that is too narrow of a definition. To my mind, a Celtic person has three necessary characteristics: 1) Celtic ancestry; 2) identifies with Celtic culture; and 3) wishes to think of oneself as being Celtic, or even as a Celt.

There is a revival of Irish culture happening right now--some say an Irish renaissance. Celtic ethnic elements are bigger than ever. In the United States, St. Patrick's Day has become a general celebration, and Irish pubs are quite the rage. Still, Irish immigrants have always valued their Gaelic roots. In Massachusetts, where there was a large concentration of such immigrants, there is even a professional basketball team named after the Celts.

Other Celtic Areas. In Wales there is a resurgence of Celtic nationalism. The Welsh flag, a dragon over a green and white background, is shown prominently. Annual Celtic festivals called Eisteddfods preserve and display Welsh culture.

Perhaps the area where Celtic Wales is making the most headway is in the area of the Welsh language. It is taught in the schools, and a popular television station broadcasts all its programs in Celtic Welsh. For TV, a Welsh cartoon series and animated programs connect children and young people with the Celtic language of Wales. The people of Wales have forced the government to use bilingual road signs, and they have changed place names back to Celtic Welsh--as in Dyfed, Clwyd, Gynedd, and Powys.

In Scotland, over 80,000 people still speak Scottish Gaelic, mostly in the highland and nearby islands. Other Celtic elements include references to the clans, bagpipe music, interest in tartan plaids and kilts, Scottish field games, and Scottish step dancing. In the beginning of July 1999, the Scottish parliament met again for the first time in nearly 300 years; some observers feel that at some point there will be a move for more political independence for the Celtic people there.

In Brittany, the pan-Celtic festival is held annually in Lorient. Several times a year there are religious-social celebrations called Pardons, which preserve Celtic Breton culture. Breton scholars report that young people are taking a deeper interest in learning the Breton language, and Celtic music is gaining a resurgence of attention there.

Even in England, where the Celtic Britons once ruled, there is the prominent statue of Boadicea, the Celtic chieftain. Then there are the references to the Celtic may poles and May Day, and the garland festivals and dances. And in old Celtic Cornwall, there is a tourist industry surrounding the Celtic heroes of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

And around the world, people who are interested in the Celts can find many websites dealing with the Celtic civilization on the Internet. Just try entering the word Celt into your favorite search engine and find out for yourself.

Presumably, present-day people of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark don't think of themselves as Vikings. Culturally-minded people of Germany don't hearken back and call themselves Ostrogoths. Why then should people from Ireland and similar cultural areas think of themselves as being Celtic, or as Celts?

For one thing, more people would want to think of themselves as Celtic than as Vikings. The Celts have had a better press in history than a lot of barbarian peoples. Arguably, they became the first civilized barbarians, as in the Romanized Celts of Gaul, or even of Britain. At a time when the German barbarians and then the Vikings were smashing civilization in Europe, the Irish monks and the Celtic church were trying to uphold civil culture.

The lovers of things Celtic appreciate and cherish the many elements of Celtic culture that are alive today, as in the sound of Gaelic languages or Celtic accents, the music of harps or bagpipes, the stories of King Arthur and mythic literature, interlacing patterned art, Celtic folk-dancing, ethnic clothing, soda bread and Celtic foods, colorful talking, and even a certain freewheeling feature of the Celtic mind.

There are enough beautiful celticisms in the modern world, that throngs of people of Celtic ancestry wish to be associated with this beauty. Thus the word Celtic (or even Celt) hasn't become an historical souvenir, but rather, represents cultures that still exist, even within the mixture of other cultural influences.

Those of us who think of ourselves as modern-day Celts realize that we are no longer the barbarian Celts who once dominated most of Europe. We live in civilized society and appreciate civil values. Yet in us the Celt carries on. For me, there is a call from the misty past, almost the voice of a distant bard, and it says that my Gaelic roots are deep and that I need always to cherish that which is Celtic.