How do you do this stuff at 6:45 on Sunday morning? I'm in the church
either practicing my sermon and praying that I don't trip over my alb!!!
Part of my ancestral Irish penitentials, I think....
By the way, there seems to be some question as to whether or not St Brigid
was even an historical personage. Sort of the St Christopher of Ireland!!
If the Culdees sought out inhospitable places they should have served on
various vestries I have known....
MLW+
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Clavier+ [mailto:anglican@...]
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2005 6:42 AM
To: faithandlife@...
Subject: Re: Re: [FaithandLife] Covenant Union & WO
Brian,
Bless me soul and saints preserve me, I'd forgotten about dear old St.
Brigid. She also is a good example of why this period is so problematic.
How much of what we know about her is historical, how much borrowed from
Celtic myths surrounding the goddess Brigid?
As for the Culdees or Ceile-De...
As with everything else, very little is known about them. The name means
Spouse of God, and they were Celtic anchorites who sought out the most
inhospitable places of the British Isles to live. There is disagreement
about whether they were a development of Columban monasticism or something
altogether different. The similarities between them and Columban
monasticism suggests to me that they were related.
The Culdees advocated strict solitude, seeking out remote caves and islands
on which to live (Bardsey Island in S. Wales was a Culdee community). They
practiced a very rigorous round of prayers--based heavily on the recitation
of psalms--and submitted themselves to a strict penitential system (at first
employing "soul-friends" but later monastic seniors or abbots). And they
took learning seriously. Later, when they formed monastic communities, they
devoted themselves to creating the Irish illuminations like the Book of
Kells.
Strangely, they were also known for being songsters. Scholars believe that
all of the penitential songs found in the Welsh Black Book of Carmarthen
were originally Culdean. At least in Wales, and likely too in their home
base in Ireland, they seemed fond of composing songs of penitence, praise of
God, and breastplate songs like the one traditionally ascribed to St.
Patrick. This has led to a theory that the Culdees were Christianized
druidic bards, the Celtic equivalent of Greek philosopher-turned-Christian.
If I remember correctly, Rome never did recognize the Culdees as a
legitimate order. I have no idea what eventually became of them, though my
guess is that the Benedictine movement finished them off as it did earlier
forms of monasticism in France and England.
Mark+
PS I don't normally carry this sort of stuff around in my head! I'm
currently teaching a 22-week adult Sunday school class on Christianity in
the British Isles from 409-1066!!
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