RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Celtic Church
Another phenomenon in the inner development of the Irish Church in this period which deserves attention is the appearance of the 4. The so-called Culdees (Irish, celi de ; Latin, Culdees. colidei). It is difficult to define exactly the origin and position of these men. The Irish name does not furnish a trustworthy clue. It meant originally one who enters God's service and devotes himself to him to death, and could be applied, like vir dei in Latin, to monks and anchorites in general. Hector Boece, the Scottish historian of the sixteenth century, started the theory that the Culdei, as he calls them, were the direct continuation of Irish monasticism of the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, or even of Celtic monasticism in general. But Bishop Reeves has shown that the term as used from the ninth to the twelfth century was applied to members of spiritual associations whose existence can not with certainty be traced earlier than about 800. Hence the associations of the Colidei must have been formed in Ireland about this time and an existing term of general application was given a more limited signification to designate their members. Apparently Chrodegang's monastic rule (749), designed originally for Metz, was brought to Ireland in the eighth century, and Irish anchorites, who were not under regular monastic rule, were first associated in accordance with it. The Culdees were never of great importance in Ireland. They are mentioned in nine places, often in connection with monasteries to which the house of the Culdees forms a sort of annex. The care of the sick and the poor was their chief charge, and they also seem to have been entrusted with the choral part of the service. In North Britain, however, whither they went from Ireland, they attained to greater importance. Naiton's expulsion of the refractory monks of Iona in 717 left gaps in the clergy which the new associations of the Colidei helped to fill. They appear in Scotland as a mixture of secular clergy and anchorites organized after monastic pattern; at a later time they resemble the regular •canons of the Continent. There was a want of connection between different convents due to the lack of a common head and fixed forms. Hence there were wide divergences, and contemporary descriptions and opinions differ greatly. They were ultimately absorbed in the Roman orders, which were introduced in Ireland and Scotland during the twelfth century.
The full subjection of the Celtic Church of Ireland to that of Rome was accomplished after 1050. Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury 5. Final found opportunity to interfere in Ire- Subjection land in 1074 and sent a letter to the to Rome. kmg; Torlogh O'Brian, through Gilpatrick, the Norse bishop of Dublin. Instigated by both, Gregory VII. sent a letter to Ireland and appointed Gilbert, the Norse bishop of Limerick, papal legate for Ireland. As in the seventh century, so now, the bishop of Armagh resisted. But in the end Gilbert found a man who fell in with his views, when in 1106 Celsus succeeded to the see of Armagh. At the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1120 it was decided to divide Ireland
into twenty-four dioceses, all except Dublin subordinate to Armagh. In 1152 a synod was held at Kells, under the presidency of the papal legate, Paparo, and Ireland was divided into four provinces, Armagh was selected as the see of the primate, and the bishops of Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam were promoted to archbishops and received pallia brought from Rome. The complete Romanization of the Irish Church in internal affairs was effected in furtherance of the political interests of the Anglo- Normans at a synod held at Cashel in 1172 by command of Henry II.
3. In North Britain: In 844 Kenneth mac Alpin, ruler of the Irish state in North Britain, mounted the throne of the united North and South Picts, and thereby created a united kingdom of Alba, later known as Scotland. In 850 Kenneth had the bones of Columba removed from Iona (which, because of constant attacks from the Vikings, had fallen into complete decay) and deposited at Dunkeld, in the land of the South Picts, the mainstay of his power. At the same time he established a bishopric at Dunkeld, apparently aiming to form here a center for a national church like Iona in the seventh century, with a different basis, however, the abbot-bishop of Dunkeld being at the head of the church government as bishop and not as abbot. In 865 Kenneth's son, Constantine, removed the see of the bishopric to Abernethy, leaving Dunkeld with an abbot only. In 908 the see of the primate was transferred to St. Andrews and a parliament of the same year exempted the Church from taxation. Margaret, grandniece of Edward the Confessor and queen of Scotland 1069-93, took energetically in hand the reformation of the Scottish Church according to Roman rules and usages. She received efficient support from her confessor, Turgot, abbot of Durham (see Titrgot). Her sons, Edgar (1097-1107), Alexander (1107-^4), and David (1124-53) continued and completed their mother's reforms. In 1107 Turgot was appointed to the see of St. Andrews and was consecrated at York. His successor, Eadmer, a Canterbury monk, at the desire of King Alexander was chosen and consecrated by Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury (1115). By 1188 the outward and inward transformation of ecclesiastical Scotland into a Roman province was complete. It was then declared independent of Canterbury and, like the Irish Church, came directly under the sovereignty of Rome through a bull of Clement III. (cf. Haddan and Stubbs, ii. 273-274). The land was divided into nine dioceses with strictly defined boundaries, and Augustinian, Benedictine, and Cistercian monks were introduced and absorbed the remnant of the national Celtic monasticism.
IV. Some General Considerations: Concerning institutions and doctrine, neither tradition nor history offers any support to the view that the Celtic Church in its prime almost reproduced the Church of the Apostolic Age. The British Church of the fourth century was a part of the Catholic Church of the West, just as Britain was a part of the Roman Empire. And the Irish Church was an offshoot of the British Church. The divergences from Rome which both branches of the Celtic Church
Celtic Church