Celtic Monks and the Ocean

Transcription

1 Celtic Monks and the Ocean The Ocean played an important role in the world of early Celtic monasticism. The Ocean offered Celtic Monks the context for their spiritual search and the location where many of them pursued their monastic vocation. This paper explores some of the influences which inform the concept of the ocean in Celtic monasticism and the concrete ways in which this concept shaped the lives of monks, mainly from the island of Ireland. In order to further this exploration, we first need to clarify who we are referring to when we use the word, Celtic. We then turn to look at the view of the ocean as expressed in early Celtic mythology. The coming of Christianity to Celtic lands had a huge influence on the people living on the islands we are considering in this presentation. Within the growth of Christianity, we will consider the influence of the Desert Fathers on the growth of Celtic monasticism. This investigation will, I hope, show how Celtic mythology and the life of the Desert Fathers combined to have a significant influence on the way of life we now associate with early Celtic Monasticism and, in particular, how these island monks viewed the ocean as a significant factor in the way they lived out their ascetic calling. Who are the Celts 1 The Greeks and Romans, although we have no evidence that the people actually used the term to refer to themselves, consistently refer to the peoples who occupied large areas of Central Europe, stretching from Spain to Asia Minor, as Celts. The Greeks called them keltoi and the Romans called them Celts. As the Roman Empire spread into Central and Northern Europe there are many references to the Celts as they engaged the occupying forces in battle. Considered brave if foolhardy in battle, the famous sculpture of the Dying Gaul epitomizes the gallantry of these people as understood by their Roman adversaries. St Jerome observed that the people he met in Asia Minor (Galatians) spoke a language similar to what he was familiar with in Northern Italy. Archeological discoveries in England and Ireland link the people there from 500 to 300 BC to the Celtic people in central Europe. However, no references to Celtic people is found in these countries after the end of the Roman period until the late 17 th Century. Re-emergence of the term Celt. In the late 17th century, the Welsh naturalist and linguist, Edward Lhuyd ( ), was invited to Cornwall to help save the Cornish language. His studies of the languages then currently used in Scotland, Ireland, 2 Wales, Cornwall, Isle of Man and Brittany led him to establish close links between these languages. He used the term Celtic to describe this group of languages and hence the people who spoke these languages began to be regarded as Celtic people. The Romantic Movement, partly a response to the side effects of the industrial revolution, began to idealize the lifestyle of these Celtic peoples who were 1 T.W. Rolleston, Celtic, Myths and Legends, London: The Gresham Publishing Company, 1994, P.17ff. See also, John Koch, Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia, Santa Barbara, 2005, and Barry Cunliffe, The Ancient Celts, Penguin Books, pp Irish has the oldest vernacular literature in Europe after Greek and Latin. in D. Greene, The Irish Language, Cork: Mercier Press, 1966 (reprinted 1972), p.10. 1

2 regarded as living a pure form of life on the fringes of Europe, basically untouched by the negative consequences of the industrial revolution. Today, the people who live in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany, and the Isle of Man are regarded as Celtic people particularly if they still speak one of the languages identified by Edward Lhuyd as Celtic. The Ocean in Celtic Mythology The Celtic people experienced the ocean when crossing the sea to reach the islands of Britain and Ireland They saw the ocean as a powerful reality that was beyond their control. They were fully aware of the dangers of venturing out on the high seas and considered that the deep seas contained wild monsters and their dwelling places. Lir 3 and his son Manaman were two of the better known Celtic gods of the seas. Manaman is depicted as a horse warrior travelling over the waves guiding boats on their sea journeys. The tragic story of the children of Lir encapsulates many of the concepts that the Celtic people hold concerning the sea. The four beautiful children born to Lir and his first wife become the object of jealousy of Aoife, his second wife. She plots to kill them and when her plan is thwarted she has them transformed into four swans and banished for nine hundred years to three different locations around Ireland. Their final three hundred years are spent on an isolated Atlantic island off the West Coast of Ireland where they suffer much. Eventually, at the end of their punishment they come back to land seeking the palace of their father but to no avail. Newcomers now occupy the palace, and the four children, unaware of the passage of time, suddenly lose the beauty of the form of swans and became withered and shrunken human bodies. However, before they die they meet a Christian hermit who baptizes them and this act ensures their eventual arrival in heaven. Voyages to the underworld: Immram: Tir na nog. (Land of Eternal Youth) We find in Celtic mythology stories of voyages to the underworld. The Immram are a class of old Irish stories concerning a hero s sea journey to the other world. They focus not so much on what happens to the hero in the underworld but what takes place on the journey to the otherworldly location. The destination was often referred to as Tir na nog, or The Land of Eternal Youth. One of the most famous of these adventures is the story of Oisin, the son of the Great leader of the mythological Celtic warriors, the Fianna. One day while out hunting with his warrior friends he comes across a beautiful woman, Niamh, riding on her horse. She claims she comes from the mythical land of eternal youth (Tir na nog) where no one grows old and is never in want of anything. When she called Oisin by name he immediately falls in love with her and agrees to go off with her to this mythical land. Oisin and Niamh lived happily there for many years although Oisin from time to time longs to see his father once again. Eventually Niamh agrees to let Oisin return and visit his father, but on one condition: he is not to let his feet touch the soil of his homeland. Oisin does not realized that he has been away from his home for over three hundred years and his father 3 For a general background to this topic, see P, MacCana, Celtic Mythology, New York: Hamlyn, 1970, and T. F. O Rahilly, Early Irish History and Mythology,

3 is long dead. When accidentally he touches the earth, he immediately becomes a frail old man and dies shortly afterwards but not, however, before meeting St Patrick who baptizes him. Oisin also has time to relate the stories of his father and his experiences in the Land of Eternal Youth; stories which are passed on to this day in Ireland. Arrival of Christianity in Ireland Christianity came to Ireland in a relatively peaceful manner. The arrival was not the result of colonization by a foreign power but rather seems to have come about as the result of regular maritime exchanges between the peoples of nearby locations such as modern Wales and France. Some of these exchanges may have been violent, such as the abduction of young people for slavery in Ireland, but much had to do with the spreading of access to education and growing literacy amongst the Irish nobility. Traditionally, St Patrick is credited with being the first missionary to arrive in Ireland in 432 AD. We now know, however, that this is not the case. In 431 AD, Pope Celestine sent Bishop Paladius to Ireland to minister to those Irish already believing in Christ. This historical record supports the view that Christianity was well known in Ireland before the arrival of St Patrick. However, partly because two of his authentic letters have survived to this day, the influence of Patrick is widely regarded as crucial and now he is the Patron St of Ireland. For the purposes of this presentation I want to look at two specific aspects of Patrick s understanding of his mission that relate to our topic: his sense of physical location and his sense of where he situated himself theologically. The Ends of the Earth 4 In the 4 th and 5 th centuries the map of the world as understood by the ecclesiastical authorities had Jerusalem at the centre of a great land mass surrounded by the Promised Land with the rest of the nations ranged around it stretching out to the oceans. At this time, most of the known land mass was ruled by the Romans. On the periphery of this geographic worldview, out there on the oceans, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and beyond the island of Britain which was ruled by the Romans, was the Island of Ireland. Ireland is viewed as outside the remit of both Rome and Jerusalem. When Patrick headed to Ireland he saw himself as heading to the outer limits of the known world and that he was operating on the final frontier. Isidore of Seville 5 (d.630), and the much later Hereford Map 6 give us a clearer picture of how Patrick saw the location of his ministry. In this 13 th century map, Ireland is still clearly located outside the world controlled by the European powers of the day. The reference to Ireland as being beyond the Pillars of Hercules points to the common 4 Here I am indebted to the work of Prof Thomas O Loughlin of Nottingham University and his insightful Discovering Saint Patrick, London: Darton, Longman and Todd, Isidore, commonly known as the last scholar of the ancient world, followed Augustine and employed a six-era schema which extended from the creation of Adam to the appearance of Christ on earth and the approaching end of the world. See, for example, P.M. Bassett, The use of history in the Chronicon of Isidore of Seville. History and Theory, 15(3), 1976, pp Circa 1300 AD, the Hereford map is the largest medieval map known still to exist. 3

4 understanding that Ireland was out on the oceans beyond the parameters and influence of the known world. 7 St Patrick s Theological Location From a theological perspective, Patrick sees himself as belonging to the last times. He has a strong sense that the Second Coming of Christ is about to happen. This belief of living in the final eschatological moment is based on the conviction in God s promise to announce his gospel before all nations before the world s end. (Matt 28:20) Patrick imagines his location as being on the edge and at the Ends of the Earth. He also sees himself as belonging to the last times, and the End is imminent. One of the conditions for the End Times to appear is that the Gospel must be preached to the Ends of the Earth. Thus, in other words, Patrick finds himself at the Ends of the Earth and he is driven to preach the Gospel to the people here on the final frontier as a prelude to the imminent End. The End will not be delayed very long after the completion of his own work in Ireland. He has a strong sense of mission and believes he is the one who is hastening the coming of the End of the World. This theme is developed in his famous Letter, called the Confessio, where he sees a direct relationship between the preaching of the gospel and the close of human history. It is right that we should fish well and diligently, as the Lord directs and teaches when he says: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And again he says through the prophets: Behold, I send many fishers and hunters, says God ; and other such sayings. Therefore, it is very right that we should cast our nets, so that a great multitude and crowd will be taken for God. Also that there should be clerics to baptise and encourage a people in need and want. This is what the Lord says in the gospel: he warns and teaches in these words: Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the age. Again he says: Go out therefore to the whole world and announce the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. And yet again: This gospel of the kingdom will be announced all over the world, as testimony to all the nations; and then will come the end. In the same way, the Lord foretold this through the prophet as he said: And it will come about in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your young people will see visions and your older people will dream dreams. Indeed, on my servants, men and women, I will pour out my Spirit and they will prophesy. Hosea says: Those who were not my people, I will call my people; and her who has not obtained mercy, I will name the one who has obtained mercy. In the place where it was said: You are not my people: there they will be called children of the living God. 8 7 "Beyond the pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar) the ocean flows round the earth, and in it are two very large islands called British (BperaviKal Acyo/ievcu), Albion and Ierne, lying beyond the Keltoi." Aristotle, De Mundo, ch.3 8 St Patrick s Confessio, n.40, 4

5 Put simply, once everyone has heard the gospel then there will be no further reason to delay the End. As such, Patrick sees himself as the final preacher in a chain going back to the Apostles. 9 Now I commend my soul to my most faithful God[Nota]. For him I perform the work of an ambassador, despite my less than noble condition. However, God is not influenced by such personal situations, and he chose me for this task so that I would be one servant of his very least important servants. 10 Influences on Celtic Monasticism s view of the Ocean: The Desert Fathers It was Monasticism that dominated and characterized the shape of the Irish Church in early medieval times, despite the appointment, in the early 5 th century, of two Bishops, Secundinus and Palladius, with some sense of a diocesan structural background. 11 One of the major influences on this development was the familiarity of Irish monks with the lives of the Desert Fathers: in particular, Anthony of Egypt and St Martin of Tours. Books on their lives were available in the monastic libraries and were well known to the Irish monks. Furthermore, the writings of St John Cassian who spent fifteen years in the Middle East Deserts visiting with, and interviewing, the monks and Abbots there were also well known to the Irish monasteries. Cassian s writings contained detailed summaries about the lives of the Desert Fathers, including the structure of their lives and their unique approach to prayer and meditation. The Irish monks desired to emulate the Desert Monks who had sought out the isolation of the desert. Thus, many Irish monks, living in a very different geographical environment, concentrated their search for the place of their vocation in the wilderness or on the ocean. An image of the ocean emerges as a place where a great struggle between God and evil is taking place because demons were as close to them in the Ocean as they were to St Anthony in the deserts of Egypt. 12 There are up to two hundred places in Ireland named Dysart (Gaelic for Desert). For the Irish, the desert was not a hot, dry place but a place of promise, great struggle, and fulfillment a place where an encounter with God was possible and could be pursued. The Bible Reading the Psalms was part of the ordinary life of the monks and they would have been familiar with Psalm 103 and its reference to the sea: the sea-vast and wide, with its moving swarms past counting, living things, great and small. The Ships there are many and the monsters you made to play with The Monks, pliant to the Word of God, would have taken this and similar texts to heart; allowing the texts to inspire their imagination and shape their response to their vocation. 9 T. O Loughlin, Discovering Saint Patrick, London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2005, p77ff. 10 Ibid., n Thomas Francis O'Rahilly, The Two Patricks: a lecture on the history of Christianity in Fifth-Century Ireland. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, T. O Loughlin, Living in the Ocean, in C. Bourke (ed), Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba, Dublin, 1997, p

6 Directly encountering the sea, vast and wide, and its moving swarms would have seemed a natural and appropriate choice. Deserts in the Ocean: Skellig Michael Travelling inland through the island of Ireland during the early medieval period was both difficult and dangerous. The island, then as now, was not a unified political entity. Moving from one kingdom to another required royal guarantees which were not always available. On the other hand, travelling by sea, while difficult in some respects, was relatively convenient. The seaways linking the outlying islands were like a modern highway for the monks as they, in a search for their version of a desert place to live their preferred way of the ascetical life, made their way to the many small islands off Ireland and Scotland... We find today evidence of early monastic life on a range of islands from Skellig Michael of the Kerry coast to the Arran islands, to Iona, the Orkneys, Shetland and Faeroes Islands, and even as far as Iceland. Even today with our sophisticated technology it is quite difficult to land a boat on Skellig Michael. As one climbs up the steep steps to the beehive style single huts in which the monks lived, you can get a sense of the type of isolation those monks sought. Theirs was a spirituality lived on the edge as they prepared, like St Patrick, for the imminent return of Jesus Christ. Brehon Law (Old Irish Law) Concerning the Ocean Early Irish law viewed the Ocean as a place of punishment: A legal punishment known as Cen Immram was imposed on someone for killing a family member. 13 This punishment involved the guilty person being set adrift in boat with no oar and their feet secured. If they were innocent the boat would return safely to the shore but if the boat did not return the person was confirmed in their guilt. The low status given to these criminals was also associated with travelers from either overseas or from other kingdoms within Ireland. Later, the Christian monks, through their practice of perigrinatio (loosely translated as pilgrimage ), adopted this low status but for another purpose. It is paradoxical that St Columban and like-minded peregrini, by renouncing their home and the world, and taking on the low status that exiles had in Ireland, not as a punishment for any crime committed, but out of a search for union with God, actually held a position of considerable prestige and power in Irish society. 14 While St Columban articulated his journey in scriptural terms, it must be recognized that his understanding of peregrinatio, was influenced by Irish law categories, and derived much of its power from the organization of Irish society. 15 This background provides basis for understanding the self-confidence and independent spirit that St Columban was to display as an outsider in Frankish lands, and as a spiritual leader within European monasticism. The Irish in the Middle Ages were well known travelers throughout Europe. The reasons for travel varied over the centuries: curiosity, pilgrimage, education, the quest for patronage, flight from persecution, poverty, famine, and missionary venture. Walahfrid Strabo, the Carolingian monk-scholar (c ), recognized the long standing reputation for 13 F. Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law, p T.M. Charles-Edwards, The Social background to Irish peregrinatio Celtica XI, 1976, p Ibid. p

7 wanderlust that the Irish had when he referred to people of the Irish nation with whom the habit of travelling to foreign lands has, by now, almost become second nature. Further evidence of this wanderlust is found in an account contained in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which tells of three Irish monks who turn up at the court of King Alfred of Wessex in 891 and profess themselves determined to be abroad; they didn t care where! David Dumville commented on how this episode reminds us that among the place-seekers and the refugees of this exile-movement there was a role for a genuine spirituality, if none the less one with suicidal potential and perhaps no longer approved by Irish ecclesiastical authority. In 892, the author of the common stock of the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' recorded an event of the previous year: In a boat without any oars three Gaels came to king Alfred from Ireland, which they had fled secretly because they wished for the love of God to be in foreign lands, they cared not where. The boat in which they travelled was made of two and half hides, and they took with them enough food for seven days. And after seven days they came to land in Cornwall and went immediately to King Alfred. Their names were Dubslaine, MacBethad, and Mael Inmain. 16 Three colors of Martyrdom: The Cambrai Homily 17 Irish monks going overseas in a boat were practicing their particular understanding of martyrdom. The discovery of an Irish language homily in the Monastery at Cambrai, which was copied erroneously by a diligent but uneducated monk, has given us an insight into the three types of martyrdom symbolized by three different colors: Red for the common understanding of martyrdom as shedding your blood for Christ; Green or blue as a type of martyrdom symbolized by a life of witness through prayer, fasting and almsgiving; and White representing the martyrdom of going overseas and leaving your family and homeland for the sake of the gospel. This White martyrdom was the highest form of martyrdom and was part of the inspiration for those Irish monks who left Ireland with no intention of returning home. They did not know where their destination lay and their main purpose was to seek the place of their resurrection. Celtic Monks Concept of the Ocean On the one hand, the ocean was, for the monks, a place of danger and terror: and challenging both physically and psychologically and an unknown reality which contained unnamed terrors and monsters. Yet spiritually, on the other hand, the ocean attracted the attention of the monks. They somehow transferred onto the ocean some of the expectations that the Desert Fathers attached to the deserts in Egypt and other places in the Middle East. They saw the isolated islands out on the wide ocean as suitable locations to pursue their dream of living out their response to the Gospel through an ascetic lifestyle dedicated to God. The ocean was a place where they could both test their vocation and achieve their goal of finding the place of their resurrection. However, the monks were also realistic about the dangers in this type of lifestyle. It was not for everyone and only those who received 16 David N. Dumville, Three Men in a Boat: Scribe, Language, and Culture in the Church of Viking-age Europe: Inaugural Lecture Delivered 13 May 1996 [in the University of Cambridge]. Cambridge University, 1997, p P. Ni Chathain, A reading in the Cambrai Homily, Celtica XXI (1990), p

8 permission from the Abbot were either allowed or encouraged to take on this onerous way of life. We read in the life of St Columban that when he first requested permission to leave Ireland and go on perigrinatio for the sake of the Gospel, his Abbot, the ascetic St Comgall, initially refused his request. Later, Comgall relented and allowed him to leave the monastery at Bangor, in the north of Ireland and set out on his pilgrimage of white martyrdom. While in Frankish lands, Columban himself was to write to the Pope complaining that many monks were leaving their monasteries to live alone without the permission of the Abbot. This lack of discipline was something that worried him and indicates that not everyone was suited to the monastic lifestyle. Above we noted the story of three Irish monks landing in Cornwall as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 892. It was observed that part of their problem was that they left Ireland without the permission of their Abbot and hence got into difficulties. Once the proper permission was obtained, which confirmed that they were considered spiritually, physically, and psychologically ready for this adventure on the high seas, the Irish monks set off on the ocean believing the Ocean would provide them with the location they needed in which to live out their ascetic life. They also believed that out on the ocean they would find the place of their resurrection. The Celtic mythology of the heroic adventures out into the Ocean by Bran and Mael Duinn seeking the land of Eternal Youth (Tir na nog) provides some indigenous background for the Celtic monks as they sought the place of their eternal happiness in these isolated islands out on the ocean. The Voyage of St Brendan The most famous of these Christian tales is that of the Voyage of St Brendan. 18 Brendan lived at a time when, for religious reasons, significant numbers of Irish monks were leaving Ireland. He sailed back and forth between islands and became known not for his search for an isolated ascetic island but for the ever famous, and ever elusive, Promised Land of the Saints. The Voyage is essentially an ecclesiastical story in character, predominantly monastic in outlook, and subsequently influences secular voyage stories. The tale was a big seller in the Middle Ages and was so widely known that cartographers included St Brendan's Island on maps. As a result, Brendan's Voyage became a famous and popular story in Western Christianity; especially in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Brendan was born in Kerry in 484 AD and travelled to Scotland, Wales: and several places in Ireland, including the Arran islands before finally embarking on a seven-year journey seeking the Island of Paradise, or the Isle of the Saints. In Brendan's Voyage, wherever he encounters humans they invariably follow the monastic life. As they journey from island to island they come across Monastic communities or individual monks with whom they pray and share food. The time frame is built around the liturgical year and over the seven years they return to the same places to celebrate Holy Week and Easter. Eventually, after many extraordinary experiences, they came to the Promised Land of the Saints which was lush with vegetation and fragrant 18 John Joseph O'Meara, The voyage of Saint Brendan, journey to the promised land. Vol. 1. Dolmen Press, 1978 (reprinted 1985). 8

9 with flowers and fruit. The underlying backdrop of this story of the Voyage of Brendan is one of Monastic life and the sense of space on the Ocean. Did St Brendan reach the Americas? There is no hard evidence that Brendan did reach the Americas. However, Tim Severin 19 in 1976, thought the journey could be done and took on the challenge. He proved it was possible but there is no archaeological evidence yet of an Irish settlement in America which predates the arrival of the Vikings. 20 Nevertheless, we know that Christopher Columbus was aware of the elusive island when he set sail in And Scandinavian sagas mention the Irish had reached North America before the Vikings landed there around Before 1960, no one believed the Viking Myths of landing in North America before Columbus. These Viking sagas of their voyages to North America were discounted until 1960 when a Viking Settlement was discovered on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland. Brendan could have crossed the Atlantic using the Aran Islands, the Hebrides and Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland as stepping stones. In 1580, John Dee, when positing a formal claim to England's title of North America, cites Brendan's voyage as part of his evidence. Several13th to 16th century maps show islands that Brendan referred to in different locations. What is of significance is the credible evidence Irish monks regularly went on the Ocean seeking a place where they could live out their monastic, ascetical way of life. They believed they could find the Promised Island, that is, the place of their resurrection out there on the Ocean. Practice of Pilgrimage: A word of caution 21 The practice of pilgrimage played an important part in the life of early Celtic monasticism. Many Monks had a desire to visit Rome but seldom got the opportunity. Even St Columban himself who expressed by a desire to visit Rome never actually got there. Educated Celtic monks were sought after by European political leaders and many ended up in the Carolingian court. However, there were also concerns that the motives and conduct of those going on pilgrimage left much to be desired. An old Irish verse said: There is not much benefit in going to Rome, if the King you seek there, is not already in your heart. The requirement mentioned above that individual monks wishing to go out alone to islands on the ocean must first receive the permission of their Abbot, shows that such undertaking could not be lightly undertaken. Ocean as Becoming the Sea and Celtic identity 19 Tim Severin, The Brendan Voyage, London: Hutchinson and Co, The Norse colonization of the Americas began as early as the 10th century AD, when Norsemen explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic, including the northeastern fringes of North America. See, for example: The Saga of Erik the Red in Eviatar Zerubavel, Terra Cognita: The Mental Discovery of America. Transaction publishers, Michael Maccraith, Pilgrimage to Rome, in Treasures of Irish Christianity, Salvador Ryan and Brendan Leahy (eds), Dublin: Veritas Publications, 2012; Elizabeth Boyle, Opposition to Pilgrimage in Tenth-Century Ireland, Treasures of Irish Christianity, Vol III, Salvador Ryan (ed), Dublin: Veritas Publications,

10 Professor Jonathan Wooding 22 argues that Celtic Monks were more than just Maritime Travelers navigators of the North Western Sea between Ireland and Iceland and beyond. He believes we need to have a holistic approach and not just stay with confines of the archeological evidence. The literary and historical evidence together with archeological evidence suggests a more complete portrait of travels undertaken by Celtic monks. Moreover, the concept of white martyrdom which inspired the monks to go on the Ocean offers us a key insight into the minds of these monastic travelers. They were not interested in colonization but in the search for their true identity an identity which they believed lay out on the ocean or on the other side of the ocean. Wooding suggests that these monks had a perception of the Ocean as a realm of becoming which offered them a truly ascetical experience. Some of these monks were motivated with a desire to evangelize or, at least, to reach out pastorally to the people they met along the way. St Columban has left us a legacy of pastoral guidelines 23 which he developed for his monks as they attempted to engage with the clergy and laity they encountered living close to their monasteries across Europe. However, these Celtic monks were primarily religious ascetics rather than missionaries heading out to convert the nations. People were converted to the Christian faith through contact with these monks, but this conversion was more as a consequence of them living out their monastic ideals. Professor Wooding summarizes his thinking with these words: These Celtic monks considered themselves as standing vigil at the world's end: striving to stay in a state of readiness for the coming Savior, they envisioned their monasteries as luminal spaces that continued the journey between this world to the next: journeys which for many of them began with the serious consideration of the ocean as a means of ascetical renewal, as a place of becoming Professor Jonathan Wooding, Lecture on Oceans of Becoming, Sydney: University of Sydney, March 12, G.M.S. Walker, Sancti Columbani Opera, Dublin, Response to Prof Jonathan Wooding s Lecture, in The Greek Australian VENA, April,

11 Bibliography Bassett, P.M., The use of history in the Chronicon of Isidore of Seville, History and Theory, 15(3), 1976, pp Boyle, Elizabeth, Opposition to Pilgrimage in Tenth-Century Ireland, Treasures of Irish Christianity, Vol III, Ed by Salvador Ryan, Veritas Publications, Dublin, Breen, Colin, The Maritime Cultural Landscape in Medieval Gaelic Ireland, in Duffy Patrick J, Davis Edwards and Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (eds), Dublin: Four Courts Press, Carey, John, St Brendan and the Crystal Pillar, in Salvador Ryan and Brendan Leahy (eds), Treasures of Irish Christianity, Dublin: Veritas Publications, Charles-Edwards, T.M., The Social Background to Irish Peregrinatio, Celtica XI (1976). Charles-Edwards, T.M., Hermits on Islands or Priests in a Landscape? Cornish Studies 6, Cunliffe, Barry, The Ancient Celts, Penguin Books, De Paor, Liam, Ireland and Early Europe, Dublin: Four Court Press, Dumville, David N., Three Men in a Boat: Scribe, Language, and Culture in the Church of Viking-age Europe: Inaugural Lecture Delivered 13 May 1996 [in the University of Cambridge]. Cambridge University, Flower, Robin, The Irish Tradition, Dublin: The Lilliput Press, Gougand, L., Christianity in Celtic Lands, London, Greene, David, The Irish language, Cork: Mercier Press, 1966, reprinted Hughes, A. J., and Fergus Kelly. A Guide to Early Irish Law, (1989): Jerome, Jerome K., Three men in a boat. Giunti Editore, 2010 (Originally published 1889). Kenney, James Francis. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: An Introduction and Guide, Columbia University Press, Maccraith, Michael, Pilgrimage to Rome, in Salvador Ryan and Brendan Leahy (eds), Treasures of Irish Christianity, Dublin: Veritas Publications,

12 Neville, Roybn, St Brendan and the Eucharist: Liturgical imagination in High Mediaeval Irish Narrative, in Treasures of Irish Christianity, in Salvador Ryan and Brendan Leahy (eds), Treasures of Irish Christianity, Dublin: Veritas Publications, Ni Chathain, P., A reading in the Cambrai Homily, Celtica XXI, Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, Early Medieval Ireland, , London: Routledge, (1995) O Hara Alexander, The Earliest Poem About Ireland, in Salvador Ryan and Brendan Leahy (eds), Treasures of Irish Christianity vol. III, Dublin: Veritas Publications, O'Meara, John Joseph. The voyage of Saint Brendan, journey to the promised land. Vol. 1. Dolmen Press, 1978 (1985). O Loughlin, Thomas, Celtic Theology, Continuum, London and New York, O Loughlin, Thomas, Discovering Saint Patrick, London: Darton, Longman and Todd, O Loughlin, Thomas, Living in the Ocean, in C. Bourke, ed., Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba, Dublin, O'Rahilly, Thomas Francis. The Two Patricks: a lecture on the history of Christianity in Fifth-Century Ireland, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Richter, Michael, Ireland and Her Neighbours in the Seventh Century, Ireland: Four Courts Press, Rolleston, T.W., Celtic, Myths and Legends, London: The Gresham Publishing Company, Scully, Diarmuid, An Irishman at World s End: The Voyage of St Brendan on the Hereford Map, Treasures of Irish Christianity, in Salvador Ryan and Brendan Leahy (eds), Treasures of Irish Christianity, vol.iii, Dublin: Veritas Publications, Severin, Tim, The Brendan Voyage, London: Hutchinson and Co, Sharpe, Richard, Adomnán of Iona: Life of Saint Columba, London: Penguin Books, London, 1995 (first published 1993). Walker, G.M.S, Sancti Columbani Opera, Dublin Wooding, Jonathan, Article on his Lecture, in The Greek Australian VENA, April, Zerubavel, Eviatar, Terra Cognita: The Mental Discovery of America, Transaction publishers,