Insular monasticism: Difference between revisions

There is archaeological evidence of monasticism in Britain as early as the mid 5th century.^[1]

Background

By the fifth century, Martin of Tours had established monasteries at Ligugé and Marmoutier;^[2] Cassian, the Abbey of St Victor and the women's Abbey of Saint-Sauveur at Marseille;^[3] Honoratus at Lérins; and Germanus at Auxerre. The monastic tradition spread from Gaul to the British Isles shortly thereafter. Lérins was famous for training priests, and a number of its monks became bishops. Benedict Biscop, abbot of St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, spent two years there. He later founded St Peter's monastery at Monkwearmouth in Northumbria.

As Christianity spread into Ireland and parts of Great Britain during the late 4th and 5th centuries, monastic communities emerged in places such as Iona, Lindisfarne and Kildare. Several early Irish monks were noted for being missionaries, traveling into Great Britain and continental Europe.

History

The Roman, and therefore Saxon conception of ecclesiastical government was territorial and diocesan. The Celtic conception was tribal and monastic.^[4] In the British Isles in the 5th century, the earliest monastic communities in Ireland, Wales and Strathclyde followed a different, distinctly Celtic model. It seems clear that the first Celtic monasteries were merely settlements where the Christians lived together — priests and laity, men, women, and children alike — as a kind of religious clan. At a later period actual monasteries both of monks and nuns were formed, and later still the eremitical life came into vogue.

The early Celtic monasteries were like small villages, where the people were taught everything from farming to religion, with the idea in mind that eventually a group would split off, move a few miles away and establish another monastery. In this way, the Celtic way of life, and the Celtic Church propagated its way across Ireland and eventually to Western Britain and Scotland. Irish monks spread Christianity into Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland. St. Ninian established a monastery at Whithorn in Scotland about 400 AD, and he was followed by St. Columba (Iona), and St. Aidan, who founded a monastery at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. Columban wandering monks became missionaries. Founding saints were almost invariably lesser members of local dynasties, and their successors were often chosen from among their kin.^[5] Ultan, abbot-bishop of Arbraccan, was a disciple and kinsman of Declán of Ardmore, who made him bishop of Ardbraccan.^[6]

The Insular observance, at first so distinctive, gradually lost its special character and fell into line with that of other countries; but, by that time, Celtic monasticism had passed its zenith and its influence had declined.^[7]

Scotland

"The impact of monasticism on Scotland was profound and long lasting."^[8] Whithorn, an early trading center,^[9] precedes the island of Iona by 150 years as a birthplace of Scottish Christianity. The oldest Christian monument in Scotland is "The Latinus Stone", a cemetery stone dated to the mid 5th century.^[10] Bede recounts a traditional belief that in 397, Ninian established the first Christian mission north of Hadrian's Wall here.

Ninian

According to the traditional account as expanded in the Vita Sancti Niniani, attributed to Aelred of Rievaulx, Ninian was a Briton who had studied in Rome. On his return, he stopped to visit Martin of Tours, who sent masons with him on his homeward journey. These masons built a church of stone, on the shore. Shortly thereafter (397), upon learning of Saint Martin's death, Ninian dedicated the church to him. Ninian went on to convert the southern Picts to Christianity. There is strong modern scholarly consensus that Ninian and Finnian of Movilla are the same person, whose actual name was "Uinniau". ^[11]

The small stone church, known as the "Candida Casa" ("shining white house"), was Scotland's first Christian building. Archaeological excavations have suggested that Whithorn was primarily a commercial settlement, whose residents were Christian, and that a more likely location for Ninian's church might have been Kirkmadrine, across the bay.^[9] It appears that Rosnat was a double monastery with a separate house for women.^[12]

At Whithorn, many monks were trained who later went into the missionary field to become famous apostles of Ireland and Alba, even as far north as the misty Orkney and Shetland Islands. Saint Éogan, founder of the monastery of Ardstraw, was an Irishman who lived in the sixth century AD and was said to have been taken by pirates to Britain. On obtaining his freedom, he went to study at Candida Casa. Enda of Aran first studied with Ailbe of Emly, and then went to the Candida Casa. Enda founded the first monastery in the Aran Islands.

Other monastic foundations

About 528, Cadoc is said to have built a stone monastery probably at Kilmadock, which was named for him, north-west of Stirling.^[13] In 563, Columba left Ireland and settled with the Gaels of Dál Riata. He founded an abbey on Iona, one of the oldest Christian religious centers in Western Europe. The Abbey became a dominant religious, educational, and political institution in the region for centuries.^[14] In 565 Saint Kenneth joined Columba in Scotland and then went on to found a monastery in Fife. Kingarth monastery on the Isle of Bute is associated with saints Cathan and his nephew Bláán, who studied under Kenneth.

A contemporary of Columba, Moluag, is described in The Matryrology of Óengus, as "The Clear and Brilliant, The Sun of Lismore in Alba".^[15] He was ordained by Comgall of Bangor,^[16] who may have been a kinsman.^[17] Around 562, he and twelve companions embarked on a "white martyrdom", forsaking their homeland to establish a monastery on the island of Lismore in Scotland. Lismore became an important center of Celtic Christianity. Máel Ruba, grand-nephew of Comgall of Bangor, (whose father was Pictish), founded Applecross Abbey in 672 in what was then Pictish territory.^[18] A six-mile radius of his grave was designated "A' Chomraich" ("The Sanctuary"), and accorded all the rights and privileges of sanctuary. According to Adomnán, Donnán of Eigg was martyred with a number of monks at his monastery at Kildonnan.

Physically Scottish monasteries differed significantly from those on the continent, and were often an isolated collection of wooden huts surrounded by a wall.^[19] St. Donnan's monastery at Kildonnan was located within an oval enclosure, surrounded by a ditch, housing a rectangular chapel in the center, and a handful of smaller buildings either side.^[20]

Ireland

Patrick

Both Ultan of Ardbraccan and Tirechan, believed that Saint Patrick spent time at the monastery of Lerins. Patrick's stay at the monastery of Lerins, and the influence of St John Cassian in that area, would have exposed him to the monastic practice and spirituality of the Desert Fathers. Patrick introduced the monastic system into Ireland.^[21] According to Tírechán, many early Patrician churches were combined with nunneries founded by Patrick's noble female converts.^[22]

Other monastic foundations

Saint Declan (fl. 350–450 AD} founded a monastery at Ardmore,^[23] possibly the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland. A contemporary was Ailbe, whose Vita, written c. 750, says that he preached Christianity in Munster before the arrival of St. Patrick, and founded a monastery at Emly.

England

On his second visit to Britain, around 446, Germanus of Auxerre accompanied by Severus of Trier, established schools at Ross-on-Wye and Hentland. "By means of these schools", says Bede, "the Church continued ever afterwards pure in the faith and free from heresy".^[24] In the 6th century, Dubricius/Dyfrig, who was born in Herefordshire, of a Welsh mother, founded a monastery at Hentland and then one at Moccas.^[25]

The earliest monastic site in the United Kingdom appears to have been at Beckery, near Glastonbury. Excavations conducted in 2016, revealed what archaeologists say is a monastic cemetery dating to the 5th century. The monastery, consisting of a few wattle and daub buildings, was situated on an island surrounded by wetlands.^[1]

Wales

The Celtic idea of sanctity inclined for the most part to a great love of the eremitical life. Each locality seems to have its hermit who in his lonely chapel prayed and practiced austerities. Tathan was an Irish monk, who, leaving Ireland, sailed up the River Severn and established a monastery at Venta Silurum.^[26] As a boy Cadoc was sent to study under Tathan. Llancarvan monastery in Glamorganshire, was founded in the latter part of the fifth century by Cadoc. The site included a monastery, a college, and a hospital. "Gildas the Wise" was invited by Cadoc to deliver lectures in the monastery and spent a year there, during which he made a copy of a book of the Gospels, long treasured in the church of St. Cadoc. The Welsh felt such reverence for this book that they used it in their most solemn oaths and covenants. Cainnech of Aghaboe,^[27] Caradoc of Llancarfan and many others studied there.

Saint David

Saint David (or Dewi) is the patron saint of Wales. Tradition holds that he was born in Ceredigion. He began his studies first with Illtud at Llanilltud Fawr in Glamorganshire, and continued with Pawl Hen^[28] at "Ty Gwyn", the "white house" overlooking Whitesands Bay in Pembrokeshire. He became renowned as a teacher and preacher, founding or restoring twelve monastic settlements in Wales, Dumnonia, and Brittany. St David's Cathedral stands on the site of "Tyddewi" ("David's house"), the monastery he founded in the Glyn Rhosyn valley of Pembrokeshire.

The monks fed and clothed the poor and needy; they cultivated the land and carried out many crafts, including beekeeping, in order to feed themselves and the many pilgrims and travellers who needed lodgings.^[29] Known for his asceticism, his monastic Rule prescribed that monks had to pull the plough themselves without draught animals,^[30] and must drink only water and eat only bread with salt and herbs. Having been warned by St. Scuthyn, that his monks tried to poison him, David blessed the poisoned bread and ate it without harm. (A similar story is later told of Anthony of Padua.)

David became Bishop of Caerleon, and moved the see to Menevia, the Roman port Menapia in Pembrokeshire, then the chief point of departure for Ireland.^[31]

Other monastic foundations

Illtud received the tonsure from Dyfrig, Archbishop of Llandaff, and then went to study under Cadoc at Llancarvan. He was subsequently ordained priest by Germanus of Auxerre. Around 500, Illtud, founded a monastery called Cor Tewdws at Llanilltud Fawr. Its school was a primary learning center of Sub-Roman Britain, but was situated on the Glamorgan Plain exposed to hostile incursions from Irish pirates, and to Viking raids. The course of studies at Llaniltyd (and this also applies to the other monasteries) included Latin, Greek, rhetoric, philosophy, theology, and mathematics. Saint Patrick, Paul Aurelian, the bard Taliesin, and Magloire, are believed to have spent some time there.^[32] Samson of Dol was known to have been summoned by Dyfrig to join the monastery in 521 and he was briefly elected abbot before leaving for Cornwall.^[24]

Also in the 6th century, Saint Cadfan built the first "Clas" in Wales before establishing a monastery on Bardsey Island. Around 539 Deiniol built a monastery at Bangor in Gwynedd. Bangor is an old Welsh word for a wattled enclosure,^[33]

A monastery was established at Bangor-on-Dee in about AD 560 by Saint Dunod (or Dunawd) and was an important religious center in the 5th and 6th centuries. The monastery was destroyed in about 613 by the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelfrith of Northumbria after he defeated the Welsh armies at the Battle of Chester; a number of the monks then transferred to Bardsey Island. Before the battle, monks from the monastery had fasted for three days and then climbed a hill to witness the fight and pray for the success of the Welsh; they were massacred on the orders of Æthelfrith. The massacre was recounted in a poem entitled "The Monks of Bangor's March" by Walter Scott. No trace of the monastery remains aa it is likely that all the buildings, were built of wattle and daub.^[34]

The monastery of Liancwlwy in the vale of Clwyd was founded by Kentigern, Bishop of Glasgow. Anti-Christian sentiment forced Kentigern to quit his see, and he took refuge in Wales, where, after visiting St. David at Menevia, he received from a Welsh prince a grant of land for the erection of a monastery. These he divided the community into three companies; one, who were unlearned, worked the farm; the second, around the monastery; the third, which was made up of the learned, devoted their time to study and apostolic labours, and numbered upwards of 365. These last were divided into two choirs, one of which always entered the church as the others left, so that prayer was continual.^[35] Rhydderch Hael later invited him to return to his see and he left the government of his monastery and school to St. Asaph, his favorite scholar, whose name was afterwards conferred upon the church and diocese.^[36]

The Cambro-British monks led a hard and austere life. According to historian John Capgrave, When they had done their field work, returning to the cloisters of their monastery, they spent the rest of the day till evening in reading and writing. And in the evening at the sound of the bell, they went to the church and remained there till the stars appeared, and then all went together to eat, but not to fullness. Their food was bread with roots or herbs, seasoned with salt, and they quenched their thirst with milk mingled with water. Supper being ended they persevered about three hours in prayer. After this they went to rest and at cock crowing rose again, and abode in prayer till the dawn of day.^[24]

Llanbadern near Aberystwith that of Padern; Beddgelert is associated with St. Celert. A Celtic monastery was established on Caldey Island in the sixth century.^[37]

Cornwall

It had been thought that Cornwall derived a great part of its Christianity from post-Patrician Irish missions. St. Ia and her companions, and St. Piran, St. Sennen, St. Petrock, were identified as having come from Ireland.^[38] However, Nicholas Orme says that evidence for Irish saints in Cornwall is "largely late and unreliable".^[39]

Petroc and Piran

Petroc, along with Piran, and St. Michael, is one of the patron saints of Cornwall. A younger son of an unnamed Welsh warlord,^[40] Petroc studied in Ireland.^[41][42] Upon returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, the wind and tide brought him to Trebetherick.^[42] He founded a monastery with a school and infirmary at Lanwethinoc (the church of Wethinoc, an earlier holy man), at the mouth of the river Camel on the North Cornish Coast. It came to be called Petrocs-Stow (Petroc's Place), now Padstow. This became the base for missionary journeys throughout Cornwall), Devon, Somerset, Dorset, and Brittany. After about thirty years, he founded a second monastery on the site of the hermitage of St Guron at Bodmin.^[43]

Piran is said to have come from Ireland and landed upon the sandy beach of Perranzabuloe, where he established the wattle and daub Abbey of Lanpiran. "The Celtic monastery …consisted of a congeries of detached cells, each suitable for the habitation of one or more monks".^[4] Piran is the patron saint of tin miners.^[44] Saint Piran's Flag is the flag of Cornwall, as St. Petroc's Flag is of Devon.

Other monastic foundations

St Guron founded a monastery at Bodmin, but left for the coast upon the arrival of Petroc.^[45] According to tradition St German's Priory was founded by Germanus of Auxerre himself ca. 430 AD.^[46] Padarn, who studied at Illtud's school, Cor Tewdws.^[47] founded a monastery at Llanbadarn Fawr, near Aberystwyth, which became the seat of a new diocese, with him as its first bishop.^[48]

Docco is said to have come with his sister Kew from Gwent in south Wales to Cornwall and founded at St Kew a religious center known as Lan Docco. Samson of Dol visited Lan Docco when he came to Cornwall in the early 6th-century.^[49]

Benedictine reform

From the 7th century important monasteries following the Benedictine Rule were established in the north of England, at Hexham, at Whitby, and at Wearmouth and Jarrow in County Durham. Physic gardens (700AD), which were gardens of medicinal or healing herb, were placed in squares surrounded by monastic cloisters. Later, these gardens added culinary herbs and orchards of unusual fruits and nuts trees.

See also

• Abbeys and priories in England
• Abbeys and priories in Northern Ireland
• Abbeys and priories in Scotland
• Abbeys and priories in Wales
• Buddhism in the United Kingdom#History

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Western Monasticism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.