Belfast- June 8

Scottish Coastline

Yesterday we cruised the coast of Scotland. Off in the distance you could see hills and cliffs but also lots of fog and rain. Thankful to be aboard this luxury floating hotel.

We both attended a lecture by Dr. Joanne Ferraro from San Diego State entitled Cross and Sword: The Christian Legacy. She again had lots of information given very dryly and without much passion. Really a shame! Jim actually left after about 10 minutes.

Scottish Coastline clearing slightly

The early Middle Ages (AD 500-1000) was critical to the spread of Christianity in Western Europe. We are listening to this lecture as we sail through the Inner Hebrides Isles between Scotland and Ireland. Perfect place to hear all of this.

People in ancient times on these islands were polytheistic- worshipping many gods and goddesses of Celtic origin. Christianity came to the islands and those gods and goddesses became thought of as fairies .  The fall of the Roman and New Atlantic Celtic Church was connected to the fall of the Roman and Greek civilizations by 410 AD. At this time religion became a new energetic force. During the next 100 years Christianity clung to a rock on the edge of the world called Iona.

Celtic Christianity was prevalent in the regions of Ireland, Scotland and Northumbria. Monasticism of eastern Mediterranean was brought to Iona. On the Celtic Isles people couldn’t really live alone so scholars began to wander together. They then began to establish secure sacred places for contemplation. They began to spread the story of Jesus to people around them- especially in Wales, Cornwell, Ireland and Scotland.

There were basically two competing traditions- Celtic Speaking and Roman-Latin Speaking. Celts were not based in urban centers and really had no church hierarchy while the Roman Tradition was organized on the basis of Bishops and a strict structure. The Abbot in his monastery would revere little of the Roman structure , but rather in the independent collective refuges in monasteries in Wales and Ireland. Cut off from Rome the Celtic Church was formed. These monasteries featured collective agriculture, harnessed energy through water technology, and use of pulleys.

The monastic culture replaced martyrdom as the highest tribute as it featured a life of chastity, poverty and obedience. The Benedictine Rule 529 valued constant prayer, physical labor, learning and surprisingly libations.

The 5^th-7^th century was the age of Saints and Christian Scholarship. St Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland in 432AD He also was responsible for the building of centers of Latin learning and Christian theology to preserve the  classical works of Aristotle, Cicero, Plato and others AND illuminating copies of the Bible- primarily the Gospels.

Irish scholars excelled in Latin and Christian Theology. The illuminated manuscripts started in Iona and moved to Ireland.

The Book of Kells

One of the best known is The Book of Kells currently housed at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Having seen it years ago I can still remember the beautiful pages we saw. Because of the age of the book it is displayed in a glass case and only two pages can be seen each day.  The pages are done on vellum – calf skin- and natural dyes.

Patrick of Ireland was the founder of Christianity in Ireland and the Celts embraced his message. He was captured by Irish pirates at age 16 years old. He fled after 6 years and studied in France. After that he returned to Ireland. One of the legends about Patrick is how he used the shamrock to illustrate the meaning of the Trinity to the people. He also is credited with banishing snakes from Ireland. Supposedly there to this day no snakes in Ireland.

St. Columba dies in 597 but during his life he was part of the Latin tradition. He studied in the Clonard Monastery. He is credited with spreading Christianity to Europe. 

St. Brigid of Kildare was born 451 AD. She founded the Kildare Abbey. Legends say she turned water into milk and regularly still the wind and the rain.

Viking invaded the isles in the 9^th century. Alfred the Great stopped the invasion in 88. Danes were baptized. Monasteries spread. Normans cemented the faith after 1066 and there was support for daily life from cradle to the grave.

As King Henry VIII’s first wife was no able to produce a  male heir so he wanted to divorce her. The Pope would not permit that, so Henry decided to divorce himself from the Pope and establish The Church of England with himself as the head of the church. In 1538 he took the monastic land and redistributing the land. He chose to sell the monasteries to his friends- the gentry. Manuscripts were destroyed. Servants lost employment. Celtic crosses were thrown into the sea. Monks and Nuns were given a pension.

The religious changes included eliminating the Latin Bible, Pilgrimages, Saints, Monasteries, Art in churches was stripped away, and clerical marriages were permitted.

The following century ushered in an age of religious wars as Protestants and Catholics divided the realms of Britain. Much depended on the faith of the monarch of the moment.

Henry dissolved the monasteries in 1539

Henry declared himself king in 1541

Edward’s sister Mary- a Catholic- reversed everything back to Latin Tradition in 1553

Elizabeth I – a Protestant- reversed the tradition again

 She founded Trinity College in 1592

During the 17^th- 19^th Century the Catholics in Ireland suffered greatly. They couldn’t bear arms, couldn’t hold public office and couldn’t receive any formal education.

View from the Bridge

Seems there is no part of the ancient or modern world that have not been or are not being impacted by religious wars.

The night of June 7-8 the fog horn again sounded all night. At least the sea was calmer and we slept really well.

Flag of Northern Ireland

We awoke to this lovely view.  We were to go on a drive around the Ards Peninsula and tour the ruins of one of the monasteries mentioned in the lecture yesterday- Grey Abbey, founded in the late 12^th Century. This is what I think we would have seen had it

Grey Abbey

been better weather. Since views would be limited, a 45 minute tour of the ruins in the rain and the bone-chilling cold we opted to stay dry and warm.

Remember with great fondness our fist visit to Belfast and to the incredible Giant’s Causeway. We’ll just watch the view from the Bridge camera and remember!