Celtic Spirituality Retreats and Resources

The Episcopal Church is a wide river containing many expressions of faith. The Rev. Fred Masterman leads workshops and retreats on Celtic Spirituality. One such retreat was April 23-25, 2001, at our Duncan Center. Twelve Episcopalians from parishes around Southeast Florida gathered to learn, listen, and pray. A Celtic Evening Mass or other such events may pop up around our Diocese.

Christianity had reached Ireland by 100 AD. Trade routes were busy, and the Gospels arrived in this northern land without the company of an army. The spirituality of the Celtic path was very earth and nature centered.

It was not until the 400s that Saint Patrick entered upon the scene. Contemporary saints such as Brigid, Columba, Hilda, and Aidan also spread the faith, and they can be found in our Episcopal Book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

One hundred years earlier, the Acts of the Council of Arles in France in 314 mentions three bishops in attendance from the British Isles.

Existing Celtic spirituality included seven elements:

• 1. A love of nature and the physical environment.
• 2. A love of learning.
• 3. A yearning to explore the unknown and to travel.
• 4. A love of silence and solitude.
• 5. A deep understanding that past, present, future, and all time are connected.
• 6. An appreciation of ordinary life.
• 7. A valuing of kinship, confidant, or "soul friend" relationships in this time or between times.

It was around 400 AD that St Augustine of Hippo (now part of northeastern Algeria) spread doctrines within the Roman style of faith that downgraded women and the value of all of God's creation. The Irish were spared these teachings until the Synod of Whitby in 664. Women continued to be respected as the equals of men and held positions of high rank. All life was seen as an interconnecting web.

This Celtic (pronounced "keltic", not "seltic") spiritual path, with its emphasis on the Incarnation of Christ in daily life, became the bedrock of all English Spirituality. The split from Rome at the time of Henry VIII had the force of opposing cultures as an undercurrent. Through Anglican prayers and ethos, it provides a key to understanding how we (as spiritual decendents) tend to worship, think, pray, and witness in our lives in Christ.

While the Roman church has left us councils and definitions, the Irish church has left us prayers. The Carmina Gadelica, as collected by Alexander Carmichael, includes prayer collected around the British Isles.

Workshops of Celtic Spirituality occasionally pop up around the Diocese, either in parishes or at conferences. For some, this is a style of Christianity to which to look for inspiration.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rain fall soft upon your fields,
And until we meet again,
May God hold you,
in the hollow of his hand.
 
                                 --An Irish Blessing

Others counted among the many Celtic Saints are Kevin of Glendalough, Ia of Cornwall, Cuthbert of Lindesfarne, David of Wales, Ita of Killeedy, Brendan of Clonfert, Samthann of Clonbroney, Canair of Bantry Bay, Finbar of Cork, Non of Wales, and Monessa of Britain.

The most popular remains Saint Patrick.

For enjoyable in studying the contrast between Irish and Roman thinking, explore the Sister Fidelma mysteries, the adventures of a seventh century religious unraveling tales of murder and intrigue.

1. EVERY EARTHLY BLESSING by Esther DeWaal Servant Publications, 1991.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. GOD UNDER MY ROOF: Celtic Songs and Blessings by Esther de Waal, 1992
   Publisher: Paraclete Press, Orleans, Massachusetts
   
3. THE CELTIC VISION edited by Esther de Waal, 1988
   Publisher: St. Bede's Publications, Petersham, Massachusetts
   
4. CELTIC CHRISTIANITY (THE ELEMENTS OF...SERIES) by Anthony Duncan, 1992
   Publisher: Element Books, Rockport, Massachusetts
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. WISDOM OF THE CELTIC SAINTS by Edward C. Sellner, 1993
   Publisher: Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, IN
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. THE EDGE OF GLORY: Prayer in the Celtic Tradition by David Adam
   Publisher: Morehouse-Barlow Triangle/SPCK England
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. THE CRY OF THE DEER: Meditation on the Prayer of Saint Patrick by David Adam.
   Publisher: Morehouse-Barlow
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. LIVING BETWEEN WORLDS - Place and Journey in Celtic Spirituality by Philip Sheldrake
   Publisher: Cowley Publications, 1995
   
9. CELTIC CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY: An Anthology of Medieval and Modern Sources edited by Oliver Davies and Fiona Bowie 1995,
   Continuum Publishing, New York
   
10. THE SOUL OF CELTIC SPIRITUALITY in the Lives of its Saints by Michael Mitton, 1996;
    Twenty-third Publications, Mystic, CT
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. THE BOOK OF KELLS An Illustrated Introduction to the manuscript in Trinity College Dublin, Bernard Muhan, 1995
    Studio Editions, Ltd., England
    
12. Listening for the Heartbeat of God : A Celtic Spirituality by J. Philip Newell
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
13. Mystery Fiction: The Sister Fidelma Mysteries by Peter Tremayne Absolution by Murder, Signet/Penguin 1997
    Shroud for the Archbishop, Signet/Penguin 1998
    Suffer Little Children, Signet/Penguin 1999
    The Subtle Serpent, Signet/Penguin 1999
    The Spider's Web, Signet/Penguin 2000
    Hemlock at Vespers, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2000
    The Monk Who Vanished, 2001
    
    
    
14. HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION by Thomas Cahill
    Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 1995
    
    
    
    
    
    
15. THE CELTIC WAY OF EVANGELISM by George G. Hunter III
    Abingdon Press
    
    
    
    
    
    

There are many online resources, such as a Celtic Almanac, Celtic Library, and sites about Ireland in general. Take a look at Ireland's History in Maps.