St. Patrick, the Trivium, and Christian Communication
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The Antiphonary of Bangor and Its Musical Implications
The Antiphonary of Bangor and its Musical Implications by Helen Patterson A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Music University of Toronto © Copyright by Helen Patterson 2013 The Antiphonary of Bangor and its Musical Implications Helen Patterson Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Music University of Toronto 2013 Abstract This dissertation examines the hymns of the Antiphonary of Bangor (AB) (Antiphonarium Benchorense, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana C. 5 inf.) and considers its musical implications in medieval Ireland. Neither an antiphonary in the true sense, with chants and verses for the Office, nor a book with the complete texts for the liturgy, the AB is a unique Irish manuscript. Dated from the late seventh-century, the AB is a collection of Latin hymns, prayers and texts attributed to the monastic community of Bangor in Northern Ireland. Given the scarcity of information pertaining to music in early Ireland, the AB is invaluable for its literary insights. Studied by liturgical, medieval, and Celtic scholars, and acknowledged as one of the few surviving sources of the Irish church, the manuscript reflects the influence of the wider Christian world. The hymns in particular show that this form of poetical expression was significant in early Christian Ireland and have made a contribution to the corpus of Latin literature. Prompted by an earlier hypothesis that the AB was a type of choirbook, the chapters move from these texts to consider the monastery of Bangor and the cultural context from which the manuscript emerges. As the Irish peregrini are known to have had an impact on the continent, and the AB was recovered in ii Bobbio, Italy, it is important to recognize the hymns not only in terms of monastic development, but what they reveal about music. -
Ireland: Savior of Civilization?
Constructing the Past Volume 14 Issue 1 Article 5 4-2013 Ireland: Savior of Civilization? Patrick J. Burke Illinois Wesleyan University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing Recommended Citation Burke, Patrick J. (2013) "Ireland: Savior of Civilization?," Constructing the Past: Vol. 14 : Iss. 1 , Article 5. Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol14/iss1/5 This Article is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Commons @ IWU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this material in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This material has been accepted for inclusion by editorial board of the Undergraduate Economic Review and the Economics Department at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Ireland: Savior of Civilization? Abstract One of the most important aspects of early medieval Ireland is the advent of Christianity on the island, accompanied by education and literacy. As an island removed from the Roman Empire, Ireland developed uniquely from the rest of western continental and insular Europe. Amongst those developments was that Ireland did not have a literary tradition, or more specifically a Latin literary tradition, until Christianity was introduced to the Irish. -
Columbanus: Abbot of Luxeuil and Bobbio, Born in West Leinster, Ireland, in 543; Died at Bobbio, Italy, 21 November, 615
Columbanus: Abbot of Luxeuil and Bobbio, born in West Leinster, Ireland, in 543; died at Bobbio, Italy, 21 November, 615. Columbanus, whose birth took place the year St. Benedict died, was from childhood well instructed. He was handsome and prepossessing in appearance, and this exposed him to the shameless temptations of several of his countrywomen. He also had to struggle with his own temptations. At last he betook himself to a religious woman, who advised him thus: Twelve years ago I fled from the world, and shut myself up in this cell. Hast thou forgotten Samson, David and Solomon, all led astray by the love of women? There is no safety for thee, young man, except in flight. Columbanus decided to retire from the world. He encountered opposition, especially from his mother, who strove to detain him by casting herself before him on the thresh hold of the door. But he passed over the prostrate form and left his home forever. His first master was Sinell Abbot of Cluaninis in Lough Erne. Under his tuition he composed a commentary on the Psalms. He then betook himself to the celebrated monastery of Bangor on the coast of Down, which at that time had for its abbot St. Comgall. There he embraced the monastic state, and for many years led a life conspicuous for fervour, regularity, and learning. At about the age of forty he seemed to hear incessantly the voice of God bidding him preach the Gospel in foreign lands. At first his abbot declined to let him go, but at length he gave consent. -
Religious Studies
RELIGIOUS STUDIES Religious Studies The Celtic Church in Ireland in the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Centuries Unit AS 5 Content/Specification Section Page The Arrival of Christianity in Ireland 2 Evidence for the presence of Christianity in Ireland before the arrival of St. Patrick 6 Celtic Monasticism 11 Celtic Penitentials 17 Celtic Hagiography 21 Other Aspects of Human Experience Section 25 Glossary 42 RELIGIOUS STUDIES The Arrival of Christianity in Ireland © LindaMarieCaldwell/iStock/iStock/Thinkstock.com Learning Objective – demonstrate knowledge and understanding of, and critically evaluate the background to the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, including: • The political, social and religious background; • The arrival of and the evidence for Christianity in Ireland before Patrick; and • The significance of references to Palladius. This section requires students to explore: 1. The political, social and religious background in Ireland prior to the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. 2. Evidence of the arrival of Christianity in Ireland before Patrick (Pre-Patrician Christianity. 3. References to Palladius and the significance of these references to understanding the background to Christianity in Ireland before Patrick’s arrival. Early Irish society provided a great contrast to the society of the Roman Empire. For example, it had no towns or cities, no central government or no standard currency. Many Scholars have described it as tribal, rural, hierarchical and familiar. The Tuath was the basic political group or unit and was a piece of territory ruled by a King. It is estimated that there were about 150 such Tuath in pre – Christian Ireland. The basic social group was the fine and included all relations in the male line of descent. -
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England
Bede©s Ecclesiastical History of England Author(s): Bede, St. ("The Venerable," c. 673-735) (Translator) Publisher: Description: The Ecclesiastical History of England examines the religious and political history of the Anglo-Saxons from the fifth century to 731 AD. St. Bede©s historical survey opens with a broad outline of Roman Britain©s geography and history. St. Bede pays special attention to the disagreement between Roman and Celtic Christians, the dates and locations of significant events in the Christian calendar, and political upheaval during the 600©s. St. Bede collected information from a variety of monasteries, early Church and government writings, and the oral histories of Rome and Britain. This book is useful to people looking for a brief survey of religious and political fig- ures and events in Anglo-Saxon history. Readers should re- cognize that St. Bede©s religious and political biases are subtly reflected in his historiography, diminishing its objectiv- ity. Nonetheless, his Ecclesiastical History of England is one of the most important texts of the Anglo-Saxon history. The book©s historical import is evidenced by the fact that nearly 200 hand written copies were produced in the Middle Ages. St. Bede©s text has since been translated into several different languages. Emmalon Davis CCEL Staff Writer Subjects: Christianity History By Region or Country i Contents Title Page 1 Preface 2 Introduction 3 Life of Bede 11 The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation 18 Book I 18 I. Of the Situation of Britain and Ireland, and of their ancient inhabitants 19 II. How Caius Julius Caesar was the first Roman that came into Britain. -
National Celebration of the 1400Th Anniversary of the Death of Saint Columban
Spiritality of Saint Columban strong desire for union his monks to look at the with God was the magnificent works of creation Adriving force in the life all round them in order to of St Columban. He believed understand the nature of God. that the risen Christ was present This link between his in him and the world around appreciation of the him: and that Christ was the awesomeness of nature and his source of all the gifts he needed strong belief in God comes out in life. St Columban was heavily strongly in his early sermons. influenced by the spirituality of There was a pastoral and the Desert Fathers. They were caring side to Columban which determined not to succumb to contrasts with the harsh and the seductions of the secular overly ascetic image that world around them and initially comes across from his committed themselves to the writings. His Fourth Letter search for their true selves in the written to the members of his deserts of the Middle East. In Luxeuil Community as he Ireland we do not have deserts awaited deportation back to but we do have plenty of quiet Ireland at the port of Nantes, lonely places which the Irish solitary meditation is reminiscent of offers us a rare but sincere monks sought out. There are over Jesus’s own prayer pattern which insight into his caring attitude for his 200 places in Ireland named Dysart was rigorously practiced by the fellow monks. It also offers us a (desert) which gives some indication desert monks. Here in the silence of glimpse into the personal angst he of how widespread was the practice his own heart Columban came in endured as he exercised leadership in among early Irish monks of seeking contact with the presence of God the same community. -
OPUS IMPERFECTUM AUGUSTINE and HIS READERS, 426-435 A.D. by MARK VESSEY on the Fifth Day Before the Kalends of September [In
OPUS IMPERFECTUM AUGUSTINE AND HIS READERS, 426-435 A.D. BY MARK VESSEY On the fifth day before the Kalends of September [in the thirteenth consulship of the emperor 'Theodosius II and the third of Valcntinian III], departed this life the bishop Aurelius Augustinus, most excellent in all things, who at the very end of his days, amid the assaults of besieging Vandals, was replying to I the books of Julian and persevcring glorioi.islyin the defence of Christian grace.' The heroic vision of Augustine's last days was destined to a long life. Projected soon after his death in the C,hronicleof Prosper of Aquitaine, reproduccd in the legendary biographies of the Middle Ages, it has shaped the ultimate or penultimate chapter of more than one modern narrative of the saint's career.' And no wonder. There is something very compelling about the picture of the aged bishop recumbent against the double onslaught of the heretical monster Julian and an advancing Vandal army, the ex- tremity of his plight and writerly perseverance enciphering once more the unfathomable mystery of grace and the disproportion of human and divine enterprises. In the chronicles of the earthly city, the record of an opus mag- num .sed imperfectum;in the numberless annals of eternity, thc perfection of God's work in and through his servant Augustine.... As it turned out, few observers at the time were able to abide by this providential explicit and Prosper, despite his zeal for combining chronicle ' Prosper, Epitomachronicon, a. 430 (ed. Mommsen, MGH, AA 9, 473). Joseph McCabe, .SaintAugustine and His Age(London 1902) 427: "Whilst the Vandals thundered at the walls Augustine was absorbed in his great refutation of the Pelagian bishop of Lclanum, Julian." Other popular biographers prefer the penitential vision of Possidius, hita Augustini31,1-2. -
Book Review of a Celtic Christology by John F Gavin
4 0 THIRD WAY REVIEWS A out the Irishman’s cosmology. God made the world so that A Celtic Christology: we might know divine loveliness. In Eriugena’s words: ‘All Celtic things were created out of nothing in order that the breadth Christology The Incarnation according to and bounty of divine goodness might be manifested and The Incarnation ac cording to praised through the things which he made.’ John Scott us Eriugena John Scottus Eriugena ‘God is said to love, because he is the cause of all love and John f Ciaviit^ ________________ John F Gavin_________________ he is diffused through all things, and he gathers all things into one and it turns back to him in an ineffable return.’ James Clarke & Co, 178pp___________ Thus Eriugena adopts Maximus in surmising: ‘God moves and is moved, as one thirsting to be thirsted for, loving to be s the Roman Empire declined, much of Western loved, and desiring to be desired.’ Europe fell into the so-called Dark Ages. However, That, for this reviewer, is Eriugena’s mystical crux. there was nothing dark about the Celtic world in Little of it is wholly original. What theology can be? Like A the twilight centuries of the first millennium. The lightmost Celtic thinkers, he draws mainly from the gospels of learning, a monastic light, had burned continuously — John in particular and the prologue, especially. Gavin’s throughout the decline of Rome on the Atlantic fringe. second chapter is on Jesus Christ: God and Man, followed From here, between about the fifth and the ninth centur by Cur Deus Homo ( ‘why God became man’). -
Ancient Church History Semi-Pelagianism, Semi-Augustinianism, and the Synod of Orange (529) Pastor Charles R
Ancient Church History Semi-Pelagianism, Semi-Augustinianism, and the Synod of Orange (529) Pastor Charles R. Biggs Review of Pelagius and Augustine/ Council of Ephesus (431) Pelagius was a British monk, a very zealous preacher who was castrated for the sake of the kingdom and given to rigorous asceticism. He desired to live a life of perfect holiness. In Christian history, he has come to be the arch-heretic of the church, but in his early writings he was very orthodox and sought to maintain and uphold the creeds of the early church. Pelagius came from Rome to Carthage in the year 410 AD (after Alaric I had captured Rome) with his friend and student Celestius. He taught the people of North Africa a new emphasis on morals and the rigorous life of living the Gospel, because he was shocked by the low tone of Roman morals and thought that Augustine’s teaching on divine grace contributed to the immorality. Celestius, who was the most prominent follower of Pelagius at the time, was condemned at the Council of Carthage in 411 because he denied the transmission of Adam’s sins to his descendants. Augustine began to write and preach again Pelagius and Celestius’ doctrines. Pelagius and Celestius were condemned at two councils at Carthage and Milevis (Numidia, North Africa) in 416 and Innocent I (410-17) excommunicated them from the church. On May 1, 418 the Council of Carthage convened to issue a series of nine canons affirming without compromise the Augustinian doctrine of the Fall and Original Sin. Emperor Honorius (395-423) issued an imperial decree denouncing the teachings of Pelagius and Celestius in that same year. -
Saint Patrick: a Hagiographical Study
Obsculta Volume 12 Issue 1 Article 11 5-3-2019 Saint Patrick: A Hagiographical Study Molly Kluever College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/obsculta Part of the History of Christianity Commons ISSN: 2472-2596 (print) ISSN: 2472-260X (online) Recommended Citation Kluever, Molly. 2019. Saint Patrick: A Hagiographical Study. Obsculta 12, (1) : 116-126. https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/obsculta/vol12/iss1/11. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Obsculta by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Molly Kluever Molly Kluever is a junior English and Theology double-major at the College of Saint Benedict. In Fall 2018, she spent the semester abroad in Galway, Ireland, where she had the opportunity to study the Irish-Christian tradition in its original context. Unsurprisingly, the figure of St. Patrick was broached early in the course. Fascinated by the myriad of ways religion has influenced the development of literature, Molly decided to write her term paper on the conflicting images of St. Patrick found in the saint’s own writings and in the dramatic accounts of his life written by hagiographers in the centuries following his death. The resulting essay – “St. Patrick: A Hagiographical Study” – attempts to articulate how both fact and fiction played a role in shaping the legendary Irish saint. 116 Obsculta SAINT PATRICK: A Hagiographical Study A scholar attempting to study the life of St. -
We Get Letters: from Bob in Kennebunkport on St. Patrick
March 2020 We Get Letters: from Bob in Kennebunkport on St. Patrick and Brexit Robert Lyons teaches Irish Studies at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University of Southern Maine. evelers stepping outside the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere to enjoy the NACE sponsored St. Patrick's Day Happy Hour on Skydeck Chicago [3-6pm] may overhear the words: “Patrick and Brexit”. Buried in the bogs of Irish history, records reveal that without Saints R Patrick in the 5th and Columbanus in the 6th-7th centuries, there would have been no European Union for the United Kingdom to exit - no Brexit. The bricks and mortar to rebuild Europe and England after breakup of the Western Roman Empire were trowelled by men with Irish accents and rhythms. Patrick, born in Roman Britain, became Ireland’s most influential immigrant and brought the Irish into the mainstream of Western history. But it was Columbanus who became Ireland’s most influential emigrant, “the man from this country who went out to the world [and] left his imprint not just here in Ireland but throughout Europe”, according to Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland. This Irish immigrant from the edge of Europe whom James Joyce called “fiery Columbanus” was the first to voice the concept of the “whole of Europe” - totius Europae - twice in a letter to Pope Gregory the Great, 600 A.D. Columbanus expressed the radical notion that “we are all joint members of one body, whether Gauls, or Britons, or Irish, or whatever people we come from.” A great flame follows a little spark as Columbanus’ monastic foundations fueled the reintroduction of classical learning to the European mainland after the Dark Ages. -
Authority and Duty: Columbanus and the Primacy of Rome
Authority and Duty: Columbanus and the Primacy of Rome Damian Bracken Abstract. Columbanus’s letters are among the earliest examples of literature written by an Irishman and one of the first acknowledgements of the primacy of Rome from the pen of a barbarian. Many scholars have discerned a truculence, if not arrogance, in his letters to the popes. In many cases, his direct manner of speaking has obscured for a modern readership the extent of his knowledge of the nature of Roman primacy and his acceptance of many of the principles on which that primacy rests. Particularly in his letter to pope Boniface IV, Columbanus draws on these principles, in the first instance to acknowledge the primacy of the bishop of Rome, but also to remind the pope of the duties of leadership. Columbanus wrote Letter 5 at the time of the Three Chapters controversy when, following the doctrinal wavering of pope Vigilius, the churches of the West had either broken off communion with Rome or viewed its bishop with suspicion. In that context, Colum- banus’s call on the bishop of Rome to fulfil his role of ‘watchman’ of the church was less an affront to his dignity than an affirmation of his authority. Keywords: Columbanus, authority, Three Chapters controversy, Gregory the Great, Leo I, Boniface IV, Rome, primacy of Rome, role of bishop, caput ecclesiae, early Ireland. Damian Bracken Department of History, NUI Cork [email protected] Peritia 16 (2002) 168–213 ISBN 2503512895 IRELAND—ROME—CONSTANTINOPLE The Irish missionary and founder of monasteries, Columbanus (†615), crossed into Italy in 612 and established his last foundation at Bobbio under the patronage of the Lombard king, Agilulf.1 Probably in the following year he sent his last letter, to pope Boniface IV, calling on him to take action and heal the divisions in the Italian church caused by the Three Chapters schism.2 The papacy had gone through a particularly 1.