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Arvosteluja–Reviews Arvosteluja–Reviews Katja Ritari: Saints and Sinners in Early Ritari’s study stands at the intersection Christian Ireland: Moral Theology in the of a number of significant trends in con- Lives of Saint Brigit and Columba. Stu- temporary scholarship: the rediscovery of dia traditionis theologiae 3. Turnhout: hagiography as a rich source for the history Brepols 2009. xiv + 202 pages. Price of society, capable of providing illuminat- €55.00. ISBN 9782503533155. ing insights into the lives of that great mass of ordinary people who have left little to Studia traditionis theologiae: Explorations no trace in the historical record; the grow- in Early and Medieval Theology, a new ing awareness of the need to investigate series of monographs from Brepols pro- seriously the theological foundations of duced under the direction of Prof. Thomas much early Irish literature; and a new un- O’Loughlin, is dedicated to the publication derstanding of hagiographical works as sig- of ‘volumes … concerned with how the past nificant theological texts. However, while evolved in the past, and the interplay of the- numerous scholars have begun to examine ology, culture and tradition’ (as the Brepols hagiography as theology in a range of pub- website and the volumes’ dust-jackets in- lished articles, Ritari’s study is one of the form us). The advent of this series is cer- few monographs I have encountered which tainly to be welcomed by Celticists: already- is dedicated to this new and promising ap- published volumes include a study of the sa- proach. cred topography of early Irish religious sites Ritari’s work provides an in-depth study (D. Jenkins: vol. 4) and the proceedings of of three of the earliest saints’ Lives produced the First International Conference on the in medieval Ireland: Cogitosus’ Vita Brigi- Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, tae, Adomnán’s Vita Columbae, and the so- held in Galway in 2006 (Ed. I. Warntjes & called Vita prima of St Brigit. Ritari focuses D. Ó Cróinín: vol. 5), while future mono- her attention, however, not on the two great graphs are promised on the sources of the saints who are the subjects of these Lives, Collectio canonum Hibernensis (L. Davies), but on the minor characters which populate Gildas and the scriptures (T. O’Loughlin) their pages. Her aim is to examine ‘the ques- and the christology of Theodore of Tarsus (J. tion of what it means to be a good Christian’ Siemens). Katja Ritari’s study of the moral according to these early medieval Vitae (p. theology underlying early Irish hagiogra- 173), and she demonstrates that close study phy, Saints and Sinners in Early Christian of the saint’s interactions with virtuous and Ireland, is the first monograph in the series sinful laypeople and clerics can uncover a dedicated to a consideration of the theology consistent moral paradigm underlying the of the Celtic lands, and it sets a high stand- varied narratives in the Lives: in effect, ard for the volumes which will follow. Ritari reveals the operative moral theology 48 which informed the work of Adomnán and Saints and Sinners in Early Christian the authors of the Brigidine Lives. Ireland opens with an introduction which This is an important development in places the study within its broader histori- the study of medieval hagiography, which cal and theological context and introduces builds on the approach of Le Goff, Schmitt readers to Cogitosus’ Vitae Brigitae (VBC), and many other scholars in reading hagi- Adomnán’s Vita Columbae (VC) and the ographies against the grain in order to gain anonymous Vita prima of St Brigit (VPB). insights into the lives of ordinary men and The second chapter examines the saint as women; Ritari’s innovative contribution lies the paradigm of holiness to be admired and in realizing that much of the grain may have imitated, focusing on heavenly apparitions been sown deliberately and consciously, of light and angels (which are particularly and therefore in reading the saint’s Life as prevalent in Book iii of VC) and the presen- a text which also reflects on the holiness tation of the saint as already living a heav- of the not-quite-so-perfect members of the enly life on earth. Christian community. Of course, as Ritari Chapters 3 and 4 represent the core of acknowledges, this still confines us to the Ritari’s work, examining the presentation realm of the ideal rather than the actual: the of the virtues of good Christians and the Lives do not tell us of the actual lives of ordi- antithesis of the good Christian life as re- nary Christian women and men, but instead vealed in the three Lives (the treatment of present an ideal of the ordinary Christian life sinners in chapter 4 including an important as it ought to be, according to the views of discussion of brigands / díbergaig and their the various authors. Nonetheless, the same putative pagan associations). Ritari divides limitation applies in many ways to more her consideration into three distinct cat- traditional sources of operative moral theol- egories, examining the virtues and vices of ogy, such as the Penitentials and the Collec- ecclesiastics (here referring specifically to tio canonum Hibernensis, and Ritari’s study male clerics and monastics), of laymen, and has important consequences for our under- of women (including female monastics). standing of ecclesiastical attitudes towards Ritari’s division of the Vitae’s minor charac- the laity in seventh- and eighth-century ter along such gendered lines could be chal- Ireland. Incidentally, this also explains why lenged, but to my mind it makes good sense, Ritari excludes the Patrician hagiography of both because of the undoubtedly patriarchal Tírechán and Muirchú from her considera- nature of early Irish society and of the na- tion, for both authors place their protagonist ture of Ritari’s sources. These are distress- in what they imagine to be a pagan society ingly lop-sided in their treatment of women undergoing conversion. Brigit and Colum- (as detailed in a comprehensive series of ba, in contrast, are pictured in the midst of tables on pp. 82-87), with VPB containing a society which is already Christian, and an impressive and varied number of female incidental encounters may thus reveal what characters, whereas the two other Lives are the hagiographers expected of the ordinary notable for the paucity of their references to members of Christian society. women. 49 One notable aspect which emerges from tory). Ritari also draws some illuminating Ritari’s discussion of this point is the impact parallels between episodes in VC and Atha- of the saint’s own gender on the inclusion nasius’ Life of Antony and the Dialogues of of women in their Vitae (see pp. 87-88). Gregory the Great, as well as the apocry- Given that Columba is a male ecclesiastic, phal Visio sancti Pauli. Such connections he is generally kept clear of women in the between Adomnán’s accounts of angels and course of his Life, presumably to avoid any demons battling over souls and similar epi- hint of tarnish to his celibacy and virginity; sodes in the Visio Pauli (and dependent text indeed, of the three women actually brought such as the Three Utterances Apocryphon into the physical presence of Columba in VC and the Dialogue between the Soul and the (see Table 3.3), one is his mother (and even Body) may provide a fruitful area for future then Columba is safely ensconced within investigations. her womb) and a second is immediately Ritari’s conclusion provides an admira- murdered on the spot. ble summary of her work, briefly addresses Chapter 5 turns to a consideration of the the question of the intended audience(s) of consequences of moral and immoral actions the three Vitae, and outlines the implica- in this life, including a significant treatment tion of her study for our understanding of of the role of penance in the Lives, and a ecclesiastical attitudes towards the laity in consideration of the miraculous punish- early medieval Ireland, engaging some of ments meted out to evildoers. Here Ritari the important earlier treatments of this de- detects an intriguing gradation in VC, where bated topic. She concludes that the three the harshest punishments are inflicted on Vitae generally display a positive attitude laypeople, with ecclesiastics receiving more towards the laity, who are depicted as be- lenient treatment, while members of the mo- longing within the spectrum represented by nastic community of Iona often escape from the Christian community as a whole; they punishment altogether. are also understood as being able to make Finally, chapter 6 examines the post- their way to the kingdom of heaven through humous consequences of actions, incor- their own virtues and by doing penance for porating an important section discussing their sins. Adomnán’s vision of the destiny of souls. Ritari furthermore suggests (intriguingly) Building on the earlier work of Stalmans that Cogitosus may have aimed his work at and O’Loughlin, Ritari provides a detailed a lay audience, whereas the Vita prima may analysis of Adomnán’s depictions of the have been written with ecclesiastics (prob- posthumous fate of the soul which suggests ably female religious) in mind. Ritari even that the abbot of Iona may have shared the detects a generally favourable attitude to the Augustinian conception of a threefold divi- laity in the Vita Columbae, whose primary sion between (1) the saints in heaven, (2) audience was undoubtedly the monastic the damned in hell, and (3) the not quite so community of Iona, and concludes that lay good / not quite so bad in an interim state people too are likely to have been amongst (which will eventually evolve into purga- the intended audiences of this work.
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