Celtic Churches

Celtic Churches. The Churches of the areas using Celtic languages—Cumbria, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, Ireland, and Scotland—were not linked by any institutional unity, nor were there any clearly defined practices common to these Churches but distinct from others; nevertheless they all developed from the Church in late-Roman Britain. It was probably through trading links with W. Britain that Christianity was taken to Ireland, so that in 431 Palladius could be sent as their first bishop ‘to the Irish believing in Christ’. Later in the 5th cent., however, when St Patrick came from Britain, Ireland was still largely pagan, and, apart from his writings, there is no evidence of the Church there until well into the 6th cent. Meanwhile, in Britain the expansion of the mainly pagan Anglo-Saxons pushed the British Churches westward. Their hostility towards the Anglo-Saxons and the mission from Rome was demonstrated by the failure of St Augustine (of Canterbury) to reach agreement with them.

Certain features have been held to characterize the Celtic Churches, mainly because over them they came into conflict with those who followed different practices which came to prevail in the W.; they include different methods of calculating the date of Easter and the shape of the tonsure. Their ecclesiastical structure was less hierarchical than elsewhere; diocesan limits were not defined and monasteries tended to be the centres of ecclesiastical organization. With the coming of the Normans firm diocesan and metropolitan organization was established in all these Churches. See also ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH; CHURCH OF ENGLAND; IRELAND, CHRISTIANITY IN; SCOTLAND, CHRISTIANITY IN; and WALES, CHRISTIANITY IN.