Celtic Monasticism in Ireland

In the words of the first desert father, St. Anthony of Egypt, “The devil is afraid of us when we pray and make sacrifices. He is also afraid when we are humble and good. He is especially afraid when we love Jesus very much.” [1] This holy Abbot recognized that prayers, sacrifices, humility, and goodness are all marks of a true monastic—one who dedicates their entire life to Christ out of love for him. To begin, Catholic Christian monasticism (communities of monks, brothers, nuns, or religious sisters) has flourished from the earliest days of the Church. These men and women wished to remove themselves from the world for the sake of sanctifying the world, often taking vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience while devoting their days to intense prayer, solitude, and good works for the sake of the body of Christ. Even in the days of Christ, men and women were known to live in communities, such as the Essenes, set apart as a sign of their fidelity and devotion to God. Often misunderstood in our modern culture, the monastic life is deeply rooted both in scripture and tradition with an eye toward freedom and authenticity by a full and total surrender to God. The word “monasticism” derives from the Greek moachos meaning “to live alone,” emulating Christ who so often in the gospels, “went off by himself to a deserted place to pray.” [2] That said, the monastic life is very much a communal life, but a communal life lived apart with one’s days on Earth orientated toward eternity in Heaven.

With eyes fixed on Heaven, the earliest emergence of Christian monastic communities were the desert fathers in Egypt. According to a Religious Studies and Theology journal article, “It is generally accepted that the first identifiably Christian monastic movement began in the middle of the third-century with Anthony in Egypt.” [3] St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt, spent several years as an exile with this early monastic community. During that time, he composed the first composition about the “life of a saint” on the community’s founder, Abbot St. Anthony of Egypt. Many monastic orders are still in existence today including the Benedictines (est. 6th century) and the Dominicans and Franciscans (est. 12th century). These Western monastic traditions were all influenced by the early Eastern monastic traditions. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in the Glossary section defines monastic life as “consecrated life marked by the public profession of religious vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and by a stable community life (in a monastery) with the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in choir.” [4] Celtic monasticism demonstrated this definition especially well, but the British Isles didn’t begin as a passionately Christian nation, and thus had to work to gain their fervor for the faith.

While the greatest monastic influence in evangelizing Europe came Celtic monasticism within the British Isles (Ireland and Great Britain) beginning in the early 6th century, there was a rugged road they first walked to reach this level of zeal for Christ. In the early days, the character of the Irish people was one of rough grit and perseverance. Thus, imitating Christ’s own hardships and poverty resonated with the Celtic culture. The Celtic Church was known for its austerity, that is for having a sense of sternness in discipline and a plain simplicity in appearance. There was also a strong appreciation for solitude and intellectual study. However, in order for the Irish to embrace this consecrated way of life, their pagan culture needed to be re-envisioned. When referring to the “Celtic Church” one is referring to the Catholic Church territories whose peoples spoke one of the many Celtic languages during the time of the early missionaries until the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 1100s.[5] Specifically, “[Christianity] was likely spread through Christians in the Roman army to the native people, the Celts. England, Britain, and Ireland were mainly inhabited at the time by people who spoke in Celtic languages and why were known as the ‘Celtic’ people. They were organized in tribes and shared a common language-group, traditions, and pagan religions.” [6] With the help of Christian leaders like St. Patrick, the Irish people had to discern what to maintain from their original beliefs and ways of life with what to discard in place of a life more attuned and faithful to that of Christ.

For example, the Celts believed in an afterlife and often buried food, weapons, and other items with the dead believing them to be of use to the deceased in the life to come. They also celebrated many religious festivals and were committed to ritual observances. They were a “warrior” people who were oral storytellers and fierce wanderers, a communal people on the move, expanding as they went. They were interested in music and the arts, philosophical and perhaps even mystical in their approach to their gods and believed that the physical world was a way to encounter the divine. The Celts lived in farming communities and developed trade routes. Among the Celts, the “Druids” were an educated class holding various roles in the community as priests, teachers, and judges. Eventually, St. Patrick along with other missionaries would begin introducing Christianity to the Celtic people, speaking with the Druids, performing miracles, and ministering to the pagan Irish people. 

Regarding the scope of impact from St. Patrick’s missionary efforts, “He crisscrossed the island, making disciples everywhere he went… he baptized tens of thousands of converts and built hundreds of churches, staffing them with Irish priests and deacons. He founded many monasteries and schools to care for the passionate youths who decided to follow him to Christ.” [7] St. Patrick introduced Christ’s love and saving work to the rugged Irish, helping them to reshape their lives with Christ at the center, establishing new monasteries throughout Europe, dedicated not to plundering but to peace. The early Irish church became centered on monastic communities made up of clerical and lay members alike, living in ordered ritual, prayer, and labor. The result: “Many sacred pagan places were retained as Christian sites. Pagan temples became rededicated Celtic churches and churches were built on pagan places of worship. Pagan worship of ancestors continued with [veneration] of founder priests and saints.” [8]

St. Patrick paved the way for the establishment of the Christian faith in Ireland as well as monasteries devoted both to the holiness of its members as well as to the cultivation of learning. The Irish monks were skilled in Latin and Greek languages and culture as evidenced in their copying books, Bibles, and other scripts, passing along their knowledge in monastic schools across Ireland. The Irish monks in particular were travelers, traipsing over the foothills, through the valleys, and across rocky crevices and perilous seas in order to preach the gospel of Christ to the people they encountered over the European continent. They would teach the scriptures, the cultural arts and sciences, and set up new monastic communities as they went. Once the faith was secured in Ireland, monasteries could begin creating routines for everyday living.

The typical daily life within a Celtic monastic community included daily routines of rising early in the morning, fasting by eating one or two simple meals each day, and engaging in prolonged periods of silence for contemplation of God. A monk would engage in religious practices of frequent communal and personal prayer, obedience to the superior of the monastery, renunciation of all worldly possessions, and adherence to the rules of life specific to that monastery. Monks would also take part in daily labor such as transcribing manuscripts, agricultural or farm work, caring for travelers and other visitors to the monastery, and safekeeping various relics and other religious artifacts. These daily rituals strengthened and reminded the monks of the witnessing life they had chosen to embrace.

[1] Father Mario Attard, OFM, “Why Was Saint Anthony Great?”, at Catholic Insight (17 January 2024), at https://catholicinsight.com/why-was-saint-anthony-great/.
[2] The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version. (New York: Collins, 1973), Mark 1:35.
[3] Friesen, J. Milton, “Monasticism in 5th-7th c Ireland: a study of the establishment of Christianity in Irish-Celtic culture,” Religious Studies and Theology 23, no. 2 (2004): 79.
[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 2000), 888.
[5] Patrick Hart, “The Heritage of Celtic Monasticism,” Cistercian Studies 1, no. 1 (1966): 40.
[6] Leitch, Fiona, “The Celtic Way: Order, Creativity, and the Holy Spirit in the Celtic Monastic Movement,” Liberty University, Honors Thesis, (2015): 5.
[7] Beth Ghezzi, “The Miracles of St. Patrick – How He Really Converted Ireland to Christianity,” at Aleteia (17 March 2016) at https://aleteia.org/2016/03/17/the-miracles-of-saint-patrick-how-he-really-converted-ireland-to-christianity/
[8] Grunke, Kimberly. “The Effect of Christianity upon the British Celts,” Journal of Undergraduate Research XI (2008): 3.

About the Author: 

Avila Rose (Allison Ramirez) is a Catholic author, editor, and teacher. She received her B.A in English with Creative Writing emphasis from Seattle Pacific University in 2019. She recently received her M.A. in Theology with Church History emphasis from Holy Apostles College & Seminary in 2024. She currently serves as the Pastoral Assistant for Faith Formation at St. Barbara Parish, and she is the author of The Divided Kingdom series as well as nonfiction devotional journal, Breathe Deeply: The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary as Invitations to Peace. Allison and her husband, Nathan, reside in Washington State with their pug pup, Leo.

You can connect with Allison through her Substack newsletter at https://authorallisonramirez.substack.com/p/welcome. She can also be found on her website at www.author-allison-ramirez.com or Instagram at authorallisonramirez.