Patrick's Rage

Here follows a brief excerpt from st. Patrick’s lesser known work, his Epistola Militibus Cororici. It was written in response to the enslavement of some of Patrick's flock by men under the control of a minor British king, Coroticus. So Patrick, the former slave, rails against the injustice of slavery; it is passionate, moving and well worth a read. Despite what we sometimes read of st. Patrick and the 'Celtic Church', here in his own words he calls the Irish 'barbarians' and 'apostates' and the Romans 'holy'!

I am Patrick, yes a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop. I am certain in my heart that "all that I am," I have received from God. So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile for the love of God. He himself testifies that this is so. I never would have wanted these harsh words to spill from my mouth; I am not in the habit of speaking so sharply. Yet now I am driven by the zeal of God, Christ's truth has aroused me. I speak out too for love of my neighbors who are my only sons; for them I gave up my home country, my parents and even pushing my own life to the brink of death. If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me.

I myself have composed and written these words with my own hand, so that they can be given and handed over, then sent swiftly to the soldiers of Coroticus. I am not addressing my own people, nor my fellow citizens of the holy Romans, but those who are now become citizens of demons by reason of their evil works. They have chosen, by their hostile deeds, to live in death; comrades of the Irish and Picts and of all who behave like apostates, bloody men who have steeped themselves in the blood of innocent Christians. The very same people I have begotten for God; their number beyond count, I myself confirmed them in Christ.

Stormy seas, a scribe's comfort

The Vikings were a feared and ferocious warrior people. Ireland and Europe in general endured their bloody raids and wars for centuries. In France the Franks handed over a sizeable slice of their kingdom to these mighty “men from the north”, which they named Normandy. The Irish were less generous. Irish scribes wrote scathingly of these gentiles from the north (which is slightly ironic since they were gentiles themselves!). We are told of the Irish coast filled with “countless sea-vomitings of ships” loaded with Vikings and Pirates. The annals repeatedly record churches burned to the ground, manuscripts and shrines destroyed and the slaughter of Christians by these ‘gentile hoards’.

To the Irish scribe, these Nordmanni represented the forces of darkness. Illiterate, pagan, and savage. No monastery or church was safe. The wealthier monastic settlements like Clonmacnoise, Durrow and Armagh were frequently raided. Even the desolate rock of Sceilig Mhichíl, off the Kerry coast, was raided in 823. The Annals of Inisfallen record that the Vikings didn’t find anything worth taking just an old decrepit hermit called Étgal. They carried him off and left him to starve to death in captivity.

Around the year 800 an anxious Irish scribe was staying up late one night busy copying a Latin grammar book. Viking raids were an ever present threat, but this night in particular our scribe paused his copying and penned a small poem in the upper margin of his manuscript (pictured above). As he listened to the howling wind outside he smiled and began to write “Is acher in gáeth innocht”, ‘the wind is fierce tonight!’ The seas were rough, too rough for the dreaded Viking long-boats. He could rest easy tonight.

The wind is fierce tonight
It ruffles the ocean’s fair mane
I do not fear the wild warriors of Norway
Sailing on a quiet sea!

The Würzburg Glosses

F. 7v

Codex Paulinus Wirziburgensis currently resides in the university library of Würzburg, Germany. It was produced by Irish scribes sometime around the year 800 and contains the Latin text of the Pauline epistles (plus Hebrews). What is noteworthy about this manuscript, however, are the thousands of old Irish glosses in the margins and between the lines. The glosses provide explanations and applications of the text from Patristic sources.

 Interestingly, the main source for the commentary is the heretic Pelagius. He is cited frequently by name which shows the Irish scribes were open about using a writer who came in for some very heavy criticism from the Church Fathers and Jerome in particular (who was highly respected by Irish theologians). Jerome called Pelagius stolidissimus et Scottorum pultibus praegravatus, a stupid man weighed down with Irish porridge!

The 3000 or so Irish glosses are a vital witness to reconstructing old Irish, and also give us some insights into the Biblical interpretation of the early Irish church. An interesting gloss is written over 2 Corinthians 12:7, where Paul mentions his stimulus carnis, or thorn in the flesh. The Irish gloss reads, Cenngalar (headache). This may be an allusion to the Latin theologian Tertullian (d.220) who wrote that Paul’s thorn in the flesh may have been per dolorem, ut aiunt, auriculae uel capitis (a pain in the ear or head). 

f. 17v stimulus carnis / Cenngalar

Like so many Irish manuscripts its survival was due to being taken to the continent by wandering Irish monks, while at home countless manuscripts and libraries were destroyed by the Vikings. Manuscripts like the Codex Paulinus were valuable study tools and welcome reading to the many Irish scholars in Germany and elsewhere. As the writing style in Europe evolved the insular miniscule hand used in this manuscript became archaic and hard to read, so these manuscripts sat unused in European monasteries and libraries. Dusty relics like these speak of the vibrancy of the early Irish church and her many pilgrims for Christ.

The manuscript can be viewed here.

For further details see:

Ó Néill, Pádraig P., “The Old-Irish glosses of the prima manus in Würzburg, m.p.th.f.12: text and context reconsidered”, in: Richter, Michael, and Jean-Michel Picard (eds.), Ogma: essays in Celtic studies in honour of Próinséas Ní Chatháin, Dublin: Four Courts, 2002. 230–242.

Breen, Aidan, “The Biblical text and sources of the Würzburg Pauline glosses (Romans 1–6)”, in: Ní Chatháin, Próinséas, and Michael Richter (eds.), Irland und Europa im früheren Mittelalter: Bildung und Literatur / Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages: learning and literature, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1996. 9–16.

Ní Chatháin, Próinséas, “Notes on the Würzburg glosses”, in: Ní Chatháin, Próinséas, and Michael Richter (eds.), Irland und die Christenheit: Bibelstudien und Mission. Ireland and Christendom: the Bible and the missions, Veröffentlichungen des Europa Zentrums Tübingen. Kulturwissenschaftliche Reihe, Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1987. 190–199.

In Te Christe - A hymn from the Irish Church

Congregational singing was an important part in the spiritual life of the early Irish Church, as it was in Christendom as a whole. The Psalter was the hymn book par excellence. The Psalter was the most studied book in the monastery and most would have memorized it, sometimes singing all 150 psalms in a day. The typical format of worship in the early years of the Christian church in Ireland would have been simple yet powerful chanting. There is a story of a young Kerryman from the 6th century, Mochuda, who was herding swine in the hills when he heard a group of monks chanting the psalms. Amazed at the beauty of the melody he stayed out all night just to listen to the chanting of the vespers. Needless to say the pigs did a runner. Adomnán (d. 704), records that when Columba and his fellow monks entered the wilds of northern Scotland to evangelise the Picts, they stood outside a Pictish fort (because the king refused to see them), and chanted Psalm 45, (I address my verses to the king...). Apparently the Picts were afraid of the voices which they compared to roaring thunder. What that says about the Irish missionaries singing abilities is open to interpretation.

A more refined polyphonic chanting developed in the Irish church over time. Columbanus (d. 615) allegedly wrote some rules for singing in his monastery. It included singing antiphonally, with one monk intoning the opening line and the others responding. In 1228 Stephen of Lexington was sent by the abbot of Clairvaux in France to check Cistercian houses in Ireland. Letters from his visit survive and give the impression that he wasn’t overly impressed with the exuberant worship services. He passed a new directive that no one was to sing with duplicated tones under pain of flogging and a diet of bread and water! So much for polyphonic chanting!

Besides the Psalms, the Irish also wrote many personal hymns of praise in both Irish and Latin. Collections of these hymns are found in various manuscripts in Ireland and also the continent. A large collection of Irish hymns were discovered in Vienna at the famous Irish monastery Schottenstift. They date from the twelfth century and many include musical notation.

The famous 11th century Irish manuscript Liber Hymnorum (the Book of Hymns) contains hundreds of hymns from the early Irish Church. One hymn is entitled In Te Christe. It was supposedly written by Columba (d. 597), but it probably dates later than him. Here is an excerpt.

In thee O Christ, have mercy upon all believers
You are God, forever and ever in glory
God maker of all, the judge of the judges
God is the prince over princes, of all the elements
The God of eternal light, the God indescribable

God highly beloved, God incomparable
Generous God slow to anger, teacher of the teachable
The God who made all things, everything, both new and old

Christ, the breastplate of soldiers, the creator of all
Christ the salvation of the living, and the life of the dying
He has crowned our army with a crowd of martyrs
Christ has redeemed us, Christ has suffered for us
Christ ascended to the cross, Christ has saved the world

Trinitarian Worship

Brian Edgar makes the following points in his book The Message of the Trinity.

A common attitude is that worship is best understood simply as something that people do for God. When understood in that way the responsibility of worshippers is to offer praise, thanksgiving, prayers and the thoughts and desires of one's heart to God in gratitude for his grace. Worship is, therefore, what we do before God. But this is insufficiently Trinitarian and is even human-centred to the point that worship becomes a work rather than a grace. It is unitarian because pastor, worship-leader and people are on one side, offering worship to God who is on the other side, hearing the prayer and receiving the worship.

Trinitarian worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the Incarnate Son’s communion with the Father. Trinitarian worship is fellowship (or participating or sharing) in the life of God. The Trinity provides a participatory understanding of worship and prayer. Worship therefore, is properly centred upon God not only as the object of worship but also as the leader and the inspirer of worship.

This takes nothing away from the act of offering praise and thanksgiving, but rather than focusing on what we can do for God the emphasis falls on the work of Christ and the life of the blessed Trinity. That is, on the Son who takes us into the Father’s presence through his sacrifice and intercession and on the Spirit who is the enabler and the inspiration of worship. In this way worship becomes an act of grace, rather than a work that we do.

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!” Galatians 4.6

Adam's Covering

When Adam decided that he would become like God through exalting his will above the divine decree, he took and ate. Bitter was the taste, and ashamed to stand before God in his nakedness he tried to provide a covering for himself and Eve. This covering of leaves took nothing of the consequence of sin away and he hid from the face of God. Summoned by the Voice he stood condemned in his sin. But oh the mercy of the Holy One. God provides a covering for Adam, innocent blood is split and man is covered. It has always been God’s provision, only God can provide the covering of man’s sin.

Behold the man. The Second Adam. God the Son becomes a man, exalting the Father’s will above His own. Empowered by the Spirit he offers himself as the sacrifice to take away the punishment due to sinful men. He is stripped of his clothes and led to death so that he might take away the shame and punishment of Adam’s sons and daughters. It is always God who provides the covering, and we have received the covering of the second Adam’s righteousness. His death is our death, his victory is our victory, his resurrection is our resurrection, his life is our life, his righteousness is our righteous, and his stripping is our covering.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32.1

βαπτίζω - Death, Burial and Resurrection

I had the joy and privilege to participate in the baptism of Eimear Murphy on Sunday the second of January. Baptism is always such a joyous occasion. Being buried with Christ and raised up with Him to the newness of life. A visible demonstration of a spiritual reality.

The place for the baptism was at small river by the Inniscarra cemetery in Co. Cork. Cemeteries are a most appropriate location for baptisms, since baptism is a picture of death, burial and resurrection in Christ.

Gregory of Nazianzus (d. A.D. 390) delivered a famous festive oration on the Baptism of Christ wherein he makes mention of the uniqueness of Christ’s baptism and how John the Baptist struggled to allow it. Using Paul’s analogy of Christ as the second Adam, Gregory explained how Christ’s baptism figuratively presents to us the failure of Adam turned into the victory of resurrection which reunites the faithful into communion with God.
"As yet [as] John is baptizing, Jesus approaches, perhaps also to sanctify the baptizer, and certainly to bury the old Adam in the water, but [John] the Baptizer does not accept it; Jesus debates with him. ‘I need to be baptized by you’, the lamp says to the Sun, the voice to the Word, the friend to the Bridegroom, the one above all born to women to the First Born of all creation, the one who leaped in the womb to the One worshipped in the womb... But Jesus [is baptized and] comes up again out of the water. For he carries up with himself the world and ‘sees the heavens opened’ which Adam closed for himself and for those after him, as he also closed paradise by the flaming sword."