Culdees

The Culdees (Irish: Céilí Dé, lit. 'Spouses of God'; pronounced [ceːlʲiː dʲeː]) were members of ascetic Christian monastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and then in Scotland, subsequently attached to cathedral or collegiate churches; they lived in monastic fashion though not taking monastic vows.

Etymology

According to the Swiss theologian Philip Schaff, the term Culdee or Ceile De, or Kaledei, first appeared in the 8th century. While "giving rise to much controversy and untenable theories", it probably means servants or worshippers of God. The term was applied to anchorites, who, in entire seclusion from society, sought the perfection of sanctity through their values of poverty, charity, self-denial and perseverance. They afterward associated themselves into communities of hermits and were finally brought under canonical rule along with the secular clergy. It was at the time the name Culdee became almost synonymous with secular canon.

History

Ireland

In the course of the 9th century, nine places in Ireland are mentioned (including Armagh, Clonmacnoise, Clones, Devenish and Sligo) where communities of Culdees were established.

Óengus the Culdee lived in the last quarter of the 8th century and is best known as the author of the Félire Óengusso, "the Martyrology of Óengus". He founded Dísert Óengusa near Croom in AD 780. Maelruan, under whom Oengus lived, drew up a rule for the Culdees of Tallaght that prescribed their prayers, fasts, devotions, confession, and penances, but there is no evidence that this rule was widely accepted even in the other Culdean establishments. Fedelmid mac Crimthainn king of Munster (820–846) was said to have been a prominent Culdee.

According to William Reeves, they were analogous to secular canons and held an intermediate position between the monastic and parochial clergy. In Armagh, they were presided over by a Prior and numbered about twelve. They were the officiating clergy of the churches and became the standing ministers of the cathedral. The maintenance of divine service, and in particular, the practice of choral worship, seems to have been their special function and made them an important element of the cathedral economy.

However, after the death of Maelruan in 792, Tallaght is forgotten, and the name Ceile-De disappears from the Irish annals until 919, when the Four Masters record that Armagh was plundered by the Danes but that the houses of prayer, "with the people of God, that is Ceile-De", were spared. Subsequent entries in the annals show that there were Culdees at Clondalkin, at Monahincha in Tipperary, and at Scattery Island.

The Danish wars affected the Culdee houses. Clondalkin and Clones disappeared altogether. At Clonmacnoise, as early as the eleventh century, the Culdees were laymen and married, while those at Monahincha and Scattery Island, being utterly corrupt and unable, or unwilling, to reform, gave way to the regular canons. At Armagh, regular canons were introduced into the cathedral church in the twelfth century and took precedence over the Culdees, six in number, a prior and five vicars. These still continued a corporate existence, charged with the celebration of the Divine offices and the care of the church building: they had separate lands and sometimes charge of parishes. When a chapter was formed, about 1160, the prior usually filled the office of precentor, his brethren being vicars choral, and himself ranking in the chapter next to the chancellor. He was elected by his brother Culdees and confirmed by the primate, and had a voice in the election of the archbishop by virtue of his position in the chapter.

As Ulster was the last of the Irish provinces to be brought effectually under English rule the Armagh Culdees long outlived their brethren throughout Ireland. The Culdees of Armagh endured until the dissolution in 1541 and enjoyed a fleeting resurrection in 1627, soon after which their ancient property passed to the vicars choral of the cathedral.

Scotland

In Scotland, Culdees were more numerous than in Ireland: thirteen monastic establishments were peopled by them, eight in connection with cathedrals. The Ionan monks had been expelled by the Pictish king Nechtan son of Derile in 717. There is no mention of any Culdees at any Columban monastery, either in Ireland or in Scotland, until long after Columba's time: in 1164 that Culdees are mentioned as being in Iona but in a subordinate position. The Culdee of Loch Leven lived on St Serf's Inch, which had been given them by a Pictish prince, Brude, about 700. In 1093, they surrendered their island to the bishop of St Andrews in return for perpetual food and clothing but Robert, the bishop in 1144, handed over all their vestments, books, and other property, with the island, to the newly founded Canons Regular, in which the Culdees were likely incorporated.

The Culdee chapel in St Andrews in Fife can be seen to the north-east of its ruined cathedral and city wall. It is dedicated to "St Mary on the Rock" and is cruciform. It is used by the local St Andrews churches for their Easter morning service. In the early days there were several Culdee establishments in Fife, probably small rude structures accommodating 30 or 40 worshippers, and possibly such a structure stood at or near the present church. In 1075 AD, the foundation charter of Dunfermline Church was granted by King Malcolm III, and amongst the possessions, he bestowed on the church was the Shire of Kirkcaladinit, as Kirkcaldy was then known. Crínán of Dunkeld, the grandfather of Máel Coluim III, was a lay abbot, and tradition says that even the clerical members were married, though unlike the priests of the Eastern Orthodox Church, they lived apart from their wives during their term of sacerdotal service.

The pictures that we have of Culdee life in the 12th century vary considerably. The chief houses in Scotland were at St Andrews, Scone, Dunkeld, Lochleven, Monymusk in Aberdeenshire, Abernethy and Brechin. Each was an independent establishment controlled entirely by its own abbot and apparently divided into two sections, one priestly and the other lay. Culdee priests were allowed to marry. At St Andrews about the year 1100, there were thirteen Culdees holding office by hereditary tenure, some apparently paying more regard to their own prosperity than to the services of the church or the needs of the populace. At Loch Leven, there is no trace of such partial independence.

Nineteenth Century Scottish historian of religion and Presbyterian minister James Aitken Wylie asserted in his History of the Scottish Nation, Vol. III., "The 12th century, particularly in Scotland and Brittany, was a time when two Christian faiths of different origins were contending for possession of the land, the Roman Church and the old Celtic Rite. The age was a sort of borderland between Culdeeism and Romanism. The two met and mingled often in the same monastery, and the religious belief of the nation was a mumble of superstitious doctrines and a few scriptural truths".

A controversial movement to put Scotland's church under the authority of Rome was inaugurated by Malcolm III's wife, Queen Margaret and carried through by her sons Alexander I and David I. Gradually the whole position passed into the hands of Thurgot and his successors in the bishopric. Canons Regular were instituted and some of the Culdees joined the Roman Catholic church. Those who declined were allowed a life-rent of their revenues and lingered on as a separate but ever-dwindling body till the beginning of the 14th century when excluded from voting at the election of the bishop, they disappear from history. In the same fashion the Culdee of Monymusk, originally perhaps a colony from St Andrews, became Canons Regular of the Augustinian order early in the 13th century, and those of Abernethy in 1273. At Brechin, famous like Abernethy for its round tower, the Culdee prior and his monks helped to form the chapter of the diocese founded by David I in 1145, though the name persisted for a generation or two.

By the end of the thirteenth century, most Scots Culdee houses had disappeared. Some, like Dunkeld and Abernethy, were superseded by regular canons: others, like Brechin and Dunblane, were extinguished with the introduction of cathedral chapters. One at least, Monifieth, passed into the hands of laymen. At St Andrews, they lived on side by side with the regular canons and still clung to their ancient privilege of electing the archbishop. But their claim was disallowed at Rome, and in 1273 they were debarred even from voting. They continued to be mentioned up until 1332 in the records of St Andrews, where they "formed a small college of highly-placed secular clerks closely connected with the bishop and the king".

Some of the first Norse settlers on Orkney, Faroe's and Iceland were said to be Norse–Gaels, referred to as Vestmenn. When Scandinavians first set foot on these islands they found a community of Culdee monks, referred to as papar. Numerous place names in Orkney are named of these same eremitic Gaelic monks such as Pabbay,"Island of the papar (Culdee)" or Pabay.

England

Similar absorptions no doubt account for the disappearance of the Culdees of York, the only English establishment that uses the name, borne by the canons of St Peter's about 925 where they performed in the tenth century the double duty of officiating in the cathedral church and of relieving the sick and poor. When a new cathedral arose under a Norman archbishop, they ceased their connection with the cathedral, but, helped by donations, continued to relieve the destitute. The date at which they finally disappeared is unknown. These seem to be the only cases where the term "Culdee" is found in England.

Origin

Hector Boece in his Latin history of Scotland (1516), makes the Culdees of the 9th to the 12th century the direct successors of the Irish and Ionan monasticism of the 6th to the 8th century. Some have suggested that these views were disproved by William Reeves (1815–1892), bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore. James A. Wylie (1808–1890) makes a strong case that the Culdees (Keledei) of Scotland are related to the Celtic Christian Pelagian spirituality of the monks of Iona.

Reeves suggests that Maelruan may have been aware of the establishment of canons in Metz by Archbishop Chrodegang, (died 766), as an intermediate class between monks and secular priests, adopting the discipline of the monastic system, without the vows, and discharging the offices of ministers in various churches.

Early Culdee Sites

Blathmac

The find in 1953 of the old Irish poems of Blathmac, constituted the largest ever addition of text to the corpus of Early Irish, some parts of it also still remain untranslated and unpublished due to its poor condition. They were discovered among a collection of ancient seventeenth century manuscripts, which had once belonged to the Brehon and scribe Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, it was found by a twentieth century Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies scholar, Nessa Ní Shéaghdha. The poems were edited and published eleven years later by James Carney in Vol. 47 of the Irish Texts Society monographs. They date back to the 8th century, possibly earlier and consisted of detailed references to the importance Christ and to the Virgin Mary. Carney had suggested that Blathmac may have originally come from filí and druidic background but later been a convert to become part of the Culdee Reform movement through a detailed study of the structure of his poetry, which resembled in style to the Félire Óengusso.

Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis)

An important Culdee monastery was Clonmacnoise: the Annals of the Four Masters mention Conn na mbocht (Conn of the Paupers), who was head of the Culdees and Bishop of Clonmacnoise. Much of the information of Pagan or Pre-Christian Ireland was transferred into text by monks and scholars for the first time at Clonmacnoise from what had previously been Orally passed down generations. With the arrival of the Christian age, the Martyrology of Oengus highlighted the growing emergence of the religious power of Clonmacnoise in contrast at that time to the diminishing importance of the Pre-Christian site of the Cruachan. The Rathcroghan Pagan tale of the Táin Bó Cúailnge was first written down by Celtic Monks at Clonmacnoise, Lebor na hUidre also has references to the Pre-Christian site of Cruachan, one of the key scribes was Máel Muire mac Céilechair. Other manuscripts originating or connected with Clonmacnoise include, Chronicon Scotorum, Book of Lecan and Annals of Tigernach.

In the Book of Lecan it describes a particular story of the last Pagan King in Ireland Diarmait mac Cerbaill and details about his subsequent death. There was a prophecy by the Kings druid Bec mac Dé, who told of a threefold death he uttered on the day of his death, when he meet Colum Cille. Diarmait mac Cerbaill was murdered by the then king of Cruthin, Áed Dub mac Suibni. According to some early texts Irish kings Diarmait mac Cerbaill and Muirchertach mac Ercae may have both died a threefold death on Samhain, which may be linked to human sacrifice, similar to the dead victims discovered in Irish bogs, it was a ritual in ancient Ireland to sacrifice a king or someone of high status around the time of Samhain, which according to Annals of the Four Masters it is an ancient tradition that goes back to the worship of Crom Cruach, a Celtic god associated with the harvest, Samhain and he is also associated to the headless horse man or Dullahan, as part of the Sídhe in Irish Mythology.

Soon after Diarmait's death Áed fled to the island of Tiree, where it was said he trained to be a Culdee priest, much to the disgust of both Columba and Adomnán. Columba himself on hearing the news had prophesied by means of a curse that a threefold death would happen to the bloody murderer Áed Dub mac Suibni.

Culdees in Wales

Although the name ‘Culdee’ is rarely used to refer to the Celtic Saints in Wales and Cornwall, many of them began as hermits, passed on pre-Christian druidic beliefs and traditions into the new Christian age. They originally lived as anchorites and anchoresses, established isolated retreats in the wilderness such as bogs, forests, and small offshore isles, generally in locations and places that held a significance going back to Druidic times, later these sites became major Celtic Christian monasteries. The most famous of the “insular” hubs of monastic life were on Anglesey and Bardsey. The Celtic Christian Church in Wales remained independent of the Holy See up to the late Middle Ages, it resisted any Gregorian reforms that Canterbury and Saint Augustine tried in impose on the early Welsh Church.

Gerald of Wales mentioned a Culdean house in Snowdon in Speculum Ecclesiae which was oppressed by the Cistercians who wanted the property as well as mentioning a community at Bardsey Island in north Wales in Itinerarium Cambriae.

Saint David

Officially the feast day of Saint David was first established around 10th century initially in the early writings of the Annales Cambriae and then formerly celebrated from the 12th century, when he was canonised by Pope Callixtus II in 1120. David was officially recognised at the Holy See by Pope Callixtus II in 1120, thanks to the work of Bernard (bishop of Menevia). The Cathedral of St Davids or Menevia, was Britain's smallest city and began life as a humble tiny hermit's cell situated beside the river Alun.

The Welsh Celtic Scholar John Rhys had discussed a region just in the vicinity of St Davids or Mynyw, referred to in the Welsh Chronicle and the Synod of Chester as ‘Moni Iudeorum’. Rhys says that some scholars suggest this word, Iudeorum or Judeorum, may relate to the "Jutes," a Germanic tribe in Northern Europe, but that he believes such a view incorrect. Instead, Rhys put forward the view that they were of Canaanite Phoenicians origins, distantly related to ancient people of Munster and the Milesians race who had invaded Ireland and brought with them the Ogham Alphabet. The Demetae similar to other Celtic Briton tribes such as the Dumnonia were possibly descendants to the Phoenicians and have a lineage traced back to Hispania. The lands of Dumnonia were sometimes associated with the mythical islands of the Cassiterides such as the island of Ictis.

Sant Ffraid (Saint Brigid) and the Celtic Saints of North Wales

Sant Ffraid (Brigit) of North Wales was believed to be an Irish nun in legend that first landed from the sea on a floating piece turf at Glan Conwy. She also has strong connections with the island Anglesey. She is the patroness saint of Trearddur bay which had a similar myth to Glan Conwy, that she was said to have arrived from Ireland on a floating piece of turf. The River Braint on the Menai Straits in Anglesey shares its name with the Saint but was actually named after her much earlier pre-Christian predecessor the pagan goddesses of Brigid. An ancient piece of Welsh bardic poetry called ‘Gofara Braint’ describes the river overflowing and bursting its banks after the killing one of the last kings of the Brigantes called Cadwallon ap Cadfan. It depicts the old Celtic tradition that the king was married to the land and the river flooding its banks represents the land goddess in deep mourning at the news of his passing. The poem possibly dates back to an old oral bardic tradition in Wales and found as part of ‘The folds of the bards’ in the Book of Taliesin. The Celtic scholar D. A. Binchy put forward the theory that the Welsh word ‘Brenin’, instead of meaning ‘king’ had originally meant ‘a consort of the tribal goddess Brigantia’. The rivers name ‘Afon Braint’ may also have originated from early Irish settlers who had colonised the North Wales during the Sub-Roman period. Celts tended to name their lakes and rivers after goddesses. The name of Llŷn Peninsula is thought to be of Irish origin. ‘Llŷn’ translates from the Old Irish word for a tribe of Irish called the Laigin, of which the province of Leinster also derives its name. Ptolemy called the peninsula Ganganorum Promontorium (English: Peninsula of the Gangani); the Gangani were a sea-mobile tribe of Irish Celts, with possibly strong connections with the Coriondi tribe associated with South Leinster. Writers such as Charles-Edwards, Waldman and Mason had suggested a Coriondi link with a Northern Celtic tribe of Ancient Britons called the Corionototae.

An important Celtic saint of Llŷn Peninsula called Saint Beuno was first registered as a Celtic Saint with a feast day 21 April in the ninth-century in both the Irish martyrologies of Tallaght and of Gorman. He established the monastery of Clynnog Fawr which translates into English to 'the place of the holly-trees', according to legend it was said on his death bed to have had visions of the ‘all the saints and druids’. St Beuno's well was traditionally used for the treatment of sick children, after bathing the treated child was carried to St Beuno's chapel and laid on rushes overnight on Beuno's tomb. Holy wells dedicated to Celtic saints or monasteries, in fact, would have once been connected with a Celtic goddess or female deity.

Bardsley Island seems likely to have been a seat of the Culdees, or Colidei, the first religious recluses of Great Britain, who sought Islands and desert places as hermitages, so they might in security worship the true God. The Convent at Bardsey (Enlli) was one of the most ancient religious Institutions in North Wales, established by the king of Llŷn Einion Frenin, who also founded a College on that Island, about the middle of the 9th Century. Dubricius, Archbishop of Caerleon, who had resigned in favour of St Davids, retired to Bardsey, where he died about the year 612, from which circumstance, it is evident that there must have been a religious establishment here prior to that period. Gerald of Wales writing in Speculum Ecclesiae about 1220, used the term “coelibes sive coli dei” translates as “celibate or to worship God” to refer to the hermit Celtic monks of both Enlli as well as for the monks of Beddgelert, Coli dei (Anglicised as Culdees) "is not Latin as Gerald assumes, in translating it as worshipers of God. It comes from the Old Irish of Céilí Dé, meaning "servants of God". In the old orchard next to the 13th century Christian monastery on the island was discovered in 1998 by Ian Sturrock what was later classed as ‘the rarest apple trees in the world’.

Historians such as John Koch, Eric P. Hamp and several others put forward the view that the broader regional name of Gwynedd was in fact linguistically related to the Old Irish word of "Féni", which was a word in ancient Ireland meaning a pure aboriginal people, similar to the word Goídel, it associates with a tribe that inhabit the woods and forests, a Freeholding (Féine) class of people and according to Lebor Gabála Érenn as the name ‘Féni’ suggests were distant descendants of the legendary figure of Fénius, alleged to be one of the mythical inventors of the tree alphabet called Ogham. In Primitive Irish the word ‘weidh-n-‘ meant "Forest People" or "Wild People", while in Proto-Indo-European a combination of gwyn (“white, fair”) and ‘weydh’ (“wood, wilderness”). The Welsh word for an Irishperson or Goidel was ‘Gwyddel’ which also has the double meaning in Welsh of "wild or barbarian". In Latin Gwynedd was called ‘Venedotia’ comes from the Brythonic of ‘Ueneda’ which means ‘Warrior Bands’, similar to the ‘Fianna’ who formed part of the Feni. Venedotia also possibly relates to the tribes of the Irish Venii and also to the British Venicones, an ancient Celtic tribe which once originated in what is today Fife, north of the Forth, a part of Scotland later associated with a strong tradition of providing the ancient legal office of "High Brithem" or in Latinised form of Justiciar of Scotia. The founding family of Earldom of Fife was Clan MacDuff, who were also the hereditary Abbots of the Culdee abbey at Abernethy, which features a Round tower, a typical landmark of many early Culdee monasteries. Scholars have suggested that 'Afarnach's hall' in the Old Welsh poem of the Pa gur was a reference to Abernethy mentioned as part of Arthurian legends, in the poem Arthur leads a band warriors against creatures of the otherworld similar to that depicted Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna in Irish mythology. The earliest reference to the town of the Venicones tribe was by Ptolemy as being ‘Orrea’ situated at Carpow, located on the same lands of Abernethy, once owned by a king of the Picts, Nechtan, also close to Pickish hill fort of Clatchard Craig, now controversially partially destroyed. During Roman times it was recorded as ‘Horrea Classis’ in the Ravenna Cosmography, a military stores base for the Roman fleet. The Venii tribe were also connected with what Ptolemy referred to them as the Venicnii in Donegal, they were identified being part of the Irish Feni, more tan likely related to the Northern Uí Néill. The Kingdom of Gwynedd was founded by the Venicones who were part of the Kingdom of Manaw Gododdin, north of the Forth. Brythonic-speaking, Kingdom of Manaw Gododdin would later become part of Hen Ogledd, the name ‘Manaw’ derives from the Celtic sea god Manann or Manawydan as known in Welsh mythology. One of the earliest Kings of Gwynedd was the legendary High King known as Maelgwn which means in Middle Welsh name meaning 'Princely Hound or Warrior’, a great-grandson of Cunedda.

Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin seems to indicate that Niall of the Nine Hostages maybe a descendant of the Gaulish seafaring Celtic tribe of the Veneti. According to Professor Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, Niall's great ancestor was the legendary figure of Túathal Techtmar, possibly a name that comes from an earlier Gaulish god of Toutatis (“Ruler of the Tribe”). Túathal Techtmar was a leader of the northern branch of the Venii (tribes-men) in Ireland and notably lead the overthrow of the Laigin (Lance men) tribe at Tara around AD 300. The Venii tribe in Ireland only later formerly changed name to a class of people known as the ‘Irish Feni’, when Conn Cétchathach first established the Kingdom of Connacht and the Leath Cuinn, dividing of island North and South along the Esker Riada.

Saint Govan

Saint Govan was a hermit who lived in the side of coastal cliff near Bosherston, Pembrokeshire. St. Govan's Chapel is built into the side of a limestone cliff, walls constructed from limestone, and consists of two chambers, one in the front and one in the back. He was believed to have been a disciple of Ailbe, who lived in Solva further along Pembrokeshire coast. Govan had served as an abbot at Dairinis under Ailbe, and he was also a disciple of St Senan at the monastery of Inis Cathaigh. ‘Govan’ comes from the cumbric version of the original old Gaelic name for the saint was ‘Goban’ which means ‘a disciple of a blacksmith’, the origin of the name probably goes back to a legendary figure known as ‘Goban Saor’ associated with an ancient island (mound of dry land) on bog land called Derrynaflan which translates as ‘oak of the flanns’, a place which also served as a key Céli Dé monastery in Ireland. A number of Irish Saints share the name of Saint Goban, other forms of the name include Gowan, Gofan (Welsh), and Gobain.

In the Arthurian legends, one version of the death of Sir Gawain, a myth which is more attributed to Welsh folklore, was said to have been laid to rest under Saint Govan's Chapel, having retired to live out his days on the site as a hermit after his uncle Arthur's death.

Saint Illtud

In Wales, Saint Illtud was a very important Culdee figure in Celtic Christianity, he founded a monastery and college, a University of the Celtic Saints in Llantwit Major. The college known as Côr Tewdws is understood to have been founded c. 395, making it the earliest school, former or extant, in all of Great Britain. It has also been referred to as "the oldest college in the world". Other examples of Culdee hermitages are Saint Tudwal's Islands and Penmon abbey on the Isle of Anglesea, an island which has strong druidic history.

Saint Ailbe

The Martyrology of Tallaght lists the feast dates of five principal Pre-Patrician Christian Saints as being Abbán of Moyarny, Ailbe of Emly, Ciarán of Saigir, Declán of Ardmore and Ibar of Beggerin. All are said to be originally from Munster and also as being the earliest recorded Christian Saints that had existed in Ireland prior to the arrival of Saint Patrick. Most notable of the five is Ailbe of Emly, he is the patron saint of Munster and also known as St Eilfyw in Wales, where he founded a tiny community called St Elvis in Wales believed to have been one of the smallest parishes to be established in Britain, which is named after him, its just four miles north of the ancient city of St Davids. It's been suggested by certain scholars that it was Saint Ailbe who baptised Saint David 454 AD at Port Clais in Dyfed. In 2000 Terry Breverton, a lecturer at Cardiff University, while promoting his book, suggested that the rock star Elvis Presley's ancestral roots came from the Celtic prehistoric site of Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire and may have had links to a chapel at St Elvis.

Protestant Claims

The term Culdee has been improperly applied to the whole Celtic church, and a superior purity has been claimed for it. It has also been asserted, that the Kelts or Culdees were the forerunners of Protestantism. Protestant writers alleged that the Culdees had preserved Celtic Christianity, free from supposed Roman corruptions, in one remote corner of western Europe. This view was enshrined in Thomas Campbell's Reullura:

Peace to their shades. The pure Culdees

Were Albyn's earliest priests of God,

Ere yet an island of her seas

By foot of Saxon monk was trod.

However, Schaff maintains, "...this inference is not warranted. Ignorance is one thing, and rejection of an error from superior knowledge is quite another thing. ...There is not the least evidence that the Keltic church had a higher conception of Christian freedom, or of any positive distinctive principle of Protestantism..."

The French Protestant author François Bonifas claimed that there a Culdean Church was founded in the 2nd century and restored by Saint Patrick in Ireland in the 5th century.

"Culdee" in fiction

• In The Railway Series by Rev. W. Awdry there is a rack railway called the Culdee Fell Railway. One of the steam locomotives is named Culdee. In the Island of Sodor's fictional Gaelic language of Sudric, 'Culdee' is said to translate as 'Companion of God', the mountain being named for the island's Patron Saint, Machan. The Rev. Awdry often used names from religion and the Anglican Church as placenames in his books. The island of Sodor where the series takes place, for example, is named after a Church of England Diocese, the Diocese of Sodor and Man.
• Geoffrey Moorhouse's 'Sun Dancing', the fictional sections feature an account of a particular ascetic Culdee
• Stephen Lawhead's novels Byzantium, Patrick, and the Celtic Crusades trilogy focus on the Cele De.
• J.P. Moore's short story "Useful Visions" is set in a Culdee monastery.
• A colony of Culdees in Iceland appears in H. Warner Munn's fantasy novel, Merlin's Ring.
• Culdees are a prominent part of the story of the "Tile Cutters' Penny" by Caiseal Mor
• In Proinsias Mac a' Bhaird's Tairngreacht, a modern sect of Céile Dé or 'Culdees' engage in a conspiracy against the Vatican.

See also

• Christianity in Medieval Scotland
• Leabhar Breac

Bibliography

• W. Beveridge, Makers of the Scottish Church (1908).
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Culdees". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 615.
• B. Olsen, Sacred Places North America, CCC Publishing, Santa Cruz, California (2003)
• W. Reeves, The Culdees of the British Islands (Dublin, 1864)
• W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland (1876–1880), especially vol. ii.
• J. A. Wylie "History of the Scottish Nation" (London: Hamilton/Adams, Edinburgh: A Elliot, 1886–1890) vol. ii and especially vol. iii, chapters 17 and 21
• For a more archaic viewpoint, see J. Jamieson, Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees (1811).

Further reading

• Rule of the Céli Dé, ed. E.J. Gwynn. In The Rule of Tallaght. Dublin: Hodges, Figgis. Hermathena 44, Second Supplement (1927).
• Follett, Westley. Céli Dé in Ireland. Monastic Writing and Identity in the Early Middle Ages. London, 2006; ISBN 978-1-84383-276-8
• MacKinnon, Donald. "The Culdees of Scotland", Society of Friends of Dunblane Cathedral 3:2 (1939): pp. 58–67.
• O'Dwyer, Peter. Célí Dé. Spiritual reform in Ireland, 750–900. Dublin (1981).
• O'Dwyer, Peter. "The Céli Dé reform", Irland und Europa – Ireland and Europe. Die Kirche im Frühmittelalter – the early Church, ed. Próinséas Ní Chatháin and Michael Richter. Stuttgart, 1984. pp. 83–88.
• Rumsey, Patricia. "A Study of Community in Eighth-Century Ireland Based on Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis and the Céli Dé Rules." American Benedictine Review 58:2 (2007): pp. 121–36.

External links

• Gwynn, E. J.; W. J. Purton (December 1911). "The Monastery of Tallaght". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 29C. University College Dublin: Thesaurus Linguae Hibernicae: 115–180.
• The Path of Culdee – The Living Celtic Spiritual Tradition