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Above is an Early Celtic Cross, perhaps pre-St. Patrick, who preached in the 300s. Christianity came early to the British Isles: there is evidence that missionaries--perhaps even one of Christ's own apostles--brought the Faith and church to Britain before it reached Rome. Early Celtic Christians lived in small groups and made churches that were based upon family, or "clan," units. These churches were built of stone. They looked like beehives, and each structure held only about 10-12 people. As a church and/or family grew bigger, the group would build another beehive to accomodate the enlarged group. Some of these beehives are still in existence today. They are held together through gravity--the pressure of the stones on the stones--rather than any sort of mortar, and thus express the clever minds of the early Celtic Christians.

FUTURE MISSIONARIES?

Did you know that, like the students at Simpson University, the early Celtic church was predominantly missionary in nature? They even sailed to Portugal, where to this day, you can see a "beehive" church, made of stone blocks , like the ones in the British Isles. There are stories that the Celtic monks also sailed as far as Russia, and this is why the Celtic Cross is found in churches there. The tradition of Brendan the Navigator, who left Ireland in a small boat with several friends to go preach the Gospel, also reveals the intense zeal and missionary heart of the Celtic peoples. Celtic Christians were a brave, stoic people, dedicated to the heart of God and not fearful of losing their own lives.

Who was the first Christian martyr of the English speaking peoples?

St Alban, who had been only recently converted by a pastor, exchanged cloaks with that good man when Roman soldiers came to arrest the pastor. Because Alban wore the pastor's cloak, Alban was arrested and martyred instead, thus becoming the first English person to offer himself up for Christ and the Christian faith.

Below is an ancient expression of the martyrdom of Alban:

     The chief end of man
              is to  glorify God and
      enjoy Him forever~

~ Augustine of Hippo

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.
~Ernest Hemingway

I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.
~Joan Didion

Peacock symbol

The peacock appears in ancient Christian mosaics, and represents immortality. Early Christians adopted this symbolism because ancient peoples had believed that the flesh of the peacock does not decay after death. Below is an ancient Christian painting of the peacock from the catacomb of the martyr, Priscilla, in Rome. To view other paintings in this catacomb, click here.

Peacock in the Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome

"Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary,     use words." ~ St. Francis

St. Brigit's Cross, originally made of wheat . . . symbolic of the Celt's connection between the goodness of the earth, God's creation, and life itself . . .

The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason. ~T. S. Eliot

Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.
     ~ William Shakespeare



"Bread and Fish" --Catacomb of St. Callixtus, Rome.