Celtic Christianity and the conversion of Scotland

 1. The brief facts of the Celtic Christians.
 Tomorrow we celebrate St. Patrick and the conversion of Ireland to the Christian faith. I wish all a very merry St. Patrick's day. As Ireland gets so much attention around this year, I thought I would a post on the Scottish.
 That said many do not here of the conversion of the Scottish Pitcs to the Christian faith via the Irish monks. Also there were other Christians who spread the gospel to the Celts long before St. Patrick did.
 Celtic Christianity was hugely influential in the Early medieval World. The Celts were seldom influenced by Roman Christianity prior to the 7th century. These peoples while holding a faith common to the Roman Church followed many different disciplines. The Celtics had no bishops but rather abbots and they celebrated Easter on a different day of the year than we do know. Those are just a few examples. King Arthur was a Celt and multiple legends surround these barbaric peoples.
 The Celts of course were a far reaching people that spread across Europe. Steeped into paganism and earth worship for centuries, these people were instrumental after their conversion to following Jesus, and in time would evangelize much of Europe.
 Celtic artwork and liturgy was very akin to Greek art and Byzantine liturgy. Several church fathers witness to the fact that the Celts came to Christ before Roman influence reached them. This could imply that it was the Greeks or Coptics that actually Christianized these peoples.
 At the same time it is a myth that the Celts resisted authority from the church. But that debate I won't get into here.

2. Celts appreciated the earth

Medieval man loved the earth much more than most humans do today. This is not less true for the Celts.  One could perhaps argue that the Celts were the first environmentalist. 

 Modern day environmentalism is quite hypocritical. They claim to support the earth but then support progress. Actually it was progress with it's factories and etc. that brought on hurt to the very nature of this earth. Farming is the way to save this Earth from pollution. 

 Medieval Man took more care of this earth by his lack of technology concerning industries, than all the ''Progressives'' with their proposals of taxing people to death to pay for universal healthcare etc.

As earth day approaches celebrate the beauty of God's Creation and that harmony with the earth is never fulfilled until we first know God. 

3. Conversion of Scotland

All that said, I proceed to the focus of this post. 

Saint Columbia was an Irish monk that went to Scotland and therein Christianized the Pics. He and other monks then taught the illiterate Scotts the Latin language. Like St. Patrick, there are many attributed miracles to Saint Columba, of the Apostles of Ireland. 

''For the Word of the Cross is foolishness to those that are perishing, but to those that are being saved it is the power of God.'' -1 Corinthians 1: 18

Some sources of information

Celts The History and Lagacy of One of the Oldest Cultures in Europe by Martin J. Dougherty, Positively Medieval: The Surprising Dynamic Heroic Church of the Middle Ages by Jamie Blosser, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature by C. S. Lewis, St. Paul in Britain by R. W. Morgan.