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Branwen

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Edited Oct 17, 2009, 01:10

Re: Pagan Christianity?

Oct 17, 2009, 01:03

I must admit, I got that from Peter Berresford Ellis, and was referring to the celtic christian church.

He writes about it in connection with his studies of ancient irish manuscripts, but it is his description of what he based a fictional character on which sums it up best:

One thing that was shared by both the Celtic Church and Rome in the seventh century was that the concept of celibacy was not universal. While there were always ascetics in the Churches who sublimated physical love in a dedication to the deity, it was not until the Council of Nicea in AD 325 that clerical marriages were condemned but not banned in the Western Church. The concept of celibacy arose in Rome mainly from the customs practised by the pagan priestesses of Vesta and the priests of Diana.

By the fifth century, Rome had forbidden its clerics from the rank of abbot and bishop to sleep with their wives and, shortly after, even to marry at all. The general clergy were discouraged from marrying by Rome but not forbidden to do so.

Indeed, it was not until the reforming papacy of Leo IX (AD 1049-1054) that a serious attempt was made to force the Western clergy to accept universal celibacy. In fact, Leo went so far as to order that wives of priests should be sent as slaves to the Lateran palace, then the papal centre, while Urban II, in 1189, ordered that wives of priests could be seized as slaves by members of the nobility. Many wives of the clergy were driven to suicide by these rulings. The bulk of the religious of the Celtic Church took centuries to give up their anti-celibacy attitudes and fall into line with Rome. However, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, priests below the rank of abbot and bishop have retained their right to marry until this day.

An understanding of these facts concerning the liberal attitudes towards sexual relationships in the Celtic Church is essential towards understanding the background to the Fidelma stories.

The condemnation of the "sin of the flesh" remained alien to the Celtic Church for a long time after Rome's attitude became a dogma. In Fidelma's world both sexes inhabited abbeys and monastic foundations, which were known as conhospitae, or double houses, where men and women lived raising their children in Christ's service.

Fidelma's own house of St Brigid of Kildare was one such community of both sexes during her time. When Brigid established her community of Kildare (Cill-Dara - the church of the oaks) she invited a bishop named Conlaed to join her. Her first biography, completed fifty years after her death, in AD 650, was written by a monk of Kildare named Cogitosus, who makes it clear that it continue to be a mixed community with children in his day.

It should also be pointed out that, demonstrating women's coequal role with men, women were priests of the Celtic Church in this period. Brigid herself was ordained a bishop by Patrick's nephew, Mel, and her case was not unique. Rome actually wrote a protest, in the sixth century, at the Celtic practice of allowing women to celebrate the divine sacrifice of Mass.

Unlike the Roman Church, the Irish Church did not have a system of "confessors" where "sins" had to be confessed to clerics who then had the authority to absolve those sins in Christ's name. Instead, people chose a "soul friend" (anam chara), out of clerics or laity, with whom they discussed matters of emotional and spiritual well-being.

In writing these stories, I have not invented one law nor presented any legal matter, or, indeed, any background detail, that cannot be substantiated by historical research into evidence or literary remains of the period.

I'd agree with you that the church in rome was screaming mad about the situation, and there are plenty of references of such screaming and shouting about it, as part of the campaign to eradicate such things, but it took a LONG time to enforce this rule.

Neither would the church admit that inheritance played a large part in their desire to enforce celibacy, giving more spiritual reasons for people to give up their chance to have a family. When the law of innocents came in, it was claimed it was to stop women doing things the weaker sex shouldnt be doing, a noble reason to strip a woman of power, but it made them chattels of men, just the same.

In reply to:
Re: Pagan Christianity? (hotaire)

Replies:
Re: Pagan Christianity? (drewbhoy)
Re: Pagan Christianity? (hotaire)

Topic Outline:

Pagan Christianity? – nigelswift, Oct 13, 2008, 09:48


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