The Celtic Church (432-1453)

The Celtic Christianity was a form of Christianity that was common across Ireland, Britain, and Brittany, during the Dark Ages and Early Middle Ages. Some have described a distinct Celtic Church uniting the various peoples of the six Celtic nations and distinguishing them from adherents of the Gallican, Visigothic, Anglo-Saxon, and Roman Churches. Celtic Christianity, at its zenith in the 7th century, maintained a set of distinctive practices in those region which have been partially lost to time and memory. Among the various practices include: a distinctive system for determining the dating of the festival of Easter (Pascha), a unique style of monastic tonsure, a liturgical formula for the forgiveness of sins, and the popular monastic movement of going into "exile for Christ". What is preserved are a small collection of writings from random sources which illustrate the ritual, history, and personalities that were incorporated into the Celtic church as its adherents would have known it.