Saturday, March 01, 2008

Early and Mediaeval Irish Ecclesiastical Art

Catholic Ireland has a proud and long history and it is perhaps one that we fail to give enough consideration to when thinking of our tradition. We think of Italy of course, France and mediaeval England, the Christian East, Bavarian Germany, Spain and so on but early mediaeval Ireland seems to get lost in great part in our circles.

Early Irish monasticism is usually associated with its rigour and has been known to be compared to the tradition of the Egyptian Desert Fathers. (For those interested in looking more at this, the Cistercian Studies imprint has a book titled, The Celtic Monk which documents a number of early Irish monastic rules.)

Associated with this is much extant Irish monastic art and architecture. Now, in Ireland one can also find the gothic ruins of mediaeval Cistercian monasteries that are quite typical of elsewhere in Northern Europe, and likewise many a mediaeval parish church with its lofty spire. But there also exists this stream of early mediaeval Irish art and architecture which is quite distinctive from those mediaeval Cistercian ruins with their stone round towers, their lofty high crosses, their solid stone construction and their unique proportions. One of my favourite examples of this is that of St. Kevin's in Glendalough, wonderfully nestled in the midst of one of the many green valleys of the Emerald Isle:



Another view:


Here is what the Catholic Encyclopedia has to say about St. Kevin and Glendalough:

St. Kevin (Coemgen)

Abbot of Glendalough, Ireland, b. about 498, the date being very obscure... He was baptized by St. Cronan and educated by St. Petroc, a Briton. From his twelfth year he studied under monks, and eventually embraced the monastic state. Subsequently he founded the famous monastery of Glendalough (the Valley of the Two Lakes), the parent of several other monastic foundations. [...] Glendalough became an episcopal see, but is now incorporated with Dublin. St. Kevin's house and St. Kevin's bed of rock are still to be seen: and the Seven Churches of Glendalough have for centuries been visited by pilgrims.


Clonmacnoise

Another famed ancient monastic foundation in Irish history is that of Clonmacnoise. A few images.




(The "Nun's Church". Do take note of the carving on the doors.)






Monasterboice






Durrow



Durrow is also the home a manuscript which is not as well known perhaps as the Book of Kells or Lindisfarne Gospels, but which is impressive; the Book of Durrow. In the manuscript tradition as well do we find some other distinctive aspects to first millenium Irish art, with the use of interweaving knotwork and what perhaps some might consider an iconographic like portrayal of figures.








Kells

Clearly the most reknowned product of early Irish Christianity is the Book of Kells:



Some close-up details of this significant manuscript:








Summary

I am not an expert in early mediaeval Irish architecture or art, nor am I suggesting any kind of revival, but it seems to me there an interesting aspect of our ecclesiastical tradition to be appreciated here.

More recent articles:


The Messenger Angel
Anonymous, the Archangel Gabriel, depicted on the predella of the high altar at the subsidiary church of Pesenbach, Upper Austria, 1495In the traditional Roman calendar, the feast days of saints are sometimes clustered together to form archipelagos of holiness that allow the faithful to meditate longer on a sacred mystery. These archipelagos do not...

The Third Sunday of Lent 2025
At that time: Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb: and when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke: and the multitudes were in admiration at it: But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every ...

Pictures of Montecassino Abbey
Following up on yesterday’s post of pictures of the crypt of Montecassino Abbey, here are some of the main church and some of the things around it, starting with the most important part of it, the burial site of St Benedict and his sister St Scholastica, behind the high altar.As I am sure our readers know, Montecassino Abbey was heavily bombed duri...

The Prodigal Son in the Liturgy of Lent
In his commentary on the Gospel of St Matthew, St Jerome writes as follows about the parable of the two sons who are ordered by their father to go and work in the vineyard (21, 28-32). “These are the two sons who are described in Luke’s parable, the frugal (or ‘virtuous’) and the immoderate (or ‘wanton’).” He then connects these two sons with the f...

Another Chant for the Byzantine Liturgy of the Presanctified
Now the powers of heaven invisibly worship with us, for behold, the King of Glory entereth! Behold, the mystical sacrifice, being perfected, is carried forth in triumph. With faith and love, let us come forth, that we may become partakers of eternal life, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! (Recording by the Lviv Archeparchial Clergy Choir.) Нині сили ...

The Crypt of Montecassino Abbey
For the feast of St Benedict, here are some pictures of the crypt of the abbey of Montecassino, the site where he ended his days. The crypt was built in the early 16th century, and originally decorated with frescoes, but by the end of the 19th century, these had deteriorated so badly from the humidity that they were deemed unsalvageable. The decisi...

An Interview with Fr Uwe Michael Lang on Liturgy
I am sure that our readers will enjoy this interview with the liturgical scholar Fr Uwe Michael Lang of the London Oratory, which was recently published on the YouTube channel of the Totus Tuus Apostolate. It covers a wide range of subjects: Pope Benedict’s teaching on the liturgy, the liturgical abuses in the post-Conciliar period and our own time...

Dives and Lazarus in the Liturgy of Lent
Before the early eighth century, the church of Rome kept the Thursdays of Lent (with the obvious exception of Holy Thursday) and the Saturdays after Ash Wednesday and Passion Sunday as “aliturgical” days. (The term aliturgical refers, of course, only to the Eucharistic liturgy, not to the Divine Office.) This is attested in the oldest liturgical bo...

The Feast of St Joseph 2025
Truly it is worthy and just... eternal God: Who didst exalt Thy most blessed Confessor Joseph with such great merits of his virtues, that by the wondrous gift of Thy grace, he merited to be made the Spouse of the most holy Virgin Mary, and be thought the father of Thy only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Wherefore, venerating the day of his b...

Why Should We Build Beautiful Confessionals?
Confession is a sacrament in which we confess dark deeds, shameful sins, cowardly compromises, repeated rifts. It is something we often wish more to be done with than to do; we know we must go, that it is “good for us” as a visit to the dentist’s or the doctor’s is good for us. It might seem as if the place where we fess up, red-handed, and receive...

For more articles, see the NLM archives: