CELTI

CELTI. — With this name Greek sources designate a group of peoples of the Aryan-European family, who, probably settled since the Neolithic period in a region roughly bounded by the North Sea and the Alps, the Rhine and the Danube, began in the Bronze Age the diaspora that led them to occupy those territories in which they can be traced in historical times.

Summary:

I. Prehistory

II. Religion

III. Evangelization

IV. Liturgy

V. ARTE.

I. Prehistory

The Celts become discernible at a relatively late period, that is, when they come into contact with the cultured Europe of the Mediterranean basin. But when Hecataeus (6th cent. B.C.) first mentions them, a very long period of Celtic history had already unfolded, namely that marked by the great migrations, a period which, not without differences of opinion among scholars, can be reconstructed on the basis of paleoethnological and archaeological finds. From these it can be established with sufficient certainty that the Celts settled in the early centuries of the Bronze Age (c. 1800–800 B.C.) in northeastern and eastern France (perhaps with some incursions into the British archipelago), then occupied the whole of France (Gaul, according to the generic Latin designation), Britain and Ireland, the Iberian peninsula as far as the southern slopes of Portugal, and northern Italy (Cisalpine Gaul: between the Alps, the northern slopes of the Apennines and the Adige). The Celtic upheaval cannot be said to have ended with these settlements, for even in historical times the Celts continued to be restless, especially for the purpose of plunder: sack of Rome in 390 B.C., plundering of Delphi in 278 B.C., followed by their passage into Asia Minor, where the three tetrarchies of Galatia (v.) were established, which remained independent until 25 B.C. The lack of Celtic literature, together with the fact that the Celts were on the one hand led to assimilate with the native populations of the territories into which they poured, forming hybrid peoples (Celt-Iberians, Celt-Scythians, etc.), and on the other hand soon entered the sphere of Roman expansion, from which civilization they ended up being totally absorbed, makes research on these peoples even more problematic. Today only Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man are Celtic.

For information on the Celts in historical times V. BRITANNIA, GALATIA, GALLIA, HIBERNIA.

II. Religion

The sources for the knowledge of Celtic religion are paleoethnological, literary and archaeological. Among the first, concerning the native populations of the countries into which the Celts settled in successive waves, and the second (divisible into two groups: one represented by writers of the Roman imperial age, Caesar, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, etc., the other represented by the evangelizers of the early Middle Ages, St Gregory of Tours, St Patrick,

ecc.) a gap of several centuries extends, making it extremely difficult to know the origins of Celtic religious beliefs and trace their development. Moreover, the literary sources rather represent the "interpretatio romana" and the "interpretatio christiana" of Celtic religiosity, so that, in many respects, knowledge remains hypothetical.

The paleoethnological finds consist of megalithic constructions, menhirs, cromlechs, and dolmens (funerary monuments from the most recent lithic age), indicators of an evolved religiosity (cult of the dead, belief in the immortality of the soul, etc.) which undoubtedly exerted considerable influence on the formation of Celtic civilization, to the extent that some have believed that the druids (v.), the principal priests of the Celts, derive their origin from pre-Celtic cultures.

The principal deities, according to Caesar, were Mercury (the supreme god, bearded, accompanied by a parèdre, Rosmerta), Apollo, with attributes of savior and healer (as such he bore the epithet Bormo or Borvo) and a companion (Damona or Bormona), Mars, a war god, associated with a goddess, Jupiter, who in figurative monuments has a wheel (thunder?) and a double spiral (lightning?), and is represented on horseback, victorious over a giant, Minerva, whose epithet, Belisama, connects her with the sun, and Dis Pater, considered the progenitor of the Gauls.

Besides these, which bear Roman names and are distinguishable by their attributes and epithets, literary sources and especially epigraphy attest to deities with Celtic names. Among them are Esus, Taranis (connected with thunder?), perhaps a sky god, Teutates, an epithet rather than a proper name (from *touta, tōta, *teuta = tribe; hence the god of the tribe), Ogmios, of difficult interpretation, though already in Lucian assimilated to Hercules, and Epona, a goddess of horses. Particular cult must have been given to female deities, considering the large number of goddess names preserved by epigraphy (ca. 400): among them the Matres or Matronae (agricultural deities) and nymphs protecting springs and rivers. This picture of naturalistic religiosity is completed by the cult of trees, that of animals such as the boar, the horse, the bull, etc.

Temples, originally and until the Roman conquest, were unknown, and the cult, of which only a group of fertility festivals (specifically those) transmitted by Irish sources is known, was practiced near consecrated trees or springs.

The body of eschatological beliefs (an afterlife reachable by sea voyage, a place of earthly delights) and the belief in the immortality of the soul were imparted by the most important of the two priestly groups, the druidic, while the prerogatives of the guttuatri remain unknown.

Mario Camozzini

III. EVANGELIZATION

v.: BRITANNIA; GALATIA; GALLIA; IRELAND.

IV. LITURGY

With this name, first used by Mabillon, is indicated the rite already in use among the populations of the British Isles and Armorican Brittany. The various liturgical centers of these islands developed separately; and the Celtic monks, famous travelers, far from the idea of composing a new liturgy, limited themselves to taking from existing ones what suited them, harmonizing the individual elements and often giving them a personal character.

1. The texts

The principal documents of this liturgical tradition are: a) the Stowe Missal (now in the library of the University of Dublin), a written collection for use in some monastic church. It contains the ordinary of the Mass with the Canon, three special Masses, the order of Baptism, of Communion, and of the Anointing of the Sick, all followed by a treatise in Irish on the ceremonies of the Mass. Although it is not easy to assign a date to the manuscript, it is certain that it is anterior to the 9th century. b) the Antiphonary of Bangor, coming from the abbey of Bangor (Ireland), where it was written at the end of the 7th century and later transferred to Bobbio. Contrary to the title, it also contains hymns, prayers, parts of the psalter, canticles, and blessings, so that it seems to be an extract from various liturgical books made for the use of the abbot. It is now in the Ambrosian Library in Milan. c) the Armagh Fragments (in the library of Trinity College, Dublin), a famous manuscript copied by Ferdomnach in 807 or 808, where among important liturgical passages appears the Hanc igitur of the Canon of the Mass with the addition diesque nostros by Gregory the Great. d) the Martyrology of Oengus, composed in Irish verse at the beginning of the 9th century, important for the knowledge of the feasts and the cult of the saints in the Celtic countries. To this list should be added various psalters, ritual books, hymnaries, penitentials, treatises, and a certain number of fragments of lesser importance.

Private devotional books must not be overlooked, and first among these is e) the Book of Cerne (in the library of Cambridge University), written in the 9th century and coming from the abbey of Cerne, where the influence of liturgical prayers is very marked, so much so that it gives a precise idea of Celtic piety. A special place is occupied by f) the famous Bobbio Missal (now in the National Library in Paris). Whatever one may think of its origin and its supposed Irish provenance, it contains a large number of Irish elements, or rather a combination of Roman, Gallican, Visigothic elements, composed in Celtic style. Mabillon designated it as a Gallican Sacramentary, and this opinion is substantially upheld, after repeated hesitations and hypotheses by liturgists, by Wilmart, who has recently devoted a thorough and exhaustive study to the manuscript (The Bobbio Missal. Notes and Studies [Henry Bradshaw Society, 61], London 1924).

2. Origins. It is extremely difficult, with such incomplete material, to reconstruct an exact picture of Celtic liturgy, and even more so to understand its origins. The fragments we possess are in reality not very original, containing traces of Roman, Gallican, Mozarabic, Milanese, and, in a certain sense, even Eastern liturgies. By comparison, the strictly Celtic core is reduced to certain benediction or exorcism formulas, various litanies, apologies and confessions, and numerous hymns.

The distinctive features of Irish liturgical usages led some Anglican theologians to trace their origin to Eastern liturgies, and more precisely to Ephesus and the immediate disciples of St. John, thus making of the Celtic liturgy an Ephesian liturgy in opposition to the Petrine. But this thesis has now been abandoned. Apart from the fact that relations between the British Isles and the East are for the most part legendary, it is impossible to know what the true liturgy of Ephesus was. In any case, the formulas and Celtic rites as a whole are more Roman than Eastern. The opinion that presents Celtic Christians as separatists, in opposition to Rome, or at least, from a doctrinal point of view, independent of every influence from the Urbe, is contradicted by the character of Celtic liturgy, so steeped in Roman elements. The fact is rather that relations between the British Isles and the Christian world of the continent were more frequent than is commonly believed. In the 4th-5th centuries St. Victricius of Rouen and St. Germanus of Auxerre stayed for a long time in Britain; and it was with the latter that the apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick, began his ecclesiastical life and culture. It was perhaps Pope Celestine I who sent to Ireland its first bishop in the person of Palladius (431). The Briton St. Ninian, before evangelizing the Picts, received his formation in Rome and also had contacts with St. Martin of Tours. Faustinus of Riez, a Briton by origin, maintained frequent relations with his homeland. The influence of these figures in the development of liturgical usages in the British Isles was certainly not secondary. Through this network of correspondence and travel, liturgical elements were transmitted, and after his death (461) we see the liturgical structure slowly disintegrate and a series of separate cells form, with often considerable cultic particularities. It is interesting to follow in the Catalogus sanctorum Hiberniae secundum diversa tempora, compiled in the 7th century, this process of fragmentation. Only from the middle of the 7th century, when southern Ireland adopted the Roman Pasch, did Celtic liturgy again absorb Roman elements. The Antiphonary of Bangor, from the end of the 7th century, is still purely Gallican. It thus seems that it was Gaul that exercised a strong influence on the formation of Irish rites. It is more difficult, however, to explain the presence of Mozarabic elements in Celtic liturgy. The opinions expressed so far have not resolved the problem and are based on hypothetical migrations of Christian Celts from Ireland to Spanish Galicia.

3. The Mass

It is above all in the rite of the Mass that the influence of continental liturgies is found. a) The preparation for Mass according to the Stowe Missal includes a confession of sins, a long litany in which all national saints are remembered, and an apologia sacerdotis, that is, a formula in which the celebrant declares his unworthiness before approaching the altar. The preparation of the oblations seems to have taken place, in a manner similar to the Gallican rite, before the entrance of the priest, and included certain prayers with special mention of the individual persons of the Most Holy Trinity. This reference to the Trinity is

Frequently highlighted in the celebration of the Eucharist, this is a characteristic of the Celtic liturgies. The rest closely followed the Roman order. After the singing of the Alleluia at the Epistle, a solemn litany took place, the so-called *Depresaria* (cf. MARTINI), of distinctly Eastern intonation, whose text, translated from the Greek, also appears in other Western liturgies. Special importance was given to the formula of consecration. The celebrant bowed three times at the words *accepti Iesus ponere*, while the people lay prostrate. This prayer was called the *periculum ovata*, and no one was to disturb its silence. The *Penitential of Cummian* prescribes a penance of fifty blows for a priest who stumbled in pronouncing II. On the margins of some missals, the warning was even written: *periculum*. Communion was surrounded by rites and chants that gave it great solemnity. Among the latter must be placed the famous hymn *"Quando commonicarent sacerdotes"* — *"Sancti venite, Christi corpus sumite"*, preserved in the *Antiphonary of Bangor*, of such elevated inspiration that one regrets the loss of other compositions of this kind. The texts of the *postcommunio* are taken from the Roman books, while the dismissal was announced with the words: *"Missa acta est. In pace."*

4. The Sacraments. The baptismal rites present the same composite character. The only complete *ordo* of the *Baptismi* preserved is that of Stowe. It includes a large number of prayers, derived both from Gallican and Milanese documents and from Roman sources, combined in the strangest manner. Alongside ceremonies and prayers for the Baptism of adults, there are formulas *"ad catechizandos infantes"* and others even intended for the Baptism of the sick. Even the blessing of the water presents a no less curious mosaic. The formula of renunciation is repeated twice within a few lines, interspersed and confused with a profession of faith, which anticipates the one that will immediately precede the baptismal washing. The text of the latter is similar to the Gelasian, but the interrogations, instead of being made by the celebrant, are addressed by the deacon. There is no mention of the Trinitarian formula of Baptism, which was administered either by immersion or by sprinkling at choice. The rite concluded with a triple unction with chrism, the handing over of the white garment by the deacon, and the washing of the feet of the neophytes, a ceremony unknown in the Roman Church but taken from the ancient Gallican liturgy.

5. The Divine Office

In its entirety, it was called *cursus psalmerum*, or simply *cursus*, and was regulated differently by local customs. There was great freedom on the subject, and the main source of information is the monastic rules. The canonical hours, more or less distinguished by the names they bear today, corresponded to the traditional

(from the *Cod. di G. F. Warner*, part 20, II. Bradshaw Sancto, London 1905) Celts — Stowe Missal. Binding of the missal, i.e., a case in oak wood and silver sheet. Work executed between 1079 and 1105.

ninefold division. The Pentecost, Epiphany, and Easter were considered baptismal feasts, and at the latter the faithful were obliged to fulfill the paschal precept by receiving Communion. The rite of the new fire on Holy Saturday, unknown in the ancient Greek, Gallican, and Roman liturgical books, found a favorable reception in Ireland as early as the mid-8th century. It is well known that the Celtic Churches long persisted in following a different paschal computation from that of the Roman Church, preserving the ancient 84-year cycle. St. Columban remained faithful to it even when he settled at Luxeuil, thus often finding himself at odds with local churches. Only slowly and through conflicts and struggles did the Celts finally adopt the universal custom, so that by the end of the 8th century unity in the celebration of Easter can be said to have been achieved. At Easter, a very austere Lenten period was permitted, while in monastic circles fasting was almost continuous. Even among the laity, the observance of fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, of such venerable origin, was tenaciously maintained.

7. The Decline

The liturgical autonomy of the various Churches makes it impossible to trace the gradual abandonment of individual ritual peculiarities and the definitive transition to Roman forms. Already in the time of

In 817, the Armorican Brittany had accepted the Roman rite; Scotland probably adapted to it in the 11th century, thanks to the zeal of St. Margaret. In Ireland, a further century had to pass before the Roman liturgy was introduced there by St. Malachy (d. 1148), archbishop of Armagh and friend of St. Bernard. After the island’s conquest by the English, the Synod of Cashel (1172) imposed the Anglo-Roman rite on all the churches of Ireland without further ado.

**

ART of the C.

Celtic Christian art in Ireland displays well-defined characteristics up to the 12th century, beginning to manifest itself in the 7th. During this period, a striking feature is the great fidelity to the canons and artistic motifs of earlier pagan art, especially that of the prehistoric Bronze Age commonly called La Tène art (from a Swiss site systematically excavated and which has provided, so to speak, the standard for judging the types found elsewhere). It is now known that under the name "Celtic" there is not a single race but a people of varied origin who derived from Aryo-European sources a common language. It seems that the first phase of the development of the Celtic nation must be placed in southwestern Germany. From there it migrated to the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and to Brittany (in French territory), where the purest remnants survive today.

La Tène art spans roughly from 500 BC to the Roman conquest, and indeed into the early Christian era and beyond. Yet one must also take into account the artistic tendencies of the Goidels, or Gaelic Celts, who, descending the Rhine valley between 2000 and 1700 BC, entered England, replacing the rectangular tombs of the indigenous Neolithic peoples with their round barrows. To them we owe important megalithic constructions.

This premise is necessary to understand the orientations of Christian Celtic art: constructions of stones skillfully fitted together and (in various examples) not cemented; decoration on stone that reflects prehistoric patterns, merely blending in some external elements. In fact, one must not imagine these Nordic peoples as entirely isolated (though by the late 5th and 6th centuries, Ireland was largely cut off by the spread of Saxon invaders). A remarkable discovery was made when, on the side of the stone cross at Fahan in Donegal (Henry, pl. 14), the *Gloria Patri* was found inscribed in Greek, in the formula prescribed by the Council of Toledo of 633. Clearly, continuous relations existed with Spain and Gaul. Even iconography reflects continental and Eastern influences, though transformed into a particular stylization that betrays the Celtic tradition, itself channeling Germanic and Asiatic influences.

If one then considers the astonishing Gaelic literary output (which forms a major foundation of medieval literature—think of the well-known Arthurian epic cycles, etc.) and takes into account that whole world of enchantment still gripping the Irish countryside and, to a lesser extent, Brittany, one will not be surprised by the deep mysticism and sense of mystery that even a modest monument reveals. For this reason, Ireland developed a flourishing monasticism. Among monastic constructions, the group of cells on Skellig Michael, off the west coast, is noteworthy. It is an ideal site for an asceterion. The small buildings, set in a rocky landscape battered by ocean waves, are made of roughly squared stones without mortar. Were it not for the cross on the largest cell, one might swear one was looking at a fortress from the pagan period, such as those at Dun Beag or Steigue Fort. The small rectangular church at Eilean a Naomh in Scotland could easily be mistaken for a prehistoric dwelling. At Kilmalkedar, also in this region, the problem of roofing a rectangular plan is solved by sloping the walls, resulting in a structure resembling a modern hangar.

The doors of these buildings, topped with a single large stone lintel (as at Mac Dara, St. Brendan’s, Inisglora, etc.), are akin to those of Mediterranean megaliths. The window at Mac Dara is nothing more than a corner support of two stones resting on two uprights. Even when arches appear and Romanesque recessed portals like those in France are introduced, the way the massive stones are handled, the interlacing decorations, and geometric motifs always retain a memory of pagan Celtic ornamentation, as seen particularly in bronze and other metalwork. Moreover, as Henry observes, the arts in Ireland reacted upon one another. For example, the miniatures of the *Book of Durrow* continue certain motifs from ancient Celtic enamels and bronzes; the sculptor of the cross at Ahenny imitated the friezes of a precious Christian reliquary; the artist of the cross at Kells drew inspiration from miniatures, and so on. Curious is a head of Christ on a plaque from Athlone (pl. 20 of Henry) that resembles those on the Gundestrup cauldron.

Monuments characteristic of Ireland are the crosses, the standing stones, and the round towers. As regards the latter, it is observed that their antiquity is not great. They must have been built for defence against pirates between the 9th century and the beginning of the 12th. As for the standing stones, they continue the use of stones either near a church or marking the site of an ancient cemetery. The inscriptions are largely in Latin and bear witness to the penetration of Latin culture from the time of St Patrick. But there are also examples of the local script (the "ogham" characters). Thus the rough star on the tomb of St Monachan (at the south-western end of his oratory called Temple Geal near Dingle). This stone has only a deeply incised cross. But in others the decorative richness is very great. The stone of Aberlemno, for example, with its very dense volutes and interlacings, resembles a piece of jewellery. A simple stone with a Latin inscription of the 5th century mentions the *congeries lapidum* in which a "Carausius" was buried. This expression is found in a passage of Nennius relating to the legend of King Arthur, in another contained in the biography of St Columba, and elsewhere. Also of interest is a sepulchral stone at Oidaca (at Fuercy) where there is a cross and the representation of the paleo-Christian symbolic image of the fish.

But the greatest interest must go to the stones shaped like crosses, which are mostly of a votive nature. They have recently been studied with fine analysis and splendid graphic documentation by Fr. Henry. Simple types such as that at Carndonag (pl. 11; in the same locality also stars: pl. 12), or with relief of interlace and bosses, such as the very beautiful one at Ahenny (pl. 20-21). The form of these crosses resembles the types with handles of a processional cross, but in the decorative richness of a *crux florida* translated into precious metal. The handles are rectangular tablets and, as a novelty, there is a solar circle of glorification which is never found in the production known to us of the early Middle Ages (only in the late Middle Ages are there a few examples; here it appears instead in the 7th-8th century). There are also various examples with figures: these are childlike images, sometimes seeming to be dwarfs with large bodies and short feet. Often one sees figures in cloaks and hoods, all with pear-shaped faces as in Lombard reliefs. These images are arranged in ornamental, symmetrical rhythms, for which parallels can be found in Germany and even in eastern Russia, and then, going back in time, within Asia Minor. Even the slimness and stylization of the animals shows the influence of such comparison. Among the crosses cited are those of Moone (pls. 44-49), Castledermot (83), Armagh (64), Monasterboice and Muiredach (74-77), etc. As for the subjects, mention may be made of: the Protoparents, the sacrifice of Abraham, the young Hebrews in the furnace, the slaughter of the Innocents, the Flight into Egypt, the Twelve Apostles, Sts Paul and Anthony, the Crucifixion, Daniel in the lions' den, etc., all significant for the evangelization of these warrior and hunting peoples, fixed on an heroic ideal, fearful of the assaults of infernal forces, generous and idealistic. It is known that among them Christianity spread peacefully, without persecutions. St Patrick was able to destroy twelve small idols which in the plain of Mag Secht surrounded Crom Cruach, the greater idol which was entirely covered with gold.

The inscriptions on the stone crosses enable us to date them on the basis of the local "annals". At Balin is the cross of the monk Tauthghall (pl. 40) who was abbot of Clonmacnois in 810-11 (Annals of Ulster, etc.). At Monasterboice (pl. 75) the cross bears this Gaelic inscription — *ORDO MUIREDACH LAS (AN) DERNAD IN CHRO (ss) A* ("Pray for Muiredach who made this cross"). He was probably a person of 924-25.

Interlaced decoration from the 7th to the 12th century is often mixed with that of animals, as in Scandinavian areas. In the Book of Durrow, the patient and skilful decoration has six strips of interlace which are repeated in pairs in three different combinations of animals. In each the beasts are incorporated into one another. Then in Irish art one sees bodies elongated into ribbons bent in various ways (this can be compared with the three styles of northern art identified by Salin). Then there is curvilinear decoration of spirals and tightly coiled tendrils (a reminder of prehistoric themes), angular decorations (combinations of segments) such as can also be found on the bronzes of ancient China. Vegetal ornament is transformed into linear fantasies, and even animal ornament dissolves. Sometimes from the mouth or tail of animals and from masks there spring ribbons, tendrils, and volutes which then develop into delightful scrolls. Wonderful are the great initials of the Book of Kells, of the Mac Regol Gospels, or of that of Lindisfarne (8th century). Curious also are those pages begun like the example of the gospel book in the National Library of Turin O IV, 20 in which a central robed figure holds a cross amidst a host of other small figures of similar type. Strange too is a gospel book in the library of St Gall in which the Crucifixion is depicted; the garments of Christ are all in folds of quite unnatural convolutions, but explicable by a tenacious will to rhythm.

No less fanciful are the goldsmiths' works, where embossing and filigree compose splendid friezes. The Ardagh Chalice (q.v.) is well known, a broad cup with bosses, interlacings, and delicate volutes (the work is attributed to the 8th-12th centuries, probably of the 9th or 10th; cf. Liam S. Gogan, *The Ardagh chalice*, Dublin 1932). Important are the cases in which books were kept. That (now lost) of the Book of Durrow had a Gaelic inscription relating to King Flan Sinna, son of Malachy, who reigned between 877 and 916. The Book of Annagh had an inscription of 937-38; the Book of Kells is of 1007. We still have the cases of the Gospel of Molais (large cross of interlace, symbols of the Evangelists [1001-25]), of the Stowe Missal (a codex containing a very important liturgical text; cross on a chequered and triangular background [1023]), of the Book of Dimma (cross on interlace [1150]). Then there are pastoral staffs with well-wrought metal fittings (that of Dimma, that in the museum of Edinburgh, that of Kells, that of Lismore, etc.). They range from the 10th to the 12th century. There are also caskets for containing those little bells used to summon small communities of monks. The beautiful shrine of the Cross of St Patrick, all of multiple interlace, is only a 13th-century copy and replaced the original given to the church of Bos Glandae. Primitive instead is the shrine of the bell of St Culain (here also interlacings, but simpler, and then masks combined with shapes of monsters; 9th-10th century). As for the bell, mention may be made of that of Cumasach Mac Ailello which has an inscription of a person who died in 908. A reliquary casket is the bronze shrine of St Mogue, said to have been used by St Molais to preserve certain relics brought from Rome and given to his friend Moedoc, abbot of Fern. On its backgrounds one sees various figures of old men with long bipartite beards and flowing hair (9th century). Finally, the crosses, of which the most noteworthy is that of Cong (with miniature-type interlace, early 12th century).

The buildings of the Norman barons caused many structures to disappear. The Benedictine foundation of Mellifont (1142) helped to spread other artistic forms. But the change was already apparent in the chapel of Cormac (1134). So that, when the Anglo-Normans landed in Ireland in 1169, the local artistic development was already seriously compromised. As has been said, the end of the 12th century can be considered the close of the cycle of this most singular Celtic art.

"See Pls. LXXVIII-LXXIX.