CHAPTER II. EXTENSION OF CHRISTIAN TERRITORY BY MISSIONARIES. IN N the latter part of the sixth century, a great missionary era was inaugurated. Men taking their lives in their hands began to penetrate the encompassing circle of heathenism. One field after another was gained; but it was several centuries before Europe as a whole had passed under the dominion of Christianity. The way of victory was at the same time a way of hardship and martyrdom. A conspicuous part in this aggressive movement was taken by the Roman bishop and the monks, the one serving as the patron and the others as the agents of the work. A genuine Christian zeal cannot be denied to either party. At the same time, it must have been perfectly evident to the Roman bishop that his patronage of missions would be a very effectual means of extending his power. Among the monks the most noted evangelists came from the cloisters of Great Britain and Ireland. The latter country won early the praise of exemplary zeal, both for the cause of learning and of missions. As the night of ignorance was deepening in other quarters, the light of a liberal scholarship shone in the Irish cloisters. "At a time when Pope Gregory the Great was obliged to acknowledge that he was ignorant of Greek, there were ministers in Ireland quite competent to read the New Testament in the original language. In the larger monasteries, the disciples were instructed in mathematics and astronomy, as well as in the ancient classics."1 A striking memorial of the eminent place which Ireland then occupied in the religious world is given in the name, insula sanctorum, with which the land was honored. All this, however, is not to be taken as evidence of any ideal state of society. Alongside of marked exhibitions of learning and piety, there was much of turbulence. Bloody feuds were of frequent occurrence. The first of the pioneers from this field whose labors are recorded was Columba, or Columbkille. He was of royal birth, commanding presence, and effective address. Possessing the generous impulses native to his countrymen, he possessed also, as it would seem, their hot temper. By some it is supposed that he precipitated a war, and at the instance of the defeated sovereign was excommunicated by an assembly of clergy. The fact of excommunication is quite certain, since it is mentioned by so admiring a biographer as Adamnan.2 In 563 Columba set out for Scotland. As yet Christianity had gained but a part of this country. Ninian, son of a British prince, had made converts, in the early part of the fifth century, among the southern Picts, who dwelt between the Frith of Forth and the Grampians. There was also a settlement of Scots, who had received Christian teaching, on the west coast. But 1 W. D. Killen, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland. the northern Picts were still heathen. With the approval of Conall, the King of the Scots, a small island lying off the coast was given to Columba, and made the seat of a cloister destined to stand for centuries as a missionary fortress and training school. This rocky island scarce exceeded three miles in length by one and a half in breadth. In the language of the country it was called Hy. The name Iona, by which it is commonly known, is regarded by Reeves as a corruption of Ioua used as an adjective before insula. By the labors of Columba the Picts were converted, and their king seems to have confirmed the grant which was made by Conall. Though but an abbot in rank, the founder of Iona was really the ecclesiastical sovereign of the adjacent territory. His successors also stood, in point of jurisdiction, above the bishops of the country, a peculiar feature in church polity, which will again command our attention. As is apparent from this item, the community of Iona, like the early Celtic churches generally, had little notion of any supremacy in the Roman bishop. They did not regard themselves as bound to follow the Roman model. Columba died while on his knees at the altar, in the year 597. Authentic history records little concerning him; still, we shall not be at fault in concluding from the work that he accomplished, and the impression that he made, that he was a man of unusual force of character. Like Patrick, and Martin of Tours, he was a strong personality, and as such received the inevitable tribute of medieval admiration, a great throng of legends having the one object of glorifying their hero. The life written by Adamnan, the ninth abbot of Iona, a century after the death of Columba, makes him the agent in a constant succession of miracles. Even down to the present century, the virtue of the name of Columba has continued to be celebrated in the Highlands of Scotland. The Roman Catholic Highlander about to set out upon a journey utters the invocation, "May the servant of Columba of the cell protect and bring me safe home." A small pebble from Iona, called the stone of Icolmkill, is worn as an amulet. At least, such customs were in vogue in the early part of the century.1 In the ninth century the primacy passed from Iona to Dunkeld. In the next century St. Andrews became the ecclesiastical metropolis of Scotland. For an interval before, as well as after, this transfer, we meet with an order bearing the name of Culdees. They seem to have been quite a conspicuous factor in the Scottish Church till the reign of Malcolm Canmore in the eleventh century, when the marriage of this king with the English princess Margaret prepared the way for the predominance of the English régime. Their name probably signifies "servants of God," the Scottish term Keledei being the equivalent of the Continental Deicola. Various theories have been entertained as to their origin and characteristics. "It may reasonably be inferred, that the Culdees were generally the successors of the family of Iona and other monastic communities, under a new name, and with a relaxed discipline.” In certain points they contradicted the very notion of 1 John Jamieson, An Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of Iona. 2 George Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland. monasticism. As is remarked by a learned authority, "The particular Keledean laxity appears to have been, that, precisely like their Irish and Welsh congeners, they gradually lapsed into something like impropriators, married, and transmitting their church endowments as if they had been their own to their children, but retaining, at any rate in most cases, their clerical office; although the abbots, as, e. g., at Dunkeld and Abernethy, became in some cases mere lay lords of the church lands thus misappropriated, leaving a prior to be the spiritual superior." In some quarters the Culdees have been credited with quite a close approximation to primitive Christianity; but it may be doubted whether in the sum total of their beliefs and practices they were much superior to the average Romanism of their time. While thus the surrounding populations were being instructed in Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons were still in the bonds of their heathenism. The intense national hatred which the Britons cherished toward them stood in the way of missionary effort from that quarter. Indeed, some of the Britons may have thought of getting even with their conquerors, as has been charged against them, by leaving them to the hopeless doom of the unbaptized and the unbelieving. But in another quarter the agency for bringing them the gospel message was being prepared. While yet an abbot, the Roman Gregory was led to cherish a strong interest in the Anglo-Saxons. The occasion which first directed his attention to them is thus described by Beda: "It is 1 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to Great Britain and Ireland, vol. ii. pt. i. pp. 175–182. Compare W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland. |