Monastic Discipline in Early Medieval Ireland

Executive summary of MA Diploma

Author: Ms. Jana Chrzova

Department of English and American Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University. Prague 1998

Published in Bibliotheca Strahoviensis, 4-5 2001. Strahov Premonstratensian Monastery, Prague.

Annex / Selected Bibliography in PDF.

IV.2. Summary

IV.2.a Introduction

The purpose of this work was to discuss the early developments of the Irish monasticism in its entire complexity: to show both its roots and lines along which it was developing throughout centuries as well as elements that made it distinct from monasticism elsewhere in Christian world. Great emphasis was put on the aspects of discipline for the conception of severe discipline attached to its early developments was what made the Irish monastic system notorious elsewhere.

When planning the outline of this work I faced a fundamental problem: local sources focused on the early developments of monastic institutions in general were scarce, if any. In case of the Irish Church, and monastic system particularly, any substantial sources of information were completely lacking. In this respect I am truly indebted to Dr. Benedicta Ward, SLG, member of the Theology Faculty in the University of Oxford, for having provided me with generous guidance both in the subject and the relevant primary and secondary literature while in Oxford in 1993. As for the overall insight into the subject I owed a lot to Rev. John Ryan, S.J. whose Irish Monasticism: origins and early development, first published in 1931, was no less essential for this work.

On the other hand, the lack of any relevant literature ever published either in Czechoslovakia or the Czech Republic represented a true challenge for me. On a rather limited space I had to attempt to bring forth a complex work that would discuss in adequate detail the very roots of monasticism in the East, its further development in the West, and then its growth in Ireland. When writing about the monastic institutions, development of monastic rules and related legislation could also not be omitted. Of equal interest was then the impact the Irish Church had on the neighbouring nations and vice versa. To make the account as comprehensive as possible, and at the same time to provide the reader with further references, foot-notes were carefully incorporated whenever it seemed appropriate, and in addition to that related selected bibliography was included as an annex.

IV.2.b Summary

(a ) The Roots

From the beginning of the Christian era, men and women have been in quest for a most perfect way to serve their God, a way that would help them follow Christ. These efforts resulted in number of forms of religious life and service, be it among the laity in secular world or among the churchmen, and still more among their recluses outside of the world. However, retreat from the world in a life of penitential asceticism to reach union with God was not a Christian invention. The Essenes who lived this kind of life in the wastelands of Judea, were already at the time of Christ a well-established phenomenon. John the Baptist was probably one of them. Yet, it was not until the fourth century that monasticism was established as a separate entity secluded not only from the world but from the Christian community as a whole. Roman Emperor Constantine I. gave Christianity official recognition and patronage in A.D. 311 with the Edicts of Toleration. Only then the monastic form of religious life started to flourish at its full.

One of the most important impulses came from the Egyptian desert - a refuge for ascetics who lived there as hermits in caves, excavated tombs and temple ruins. They carried on a mode of life that had been practised there since the close of the third century. The other important impetus in the monastic development was namely the teaching of Origen of Alexandria, a Church Father, who saw the process of attaining holiness or union with God as an ascent to be accomplished by steps or degrees. Thus an image of ladder came to symbolize the process of perfection and this very image became the central element of ascetic thinking and living. One more event that helped in spread of monasticism by bringing instability into ordinary life again, was the disintegration of the Roman Empire at the end of the fourth century.

One of the Christians who sought life in the desert was Anthony the Great. Records of his life were provided in Life written by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. In this Life Anthony was pictured as an ideal ascetic, progressing step by step to sanctification and union with God. However, the desert and the solitary life were not easy to endure and variety of dangers as well as physical privations and excessive penance added easily to the destruction of all those unprepared. New ways were thus sought: the change from eremitical life to a coenobetic one, i.e. life in a community, came with Pachomius, contemporary of St. Anthony, who founded his first monastery at Tabennisi on the east bank of the Nile. His community was the first to live successfully under a Rule that had incorporated most of the elements typical of regular monasticism. Only a part of the Rule of Life was committed to writing and changed from time to time, according to experience. The original Rule was translated into Latin by St. Jerome in A.D. 404. This was the most complete and faithful record of the Pachomian observance, such as it existed in the latter part of the fourth century.

The Pachomian system helped to shape the later European monasticism through the preserved texts of that period. Meanwhile, monasticism started spreading to Syria and Palestine, and later to Asia Minor with Basil of Caesarea.. His establishments were both individual hermitages as well as laurae, but he carefully placed these retreats for solitary contemplation in a relatively close proximity to houses of coenobites. Though he wrote no rule as such, his Conferences and replies to questions were treated as a guide and were quoted as a rule by St. Benedict and others. St. Basil formed no congregation or order, yet he made of his monasteries homes of charity, containing orphanages, hospitals, workhouses, farms and hospices, which was a development anticipating the western orders of the later Middle Ages.

The spread of the monasticism to the West was one of the most striking phenomena of the patristic age. It was carried out by individuals: above all by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, and his Life of St. Anthony, which was one of the formative books of Christian spirituality. The appeal of desert asceticism and the coenobitic life met with positive response in Italy and a considerable number of monasteries were established there. From Rome and Italy the ideal of desert asceticism and the practice of coenobitic life spread to the remotest parts of the disintegrating Roman Empire. The chief transmitters were three: Martin of Tours, Augustine of Hippo and John Cassian.

Martin of Tours and his establishment was important especially in respect to the monasticism in the Egyptian ascetic mode he presented there - a combination of eremitical and coenobitic life. Western monks looked to Martin as an exemplar, and many monasteries were dedicated to him. There was probably no written rule, although there were numerous references to him in rules and writings of other monastic leaders. The monasticism in Europe started taking on different forms depending on host, soil, climate, etc. In Africa and Italy its form was that of the community of the bishop´s households of clerks, in Italy and elsewhere of an army of hermits, and in Gaul that of the quasi eremitical settlements of St. Martin. From Gaul it passed to Ireland, Wales and the Western Isles in a new and remarkable Celtic, tribal form.

As for Augustine of Hippo and John Cassian, each took the heritage of Eastern desert monasticism and added elements that would help it survive the transplantation to the West. Augustine saw the combination of obedience and authority a necessary condition for the perfect common life, and thus to him the most perfect form of religious life was the coenobitic one. John Cassian was a follower of St. Anthony. Trained for a short time in monastic living in the community of Bethlehem, he later made a pilgrimage to the desert where he wished to observe the ascetic life and penitential practices of the hermits and coenobites, and bring them back to Bethlehem. After the desert experience he founded in Marseilles the monastery of St. Victor. There its members led as nearly as possible the ascetical life of the Egyptian desert. It was Bishop Castor of Apt who asked Cassian for help in founding a similar monastery in neighbourhood. In reply to this request Cassian wrote two books that soon afterwards became another formative and influetial works of western Christianity: Institutes and Conferences. In them Cassian provided a pattern of monastic life that combined the best of what he had observed of the traditions of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Judea. Cassian also gradually developed the notion that the coenobium, the communal monastic life, was a permanent state for an average monk. He established the living of the communal life as an end in itself, though he maintained the superiority of eremitism at the same time.

The most effective synthesis of Eastern and Western asceticism was made by Benedict of Nursia. His Rule was composed between A.D. 535 - 45 as a fairly short document from which his whole monastic organization grew. The Rule provided brief and clear outline of domestic government. Along with John Cassian, Benedict saw the monastery as a primary school in religious asceticism as well as a perfectly desirable end in itself, yet unlike Cassian - not a second-best alternative. Benedict saw the common life as the most perfect instrument of salvation that would provide mutual support of brothers striving for the same end. Benedict was particular about the qualities the abbot ought to have. With Augustine he saw the abbot as father and the monks as sons and brothers to each other. He agreed with Augustine that responsibility for the practice of virtue in the house remained upon the abbot. The chief work of the monks was the opus Dei, the work of God: communal worship service that punctuated the monastic day and night with periods of prayer. Praise to God and instruction for the brethren were combined rhytmically within each prayer period. The rhythm established by opus Dei was counterpointed by communal work: as in the laurae and among the desert eremitical communities, every monk had his tasks to perform and thus he contributed to the survival and functioning of the community. A third element in the Benedictine life was intellectual activity: reading and studies were essential for a monk, on the reading list were the Scripture, ascetic predecesors, the lives of desert fathers, Cassian´s Institutes and Conferences. Fourth contribution to the development of western monasticism was a provision of the Rule which contained the vow of stability, that ensured the permanence of the monastic foundation itself, and elimination of vagabond tendencies rather typical for Egyptian eremitical ascetics. The Rule took from East and West the best elements, harmonized them and built from them a perfectly balanced communal life of prayer and work. The impact of the Rule was enormous on the development of Western civilization. The Rule was frequently adopted in combination with other rules, notably those of Columban, Basil and Cassian.

(b) Ireland

For the development of Christianity in Ireland the Gaul was of utmost importance. There on the island of Lérins St. Patrick, the apostle of the North, the Midlands and the West of Ireland, received his spiritual training. In spite of his monastic training, Patrician foundations were for major part churches although it was possible that some of the foundations were already monastic. References to monasticism in Patrician documents look few and meager. Patrick entrusted the spiritual care of the country to bishops, priests and inferior clergy, not to monks: however, he encouraged clerics to stricter mode of life similar to that of monks. As for the communities living around churches, it is not sure that they followed any rule in a strict sense -they may have been bound by a vow to lead a regular life and to submit to a strict code of religious discipline, just as had the clergy of St. Augustine at Hippo. They would be in essence communities of clerics rather than communities of monks. The place of monasticism in the church founded by St. Patrick was supposed to be important, but secondary.

The conversion of the country could not have been complete during Patrick´s life. Missions were necessary and thus the complete enclosure was impossible to be observed. Within the first decade of the 5th century, St. Ninian established a missionary centre at Whitern from where he laboured among the Southern Picts. It is possible that a form of monasticism may have existed there from the beginning. A century later this place served as a school of training for the monastic life - from the early 6th century it bore the name Rosnat, or Magnum Monasterium. St. Enda of Aran, St. Tigernach of Cluain Eois, St. Eogan of Ard Sratha, St. Finnian of Mag Bile, and St. Coirpre of Cúil Raithin have reputedly made their early studies here. One of them, Enda of Aran, founded a settlement on the greatest of the Aran islands and followed a rule of astonishing severity along with his disciples. With him probably monasticism in the strict sense (i.e. vows, complete seclusion from the world and a stern system of discipline) began in Ireland. The most famous among his disciples was Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. Others were Finnian of Mag Bile, Columcille, Coemgen of Glenn dá locha. The place gained in the fame as a school of asceticism and regular observance.

Very close relations existed between the Irish and British churches of the 6th century, and the relation was probably that of master and disciple. There was number of straight influences, the biggest being probably that of Gildas who received training in the monastery of St. Illtud; the other being that of St. David, the national saint of Wales, also a disciple of St. Illtud. David´s principal foundation was the monastery of Mynyw, where he ruled as abbot and bishop. Many Irishmen were among his disciples, while others visited his monastery (e.g. Finnian of Clonard, Brendan of Clonfert). There was one rival school of importance: that of Finnian of Clonard. He was a disciple of St. Cadoc, and under his influence Finnian transformed Clonard, originally founded after the loose Patrician pattern, into a monastery. From Cadoc and his friends, the Second Order of Irish saints (Finnian being their patriarch) received a liturgy, and the two churches remained on intimate terms throughout the century. British monasticism. with its background in Lérins, laid stress on study as part of the daily round of duties. Finnian adopted this principle. He was influenced profoundly by Cadoc and Gildas, who were thus indirectly responsible for the progress and the character of the monastic movement in Ireland in the first half of the 6th century. Writers of a later period fixed the number of Finnian´s leading disciples at twelve: the twelve apostles of Ireland: Ciarán of Saigher, Ciarán of Clonmacnoise, Columcille of Iona and Derry, Brendán of Clonfert, Brendán of Birr, Colmán of Tír-dá-glas, Molaisse of Daiminis, Cainnech of Achad Bó, Ruadán of Lothra, Mobí of Glas Noiden, Senell of Cluain Inis, Nannid of Inis Maige Sam.

In Ireland the profound changes started to take place around A.D. 550. In the 6th century the Church in Ireland began to take a characteristic form which is now called Celtic, a term applied also to the sister Churches of Scotland, Wales, and Brittany. The Celtic Churches had tenets and rites older than those of the existing Roman Church. In isolation, caused not only by separation from the rest of the Continent by sea, but also by the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain and the Frankish conquest of Gaul, a specific kind of monasticism developed there.

Numerous monasteries were founded by gifts of land from local chiefs to some prominent saint. The abbot became soon more important than the bishop, and the bishop very often resided in the some monastery. In the endowment of an abbey the first abbot´s kin were generally given the succession in the office, and his successors were for centuries members of his family. The Latin and the study of the Bible and Catholic theology entered the country. One of the first centres of Latin studies was established around A.D. 540 by St.Finnian at Clonard. By the end of the century other foundations followed, such as Clonmacnoise (Ciaran), Clonfert (Brendan). Lismore (Carthach), Derry (Colmcille) and Kildare (Brigid). In the abbeys and numerous daughter-houses both religion and learning flourished. Around the monasteries communities of laic-folk emerged and thus the wide monastic establishments were close to towns.

Like their Egyptian forebears the Irish monks dwelt in groups of beehive cells, with oratory and surrounding cashel wall; they wore a white habit with girdle, cloak and hood; their time was divided between prayer, study and manual work, and they devoted much of the night to psalmody. Unlike the Egyptians they bound themselves by formal vows, though their discipline, up to the time of Columban, was a matter of oral tradition rather than written enactments, of obedience to an abbot rather than to a rule. The ascetic life was reckoned in Irish teaching by a form of martyrdom. The food was chiefly vegetables, flour and water. Severe punishments were enjoined for trifling faults. Prayer was often made with the arms extended for long periods in the shape of a cross. Silence was observed, except for short periods of recreation or in cases of necessity. Long night offices could not leave much time for sleep. Clothing was just sufficient to withstand the climate, with a change for use at night; sandals, gloves for work. The whole way of life was adapted to promote recollection and self-discipline, sometimes culminating in short retreats or permanent seclusion in a hermit's cell. Columban, for instance, was to choose a remote hermitage for his personal retreats at each of his foundations on the Continent. Unquestioning loyalty and immediate obedience were fortified by the practice of confession which, under the system of Columban, was made by the monk to his senior once a day. Private meditation was expected to follow upon public worship; and work and meals were always begun and ended with prayer. There were common celebtrations on Sundays and festivals, at which all who were fit to do so received communion in both kinds. A sermon usually followed the Gospel on Sundays, and there may have been less formal instructions on weekdays as well. Farming, building, gardening and other forms of craftsmanship occupied much of the monks' day. At the same time, intellectual training was available to all who could profit by it. Scripture was the chief object of study in the monastic schools. There were also foreigners in the Irish monasteries, namely the English, who often studied free of charge there. Under the Irish system of fosterage, a boy might be sent for his education to a monastery. No regular novitiate was mentioned; boys of 17 if satisfactorily instructed, would be given habit and tonsure and admitted to the monastery. Absolute authority, limited only by a flexible tradition, was entrusted to the abbot and exercised in a large establishment through a group of seniors and praepositi, among whom the cellarer occupied a leading place. One of the younger brethren attended the abbot as a sort of secretary or minister. Several monasteries might form a loose federation, owing to some connection of their founders, but there was nothing corresponding to the later religious Orders at this time. A few written rules were mentioned but none survives of a date earlier than that of Columban.

Though there were controversies in the Irish Church in relation to Rome, the Irish regarded themselves as forming part of the universal Church. Controversy over the Easter calculations, in which Columban was to play a prominent part, was an example. However, Columban in all his letters appealed to the traditions of antiquity and to the verdict of the Pope. The absence of episcopal control over the Irish monasteries was yet another peculiar characteristic of the Celtic Church, which is of prime importance in understanding Columban´s independent attitude towards the hierarchy of France, and the problems he consequently had there.

Other Celtic peculiarities worth noticing were those concerned administration of penance and the ideal of pilgrimage. In the ancient Church, confession, penance, reconciliation was practised with publicity. The Irish monks however, developed a more humane and gentle form of spiritual direction in the private conference of juniors with their seniors. This confession of devotion might be often repeated, it lacked the stigma of publicity, and it provided better guidance for the offenders. This private or auricular confession proved a helpful and popular discipline, and the increasing multitude of penitents soon imposed the necessity of formulating standard codes. Thus arose the Irish penitentials, which, taken to the Continent by Columban, became the basis of the whole discipline of penance in the later medieval Church. There were traces in this system of the influence of native Irish law. The monastic pattern could also be seen in the type of penances - fasting on bread and water, solitary exile, pilgrimage - with the result that the penitent was obliged to become a monk for a certain period of time. Throughout the whole series of Irish penitentials there was an ever-increasing severity of punishment.

Columbanus was the first great name among Irish missionaries abroad.Chief sources of information for his life were provided by Jonas in Life of Columban. Already, before about A.D. 570 in Ireland, there were monks who had fled to the desert following their desire for a more perfect life. Columban followed their example. For him "life was no homeland, where the Christian might dwell secure in his rights: it was a roadway, whereon none dwells, but walks." These ideas were the force driving Irish monks out, often overseas, in a pilgrimage which often turned into a "perpetual exile". The pilgrim-spirit turned Columban first to Cleenish Island on Lough Erne, to become a disciple of the abbot Sinell, a Finnian´s disciple. From there he turned to Bangor, a monastery with the strictest rule, notorious for severity of its discipline, the devotion of its abbots, and the scriptural basis of its life. Here Columban was professed a monk and in a few years´ time he was ordained priest. It was a habit for the Irish monasteries to send out groups of monks under the leadership of a senior monk to establish a new foundation elsewhere. Thus according to the tradition, twelve monks followed Columban from Bangor to France. His most famous foundation was that of Luxeuil. The principles of the ascetic life were set forth in the Regula Monachorum, the first proper Rule written by an Irish ascetic that has survived over the centuries. For the general guidance in the communal life, Columban wrote the Regula Coenobialis, which however was distinct from any other rule by not giving as much guidance for the community government, as we can see in the case of e.g. St. Benedict, but punishments for those who err or fail in their daily tasks. For the penitents, both lay and clerical, who came to do their penance, Columban wrote two Penitentials that were later joined in one. Columban thus introduced a discipline that was not known in France before. By this harsh discipline of penance, by his unauthorized foundations, by his obsolete observance of Easter, by all his actions that were contrary to the episcopal order in France, Columban was in permanent conflict with the Church hierarchy there. This conflict resulted in his expulsion which took him as far as to Italy where he died at Bobbio, his last foundation. Columban´s life may serve as a proper illustration of what the Irish monasticism of his times stood for.

A complementary chapter was added to include yet another perspective: that of the Anglo-Saxons. The Venerable Bede and his Ecclesiastical History of the English People was an obvious choice to meet such purpose. As the title suggests Bede´s work was primarily focused on the development of the English Church and the English nation, however, considerable part of it was devoted to the Irish and the impact they had on the British Isles. Bede thus partly retold the history of the Irish Church having laid stress primarily on its missionary side. When reading his History we just cannot overlook how much he was concerned with the Church controversies that caused tensions between the Irish Church and the Church of Rome: namely those related to proper calculation of Easter and the Celtic tonsure. Since he gave a lot of space to this issue throughout the entire History his account, which reached its climax in the description of the Council at Whitby, was thorough. Although Bede never ceased to reproach the Irish for their errors it is obvious that he felt a deep admiration for their severe ways of monastic life, of which he gave number of colourful examples. The amount of space Bede dedicated in his book to the Irish must inevitably lead us to the conclusion that their role in shaping and influencing the early Church development in England was clearly enormous. The Irish and the English were at first in the master - pupil relation. It is no wonder then that we find Bede rejoicing at the relation shift, for it were the English who at the end instructed the erring Irish about right canonical ways and brought them firmly into the one, Catholic Church.