Message #165025

[Christa Jenneman]

History

The Celts of Britain and Ireland had already converted to Christianity when the pagan Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians invaded in the 5th century. The Celts in Ireland were never invaded and continued to develop a Christian culture in safety, centering on monasticism, which the tribal Celts found more suitable to their traditional way of life than the hierarchal system of bishops and dioceses. Thus by the 6th century the Irish Celtic monasteries became the dominant form of Christianity, and because evangelizing was the primary goal of monasticism, they were ready to sponsor the spread of Latin learning to Britain, and elsewhere.