Celtic saints book focuses on the sites where early Christians lived and worked
A NEW book gives an account of the lives of early Christian men and women in Scotland, based on surviving archaeological clues, place names and early texts.
The book, titled Celtic Saints of Scotland, Northumbria and the Isle of Man, focuses on the sites where these early Christians lived and worked.
Argyll and Bute alone has a rich history of Celtic saints, including Adomnan, Blane, Brendan, Cainnech, Cathan, Columba, Donna of Eigg, Ernan, Inan, Moluag, Munno and Oran.
Archaeology, combined with early inscriptions and texts, offer important clues, helping to piece together something of the fascinating world of early Christianity.
The book is illustrated with the author’s own photographs of the sites where the Celtic saints of north Britain worked and prayed, drawing readers into the beautiful world that these men and women inhabited.
Celtic Saints of Scotland includes accounts of most well-known saints and less famous individuals. It is not, however, exhaustive: lack of historical data means that there are hundreds more Celtic monks and nuns of whom we know little beyond their names.
It is the ninth book written by Elizabeth Rees, a Roman Catholic nun and one of Britain’s leading authorities on the Celtic saints in relation to the sites where they lived and worked.
She lectures on Celtic Christianity around Britain; for seven years, she was a guest lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Religion in Celtic Societies at the University of Wales, Lampeter. She also runs a house of prayer in rural Somerset.