A review of Where Three Streams Meet: Celtic Spirituality, by Seán Ó Dúinn OSB, The Columba Press, Dublin, 2000, pp.339.
(The Furrow, February 2001, pp.116-119)
Seán Ó Dúinn, a Benedictine monk of Glenstal Abbey, has written an interesting, stimulating and well-researched book on a topical subject. His purpose ‘is to examine the traditional path to God which the Gaelic-speaking peoples of Ireland and Scotland evolved over the centuries.’ (p.7) In 336 pages divided into four major parts he examines the question, ‘Who were the Celts?’ before going on to look at the Easter Mystery, Celtic Piety and the Cycle of the Year. The three streams of the title are the megalithic, the Celtic and the Christian. Under these headings he considers such matters as the cult of ancestors, mourning and intercession for the dead, and the liturgical calendar, where he finds many interesting parallels between the Celtic and the Roman.
To someone like myself, coming to the subject as a virtual outsider it was a pleasant surprise to read that ‘Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is addressed to these Celts of Turkey. Generally speaking, words such as Galatia, Galicia in Spain and in Poland, Gallia, Gaul, Gaeilge – indicate the presence of the Celts.’ (p.16)
It was delightful too, to read on page 8 the preface drawn from the ninth-century Stowe Missal. It would take very little adaptation to make it eminently suitable for the liturgical solemnity of the Trinity or some of the Feasts of the Lord. And the lament of Mary for the dead Christ on pp. 94-5 could well be adapted for use during the Easter Triduum.
It is widely known that the early Irish church incorporated many “pagan” (an ambiguous term, as Ó Dúinn points out) ideas and practices in its ritual. ‘Literature, folklore and archaeological remains all indicate that the early founders of Christianity in Ireland, such as Colm Cille, had to contend with a sophisticated and mystical religion well integrated with the political and social system.’ (p.60) Croagh Patrick and Lough Derg are examples which, having been adapted and co-opted by the Christian faith, have survived and indeed thrive in our own time. Ó Dúinn goes on from this to ask ‘Above all, the important question is if ancient customs, backed by an archaic philosophy or worldview, can be of help to citizens of the consumer society today, in their frenetic search for meaning in the world.’ (p.325)
He draws attention to what was lost, especially in the last two centuries with the decline of the Irish language. ‘When, finally, the language disappeared from common use in most parts of the country, the folk-prayer tradition disappeared also, leaving a lacuna in the spiritual life of the nation which has never been filled. Ireland became the dumping ground for a host of individualistic and sentimental pious practices introduced from England the Continent in an endeavour to fill the gap. These, unfortunately, were often of a highly individualistic and sentimental character little suited to the native temperament.’ (p.157)
Though Ó Dúinn has assembled much interesting material, the use he makes of it is not as satisfactory as it might be. For example, when he states that ‘The Celts and the Bible were drawing from the same source’ (p.45) that seems a large conclusion to base on the evidence. Nature-based religions are bound to be substantially similar, because they look to the annual cycle of birth, maturation, harvest and death; to fire, light, water, wind, the sun, food and sex. But to say that, because Celtic religion and the Bible share some common ground in those areas, they are drawing from the same source seems to go further than the evidence warrants. I can remember, when I was a missionary in Zambia, conducting a funeral service one day at which a local woman whom I knew well, wept and wailed profusely and loudly. I was surprised, as I had not thought she was related to the deceased. I asked her about this afterwards, and she said simply, ‘I wasn’t related to her, but it’s expected of us that we cry.’ She was a keening woman, a bean caoineadh, similar to those found in Irish tradition until the early twentieth century. But that hardly means that Ireland and Zambia drew from the same source.
A similar example is on p.51 where he states ‘What we are suggesting is an unbroken stream of tradition coming down to us in the Catholic Church from neolithic times.’ That sounds like a hypothesis presented as a conclusion. And it does not accord with the statement on pp.256-7 that ‘The Celtic and Judeo-Christian cultures are poles apart.’ Again, in the story of Morann’s collar, ‘Here we have a Christianised version of the story and of course it is pre-patrician.’ (p. 268) ‘Christian but pre-patrician’: that sounds like an assumption, possibly a correct one, but it needs support, not an ‘of course’.
It is a pity that Ó Dúinn sometimes uses wobbly logic to support an argument, as the result is to weaken what might be a valid point. For instance, he rightly questions a tendency among some people to dismiss the pre-Christian past in a facile manner by lumping it under the general heading of “pagan”. But is it really a valid supporting point to say that ‘With this type of mentality, perhaps Jesus himself could be accused of being a pagan. As known from the gospels, he could read and write – practices invented by the pagans long before the incarnation. He also wore clothes – a practice made possible by the invention of weaving and the manufacture of cloth from the wool of sheep. This also was the invention of the pagans. Jesus visited the synagogue and Temple – but architecture was also the invention of the pagans. In short, Jesus made use of much of what was the common heritage of the surrounding culture as it had evolved over thousands of years.’ (pp.52-3) Jesus’ use of the ordinary technology of his time is hardly an example of his adopting pagan usages, if that is the point being made.
I felt that some of the links he made were pretty tenuous. For example, on pp.261-2, he draws a parallel between the warrior Caoilte Mac Rónáin rescuing King Mongán of Ulster and Christ the Saviour coming to free his people, stating, ‘The liturgy of Advent is like this story.’ Similarly between Lugh Lámhfhada and his meitheal and Christ and the apostles on p.316, nos.3-4. I found the parallels strained.
The strength of Ó Dúinn’s book lies in its research and in the potential that it points to for the enrichment and development of spirituality and the worship of God. Its weakness is that the material is not assessed with a sufficiently rigorous critique; he does tend to jump to a conclusion which one suspects he wished to be able to arrive at.
There is a pastoral aspect to the book which I would like to have seen more fully developed out of its material. Celtic spirituality seems to have been more open to emotion, to symbols, to song and dance than the austere liturgy of Rome, which is not uncommonly verbose and cerebral. It is unfortunate, too, that the Roman liturgy, as it is actually celebrated, is not uncommonly “dumbed down”, as for instance, in the reduction of the washing of the hands in the Lavabo of the Mass to a cautious moistening of the fingertips as if skin were allergic to water. We play down in minimalistic fashion elements such as colour, song, images and gestures. Ritual sometimes seems remote, even foolish. Our reaction is to change the ritual. Maybe we should change ourselves. Our society is blind and deaf to symbolism. It dismisses them because they do not fit the rationalistic, mechanistic and reductionist framework we have made for our thinking. We could have a richer liturgy if we re-mythologized ourselves and became open to paradox, to what goes beyond logic and reason. There is potentially a rich pastoral aspect to the book which I would like to have seen developed, such as suggesting new or revived sacramentals.
‘Advancement in holiness, according to the Celtic way, involves an effort to develop an awareness of the presence of God in everything and everybody – above us, below us and all around us at the four points of the compass.’ (p. 87) That theme relates closely to what spiritual writers of our own time like Anthony de Mello and John Main, among others, have written about. There is a theme worth developing, and Ó Dúinn has material and ideas which could serve that purpose.
The book needed a more careful proof-reading. There is a noticeable number of wandering apostrophes, and stray síniú fadas, acutes and graves.
To conclude, I felt that the book had the potential to be better than it was. There was good material there. But it needed to be assessed more critically and focussed with greater accuracy. A pastoral orientation could give it a wider appeal.