SC - Holy Feast and Holy Fast

[Decker, Terry D.]

> Perhaps they were not ROMAN christians, but IIRC, the 
> Hebrides, Ionia, and 
> a lot of Ireland were operating under the "Celtic church", 
> and many remained 
> that way well after Patrick and Columcille brought the Roman 
> church to the 
> British isles.
> 
> Brandu

The Celtic Church was founded in the late 2nd or early 3rd Century and was
structured so that local parishes and abbeys were under the rule of their
local bishop or abbot rather than centrally controlled as in the Roman
Church.  It was widely expanded in the 5th Century by St. Ninian, St.
Dyfrig, and St. Patrick.

In 597, Rome sent St. Augustine of Canterbury (feast - MAy 27; May 26 in
England and Wales) to the Isles to bring the Celtic Church back into the
fold.  He established the Roman rule in England by converting the
Anglo-saxon king, Aethelbert.

The differences between the Celtic and Roman Churches were settled at the
Synod of Whitby in 663 and the Celtic Church was integrated into the Roman
Church, but not without some people thinking the Celts got the short end of
the stick.

Bear