Celtic Saints : Passionate Wanderers

Library Journal

Celtic saints can stake a legitimate claim to any number of unique events of history. Irish saints, for example, have been credited with saving Western civilization after the fall of Rome. From Round Towers such as Glasnevin or Clonfert, they spread throughout Europe, taking along the word of God and the culture of humanity. In this work, Rees, a Catholic nun, reveals just how much Christianity owes to the men and women of Dark Age Britain, Ireland, and Brittany. Throughout, she describes the people, their times, and the threads that connect the saints to each other. One criticism: The geographical arrangement is problematic. For example, to find out about St. Deiniol, one must know the patron saint of Bangor in North Wales and consult that section; though the volume is well indexed, it indexes only the Anglicized versions of names, and Deiniol is found under Daniel. Still, this is an interesting addition to the recent literature on Celtic saints, such as Nigel Pennick's The Celtic Saints (Sterling, 2000). With its focus on archaeology and literature, it deserves a space on the shelves of academic libraries.--John J. Doherty, Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Christopher Thomas

We move at a gallop through a lively text, accompanied by maps, some drawings, a gazateer of places to visit, chapter notes, and a full index. The author has read widely, is abreast of current ideas, and writes attractively and to the point...as a compact guide to a vast topic can be warmly encouraged.
—The Times Literary Supplement

Kirkus Reviews

A deadly dull effort. Rees, an Oxford-educated Catholic nun, has hopped on the Celtic bandwagon and introduced readers to saints like Patrick (a Brit who was captured by Irish pirates and so taken with Ireland that he stayed on to evangelize the locals), Cuthbert (the Bishop of Lindisfarne who founded a monastery at Ripon with his abbot Eata and eventually became a hermit), and Columba (the "Dove of the Church," who hailed from royal Irish blood but wanted to be a monk from his youth). Unfortunately, Rees's writing is so dense—imagine the most impenetrable academic tome—that it takes a determined reader to unearth the tidbits that usually make saints' lives an engaging read. In the last few pages, Rees gestures towards a compelling argument—one that, had she fleshed it out, would have explained the book's subtitle: Irish monks said they lived lives of "exile for Christ." They felt bound to no particular patch of earth, but wandered far and wide to spread the Gospel. An inspiring model, perhaps, had Rees decided to devote more than a few paragraphs to it; but the stories Rees tells earlier contradict the conclusions she dashes off about Christians who "wandered lovingly" around the Celtic world. Sure, they may have pastored in three or four different places, but these saints' lives were devoted to building institutions—and monasteries, churches, and communities are not the stuff of roving evangelists. Even had she made a more logically compelling argument, it is doubtful that many would have been moved by her uninspired and uninspiring prose; Rees can turn even the most fiery story of faith into a desiccated accountthatwill motivate the reader to do little more than switch on his TV. The only passion to be found here is in the title.