Christ and Celtic Ireland

Christ throned (detail)
Book of Kells 800 A.D.
wikimedia

The relationship between Jesus Christ and the inhabitants of Ireland has been of profound significance to the Kingdom of Heaven. The roots go deep in European history placing Ireland in the forefront in the growth of the Kingdom.

At 400 AD we meet a noble Christian visitor in Rome who had arrived to the capital from far away. If Pelagius indeed came from among the Celts of Ireland the date is very early indeed; for example, the Franks, Germans and Anglo-Saxons were not yet Christians. Pelagius probably arrived to Rome by land route and travelled through many pagan regions (there may have been a sea route from Ireland to Italy).

Two literary treasures signify the presence of Jesus Christ in the hearts of these first millennium people

• the Gothic Wulfila Bible (6th Century AD) - Codex Argenteus - written in silver is a great treasure kept in the Carolina Rediviva Library in Uppsala, Sweden 
• Book of Kells (800 AD) - Leabhar Cheanannais - with its incredible art is considered by many to be the most beautiful book ever made and is a national treasure of Ireland kept in the Trinity College Library in Dublin.

Both manuscripts are outstanding documents of the Kingdom of God in its early days of expansion from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to conquer the Empire of Rome and then to reach to the ends of the world as Jesus had commanded.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

Goths were living on the border regions of Rome and Byzantium and we have followed the way of the Word of God into their midst.

But as Ireland is so far and beyond many regions were different forms of paganism and Roman religions were dominant how come we find a holy man coming from there to Rome and causing such a noise that Bishop Augustine takes serious notice?

How did the Kingdom of God first reach Ireland? What happened there?

Note that while the Medieval Protestants aligned strongly with St. Augustine the largest Christian Church today, the Roman Catholic Church, is often called "half-Pelagian" so this is not a minor character.

And to emphasize the importance of Ireland to Christ let us also remember the crucial role missionaries from the monasteries in Ireland and Scotland had in the victories of the Kingdom of Heaven in Germany and Northern Europe and elsewhere.