The next week and a half is kind of a “sweet spot” during the season of Lent. In the next ten days we get not just one but two solemnities – St. Joseph’s Day (3/19) and the Annunciation (3/25), both of which provide a welcome respite from the disciplines of Lent.
It’s also a great time for the Irish, for those of Irish descent, and for the countless multitudes who wish they were. St. Patrick’s Day is Tuesday, of course, when we celebrate the fifth century bishop who preached Christ to the Irish people, liberating them from their gloomy pagan past. But did you know that early Catholic Ireland’s most characteristic spirituality is rooted in the spirituality of the remote deserts of fourth century Egypt? Evidence for this can be found on the ornately decorated “High Crosses” that one finds at monastic sites throughout Ireland. Like the stained-glass windows of later centuries, these crosses were typically adorned with illustrations of key events in the Sacred Scriptures. While Christ’s crucifixion is the most commonly depicted scene, the most common saint portrayed is St. Antony the Great, who changed the world when he moved to the Egyptian desert in the year 270 A.D.
With the legalization of Christianity in 313 A.D. by the Emperor Constantine, Christians were no longer persecuted by imperial authorities. And so, writes the author Carl McColman, “instead of the martyrdom of blood, becoming a hermit in the desert became a ‘living witness’ to a life fully surrendered to God.” In these years, people began to seek out St. Antony, who went out into the Egyptian desert not merely to escape worldly distractions but also to imitate Our Lord, who began His public ministry after spending 40 days in the wilderness to pray, fast, and do battle with Satan. Stories of these desert hermits spread quickly, including to Ireland where they captured the Celtic imagination, moving those seeking God to withdraw to the green Irish desert of rock and rain, where they lived in caves and eventually established monasteries. McColman explains: “Like the monks of the desert, Celtic Christians understood that the path to holiness was marked by repentance, humility, obedience, and immersion in the scriptures.” They also knew that “withdrawing into the solitude of the wilderness meant, sooner or later, wrestling with the sinful nature of one’s own thoughts and temptations.”
Writing about these “wild saints” of Ireland, the British author Paul Kingsnorth remarks: “In a time when the temptation is always toward culture war rather than inner war, I think we could learn something from our spiritual ancestors. What we might learn is not that the external battle is never necessary; sometimes it very much is. But a battle that is uninformed by inner transformation will soon eat itself, and those around it.” Continuing, he speculates: “Why, after all, were the cave Christians so sought after? Because they were not like other people. Something had been granted to them, something had been earned, in their long retreats from the world….After years in the tombs or the caverns or the woods, their very unworldliness became, paradoxically, just what the world needed.” Something to consider as we enter the final weeks of Lent.
posted 3/14/26
The Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel 