Pilgrim Ways

Chapter Three – The Monasteries In 1534 Henry VIII made himself head of the Church of England and severed the unity of the church. Systematically he set about the destruction of the authority of the Pope and the elimination of those institutions and individuals who remained loyal to the catholic Church.

Elsewhere (see Chapters Twelve and Thirteen, The Tower and Tyburn) I have set out some of the consequences. Here I want to record the sites of some of the great monastic houses which for eight hundred years had done much to provide the people of Britain with employment, shelter for travellers, schools, hospitals and a whole host of social and religious services. The rich tapestry of abbeys, priories and friaries - occupied by a variety of monks: Benedictines, Cistercians, and Carthusians; and friars of various varieties and hues - black, white and grey Franciscan and Dominican - was simply ripped apart.

Their colossal impact in developing local economies and fostering learning and education made them inevitable targets for a jealous king who coveted their wealth and their influence.

If he was to destroy Catholicism he had to destroy the monastic communities.

Copts and Celts These communities first sprang up in Britain when St.Ninian, a Roman citizen, built Whithorn at Dumfries and Galloway. Here, on the shores of the Solway Firth he created a remote community which was self-sufficient and committed to working the land and to reaching God through prayer (see chapter 2). In “Signs of Contradiction” ( 1996) I wrote about the direct links between the ancient Coptic Church of Egypt, the Desert Fathers, and the early Celtic monks. My interest was triggered after I wrote a report for the Christian Human rights Group, the Jubilee Campaign, about the present- day persecution of the Copts.

All the early writers describe the Coptic monks as “God‟s Athletes” seeking to be “alone with the Alone.” Coptic monasticism passed through three stages.

The first was complete solitude. The person seeking a life of prayer, fasting and meditation, went alone into the desert, found some natural cave or dug one for his own purpose and lived there for the rest of his life. The second stage was the Antonian Rule. Antony is known as “The Father of Monks” because he gathered a group of disciples around him and they lived part of their time in solitude and part of their time in companionship. The third stage of Coptic monasticism was Coenobitical or Communal life, which was inaugurated by Abba Pakhom. The first monastery for men was built by him in Tabenissi in the upper reaches of the Nile. These ideas were transfused by the visits of Copts to Ireland and Wales and vice versa. Those early links are still celebrated in some of the ancient Catholic liturgies.

The Celtic forms of monasticism closely mirrored those of the Egyptian church. Men and women fortified themselves for the battles which lay ahead by seeking out remote places in which they might be alone with God. Thus strengthened, the missionaries ventured out into a hostile world and, as we have seen in Chapter Two, the Celtic monks had a phenomenal impact on these islands - particularly through their belief that every person had a profound