the Three which are the One,
God, in Three most glorious Persons:—
Other saving Faith is none.
* * *
All good angels and archangels,
Powers and Principalities,
Virtues, Thrones, His will created—
Grades and orders of the skies,
That the majesty and goodness
Of the Blessed Trinity
In its ever bounteous largesse
Never might inactive be;
Having thus wherewith to glory.
All the wide world might adore
The high Godhead’s sole-possession
Everywhere and evermore.
* * *
God, the Lord Most High, foreseeing
Nature’s concord full and sweet.
Molded Heaven and Earth and Ocean
To one harmony complete:
Sprang the grasses, fair unfolding.
Copses burgeoned in the sun:
Beamed the sunlight, starlight, moonlight,
Firelight: all of need was done—
Birds for brake, and fish for waters.
Wild or tame kine for the sward—
Last, the highest, first created,
Man, Creation’s crown and lord.
* * *
When together, ethereal wonder,
Shine the Stars, the Angels sing;
To th’ Immensity’s Designer,
Host on host, their anthems ring:
Songs right meet for adoration,
Glorious harmonies they raise;
Since they move not from their courses
Never-ending is their praise.
Noble concert in the highest
Is their offering full and free:—
’Tis of love’s sincerest rapture
Not of natural decree.
* * *
From the Lord the rain’s soft showerings
Ever fall at need below:
Closely stored behind their barriers
Lest their bounty overflow:
Slowly, surely fertilizing,
Never failing at His will.
They as if from breast maternal
O’er the earth their balm distill:
So the rivers in their season.
From the winter to the spring.
To the autumn from the summer
Their inflowings ever bring.
St. Columba’s Legacy: Celtic vs. Roman Christianity
The Irish (Celtic) missions penetrating England from the northwest and the Roman missions penetrating from the southeast were destined to clash. In most matters they were identical, but on several minor points—such as the date of celebrating Easter—they differed sharply, mainly because the Irish Church had developed in isolation for centuries, with virtually no contact from the rest of Europe. St. Bede describes how England settled the matter, by a debate about which saint was greater—Columba or Peter! (From Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People)
At this time a significant and fiercely debated question arose about the celebration of Easter: those Christians from Kent or France claimed that the Irish celebrated Easter on a day differently than the custom of the universal church…. This had the unfortunate consequence that Easter was celebrated twice every year in England, and sometimes when the king, having ended his fast, was celebrating Easter, the queen and her followers were still fasting on Palm Sunday…. This reached the ears of the rulers, King Oswy and his son Alchfrid … who decided that this and other ecclesiastical questions should be settled once and for all at a council. The kings, both father and son, came there, and the bishops, the priests, and an interpreter….
King Oswy first made an opening speech in which he said that it was proper for those who served one God to observe one rule of life, and as they all expected the same kingdom in heaven, so they should not differ in the celebration of the heavenly mysteries. Rather, they should inquire which was the truer tradition, so that it might be followed by everyone together….
Wilfrid, having been ordered by the king to speak, began in this way: “The Easter which we keep, we saw celebrated by all at Rome, where the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, lived, taught, suffered, and were buried; we saw the same done by all in Italy and in France, when we traveled through those countries for the purpose of study and prayer. We found it observed in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and all the world, wherever the Church of Christ is spread abroad, among different nations and tongues, at one and the same time; save only among those here and those who join them in their stubbornness—the Picts and the Britons, in these remote islands of the ocean, and only in part of these islands, who foolishly insist on contradicting all the rest of the world.”…
To this Colman rejoined…. “Are you suggesting that our most reverend Father Columba and his successors, men beloved by God, who kept Easter after the same manner, judged or acted contrary to the sacred writings? On the contrary, there were many among them, whose holiness was affirmed by heavenly signs and miracles which they worked, whom I, for my part, do not doubt to be saints, and whose life, customs, and discipline I never cease to follow.”…
Wilfrid responded, “If that Columba of yours (and, I may say, ours also, if he was Christ’s servant) was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet could he be preferred before the most blessed chief of the Apostles, to whom our Lord said, ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven’?”
When Wilfrid had ended thus, the king said, “Is it true, Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?” He answered, “It is true, O king!” Then said he, “Can you show any such power given to your Columba?” Colman answered, “None.”… Then the king concluded, “And I also say unto you, that he is the doorkeeper, and I will not decide against him, but I desire, as
