The Irish temperament--individualistic, poetic, and deeply loyal to family--produced great and learned saints and a unique monastic literature before the Norman Invasion. The isolation of the island allowed the development of traditions different from those of either Britain or the continent. These graceful translations of Irish monastic rules and spiritual maxims, along with samples of Irish litanies and poetry from the early Celtic monastic world, convey the spirituality of the Isle of Saints from the sixth to eighth centuries. This book will be warmly welcomed not only by academics and monastics but also by those many lay people who are increasingly looking to Celtic Christianity to deepen their own faith and prayer. It makes accessible a whole range of important material from monastic rules to short poetic quatrains nd those magnificent litanies which still have the power to move us deeply. This is a book which will touch a wide readership at many different levels.
