Thursday, July 21, 2011

Casting her lot with Rome

In 664, at the synod of Whitby, partisans of both [Roman & Celtic] traditions disputed the preferability of certain rites and usages which differed in the Roman and Celtic churches. The Roman adherents won, and their triumph was not simply on the matter of ecclesiastical practice, but involved the future of the English church. Once and for all, England had cast her lot with Rome.

That quotation from Robert Hanning’s The Vision of History in Early Britain has always intrigued me especially because of its irony in relation to subsequent developments in Anglo-Irish relations, in which it is tempting to see this particular event of deep history at work still.

For the decision of the synod of Whitby can be interpreted as a victory for the Roman over the Irish church, & over much more than just the correct way of calculating the date of Easter, as Bede would have it.

Having changed sides once, the Irish were not going to do it again just because Henry VIII fell out with the Pope.

But the slogan Home Rule Not Rome Rule has been well & truly ignited once again by Enda Kenny’s statement yesterday on child abuse.


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