48 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
important to separate what is certain or at least probable from what is
most likely legend and exaggeration.
First, let us look at the specific religious elements of Culdee belief.
The Culdees followed a rite that was different from but not fundamen-
tally at odds with the Roman rite. There are six particular points on
which the two differ: the date when Easter is celebrated, the importance
of the tonsure, the Episcopal consecration, baptism, the use of the
Gaelic language, and the marriage of priests. There was no truly doc-
trinal divergence or heresy on the part of the Culdees, but they main-
tained a spirit of independence that could and did inspire conflict. As
an example, after Benedictine monks in 710 succeeded in converting the
Pictish king Nectan to the Roman rite, the king then commanded the
monks of Iona to adopt the Roman date for Easter and the Roman ton-
sure. They refused, however, and were forced to leave their monastery
and scatter throughout the mountains.
Through their actions, two men—often confused with one
another—have come to epitomize this Celtic Christian community:
Saint Columba (known in Ireland as Columkill) and Saint Columban.
Saint Columba (521?-597) was the founder of the monastery of
Derry and, in 563, of the monastery on the isle of Iona, which he trans-
formed into the center of Irish Christianity and the brotherhood of the
Culdees. His missionaries evangelized as far afield as Iceland and Feroe
and were responsible for restoring the Christian religion in Britain.
Saint Columban (540-615), one of the fathers of the Culdeen
Church, preached the Christian gospel to the Picts and the Scots. Later,
in the company of twelve monks, he arrived in France, where he
founded the Luxeil Abbey. In 613 he also established the monastery of
Bobbio in Italy, where he died. Columban wrote a monastic rule urging
asceticism. He declared the preeminence of the Roman pontiff, but not
his authority. "The pope," he wrote, "is not someone who holds the
keys to absolute truth and whose words carry the seal of the Holy
Ghost. He is a bishop, a weak man whom one can advise and rebuke.
Above the authority of Rome there is the authority of the truth."
The Culdees were connected with King Athelstan, who played a
large role in the legendary history of Freemasonry. In 936 this king, in
his march against the Scots, made a stop in York, where he found the