The Liturgy and Ritual of the Celtic Church by F. E. Warren (Oxford, 1881) is a tremendous find I made recently thanks to Google Books. If I were able to read Latin, I’m sure I’d find it an even more helpful work!
I am enjoying it because so many other (more “modern”) works on the Celtic church seem to go to one of two extremes… they either romanticize the Celts and “dream” up information (like the assertion that the Celts called the Holy Spirit the “Wild Goose”!) or they react against the modern nonsense and delight to say how little we really do know. Ian Bradley’s book called “Colonies of Heaven: Celtic Christian Communities” tended in that direction.
Warren’s old work simple sifts through the information avaialable in his day and offers his opinions about the sources for and substance of the Celtic Church, her disciplines and liturgy. It certainly is an excellent addition to what modern scholarship has presented thus far in my reading.
Perhaps I’ll comment more later. I simply wanted to make this resource available…
