Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage, Day 9: Rievaulx Abbey, Whitby Abbey and Durham Cathedral

St. David's Episcopal Church

Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage

led by

Ken and Darlene Swanson

Day 9, April 12th: Rievaulx Abbey, Whitby Abbey, Durham Cathedral

We left York in a heavy mist and travelled north to Rievaulx Abbey without being able to enjoy much of the beautiful scenery.  Rievaulx Abbey was founded by twelve monks sent by Bernard of Clairvaux in 1132, to bring Christian renewal to the north of England and Scotland.  It's first great abbot was Aelred, who set the foundation for it to become the one of the largest and wealthiest monasteries in all of Christendom.  At its peak, over 600 monks lived, prayed and worked here.  Over the centuries it lost its pure Cistercian vision and fell into decline.  After Henry VIII dissolved all monasteries in England between 1536 and 1541, it was abandoned and its once magnificent buildings fell into ruin.  Yet it remains hauntingly beautiful.

Even in ruins, Rievaulx Abbey is magnificent.

The church at Rievaulx was once the largest in England.

The high altar.

We left Rievaulx and drove across the Yorkshire moors toward the port town of Whitby on the North Sea.  Unfortunately the mist and rain were so heavy we had near zero visibility.  Whitby was the home of Captain James Cook, who staged all his expeditions from that port.  It is also featured in Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula" as the port through which the vampire entered England.  Of great importance for St. David's Church, Whitby is also the hometown of beloved parishioner Ron Shaw.   But for the pilgrims, its real significance was because it was the place where the Celtic saint Hilda presided over a huge double monastery of men and women, and where the Synod of Whitby in 664AD decided in favor of the Roman Catholic Church as opposed to Celtic Christianity.  That event marks the beginning of the end for Celtic spirituality in Britain.  Like all other great monastic foundations in Britain, Whitby was abandoned and fell into ruin after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.  We approached the ruins of Whitby through the heavy mist.

Darlene gave a teaching on St. Hilda (614-680AD).

St. Hilda built a thriving Christian community based on love, respect, and encouragement for everyone.  She discerned the talent of one of her lay monks named Caedmon, who was an illiterate sheep herder.  Under Hilda's guidance and support, he became the first poet in the English language.  Many of his songs are still sung today.  

Hilda was a key figure in the transition from Celtic piety and ecclesiology to Roman Catholic jurisdiction in all of Britain.  Although she personally favored Celtic practices, she supported the transition believing compromise was more important than ongoing conflict.  Her last words, "Make peace with Christ and yourself; love and encourage one another."  

We then continued north in heavy rain to the cathedral city of Durham.  There are many, including your rector, who believe Durham is the finest Romanesque Cathedral in the world.  It stands on a high promontory overlooking the whole city.

One look down the nave to the choir declares, this is the north.  One would never find a church with such magnificent columns in Italy or Spain.  No other church in Christendom has such awesome gravity.  

Durham Cathedral is also famous as a pilgrimage site because it houses the tombs of two giants of the Christian faith.  The first is the Venerable Bede (662-735), whose book "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People" is the first history written in English.  He is the only native Britain who has been declared a Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church.  His tomb is in the narthex of the cathedral.

The second is St. Cuthbert (664-687AD), Abbot of Lindesfarne, who deepened the faith of Christians throughout northern England, and like St. Hilda, as a Celtic Christian was crucial for the peaceful transition to Roman Catholic jurisdiction.  

Cuthbert's tomb in Durham Cathedral.

The pilgrims attended Evening Prayer, sitting in the cathedral choir, led by the cathedral clergy.  

Tomorrow we will spend the entire day at Lindesfarne, with an opportunity for each pilgrim to be prayerfully meditative amidst the ruins of perhaps the greatest missionary community in the history of Christianity.