2/10/2018 Sister Fidelma | Unorthodox and Unhinged

Bipolar Boudica, Bishop Brigid & Sister Fidelma

Since way back in the AOL

days, my email address has
been “celticjlp”. I am more
than a bit of a Celtophile. I
have made three pilgrimages
to the Emerald Isle. On all
things Celtic, I have
facilitated forums, I have led
retreats and I have tutored a
disciple or two. I am steeped,
as steeped as I can be, in the
history and spirituality of my
chosen people. And in all five
of the churches I have served
I have concocted and celebrated Celtic worship, orthodox and
otherwise. I am Celtic to the core and have the tattoo to prove it
— a little green shamrock on my left shoulder. (A Christmas gift
from my children!)

Let me recount just a few of the things that connect me so deeply

to my Celtic ancestors. They worshipped the sun and the moon
and the stars. They wove the sacred into their most ordinary of
chores. They hallowed each and every very hour of each and
every day with prayer. Their sanctuaries are the forests and the
meadows and the cliffs. Holy spirits indwell their streams and
inhabit their oak groves. Holy winds blow on their most remote
islands and holy waves crash on their island’s shores. Every little
blade of Celtic green grass practically shimmers with the divine.
Well almost.

Not to over romanticize my chosen people, the Celts were a

nomadic people who probably practiced human sacrifice. Not
too often — but one human sacrifice is one too many. The Celts
were a warrior people who liked to collect the skulls of those
they conquered as trophies. They were a tribal people where
both women and men exercised royal power. Yes, women in
power. What’s not to like?

And this brings me to Boudica, the Celtic Warrior Queen.

Boudica, for those who do not know, was queen of the Iceni, a
Celtic tribe of Britain in the 1st century of the Common Era.
During the time of the Roman occupation, Boudica’s husband
was able to keep his crown. Upon his death, however, the
Romans rolled over the Iceni. They captured its people and
confiscated their property. Boudica was flogged and her
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daughters raped. No one would have blamed Boudica, if she

gave into defeat and despair. But hell no, Boudica rescued her
daughters, climbed into her chariot, and led the Iceni army in the
charge against Rome. She put down the 9th Legion, destroyed
the Roman capital and went on to conquer London, another
stronghold of the occupiers. There was bloodshed beyond
measure and Boudica was eventually beaten back. It is said she
took her own life to avoid capture. No one knows where Boudica
is buried. But all of Celtic Britain knows her story, every little
boy and every little girl.

And so this brings me to Brigid.

In the second half of the

5th century, there was Brigid,
Bishop Brigid of Kildare.
Brigid is both the name of a
Celtic goddess and the name
of a saint. For the ancient
Celts, Brigid is the three-faced
goddess of poetry, metal work,
and fire. And for Celtic
Christians, Saint Brigid is the
founder of the monastery at
Kildare, the Church of the
Oak. Kildare was a “double
monastery” home to both
religious men and women.
And these Celtic Christian
brothers and sisters were
permitted to marry and raise children in service to the Lord. And
Brigid, the abbess of Kildare, Celtic history tells us was
consecrated as a Bishop. Carved into the stone altar rail at the
Rock of Cashel, Bishop Brigid, crozier in hand, leads a
procession of the twelve apostles. The Roman Catholic Church
turned her crozier into a butter churn and demoted Brigid from
Bishop to milkmaid. Hopefully and forever, the hierarchy
thought they had put in her rightful and inferior place.

Until there was Fildelma.

The real Brigid did not remain buried forever. She has been
resurrected and reincarnated in the fictitious and fabulous Sister
Fidelma. Fidelma is the creation of Celtic scholar turned mystery
writer, pen-named Peter Tremayne. Set in 7thcentury Ireland, the
Sister Fidelma stories are a delicious combination of history and
mystery. Fidelma is of royal blood, a princess of the Eoghanacht,
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educated to the level of

dalaigh, an adovocate of the
Brehon courts, just below
judge. She is also a member of
the monastery at Kildare, and
married to Brother Eadulf.
Yes, married to Brother
Eadulf, a Saxon monk, who is
Dr. Watson to her Sherlock
Holmes. And by the time
Fidelma and Eadulf are
solving their 20th murder or so
they even have a baby. Crack
open one or two of these books
and you will be hooked.
Tremayne gives them hokey
Agatha Christie titles like “Absolution by Murder”, “Shroud for
the Archbishop”, “Our Lady of Darkness” and “Whispers of the
Dead”. Who says women can’t have it all?

Boudica. Brigid. Fidelma. When feeling the need to slay a

dragon or two – or just feeling a touch grandly grandiose — who
better for my bipolar brain to channel than the spirits of these
holy three, this Celtic and o so feminist trinity. Boudica —
queen, warrior, widow, mother and savior of her people. Brigid
— goddess, abbess, priestess, bishop and saint. Fidelma —
princess, sister, lawyer, detective and murder mystery solver.
Their icons and statues grace my halls and walls. Their books
and biographies fill my bookcases. I have embraced their stories
and made them my own.

It may seem silly, but to tell you the God’s honest truth, I believe
these three women are kin to me. And O my, my this little trinity
has given me the energy to get my warrior on — from time to
time.. And so I believe myself to be their sister – their soul sister.
Joani, the soul sister of Boudica, Brigid and Fidelma. Crazy,
huh?

Yes, Crazy, bipolar Celtic crazy. The best kind of crazy there is.
The best kind of crazy of all.

So friends, whose spirits are you channeling today?

(And by the way, a happy Saint Patrick’s Day!)

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