THE SUN OF TRUTH & THE ORATORY: SOLAR
METAPHORS FROM EARLY CHRISTIAN IRELAND
VANCE RUSSELL TIEDE
Yale University
ABSTRACT.
The rules for orientation of Early Christian oratories or chapels in Ireland and Scotland have
been the subject of scholarly speculation for some time. By applying the techniques of archaeoastronomy (Hawkins
1983) to monastic oratories, new light is shed onto the history of Early Christianity. It now appears that oratories
were calendrically oriented to sunrise on saint’s days of the Celtic Early Christian Church and pagan solar bonfire
days.
1.
The Metaphor of the Light.
The conversion to Christianity among sun-worshipping pagans was assisted by the
syncretistic metaphor of God as the rising Sun found in Early Christian art and literature. In
Ireland, the following words must have struck a responsive chord in the hearts of both druids
and their followers:
[Thus]...says the Lord of Hosts... But for you who revere my name shall the Sun of
Righteousness arise with healing upon his lips;... (Malachi 4:2, Vth Century BC)
***
Nos autem qui credimus et
adoramus solum uerum Xpistum
qui nunquam interibit.
We however believe in and
Adore Christ the Sun of Truth
Who never will die. (Patrick, ca. 462/493?, Confessio, XXIIIIC: 34-37)
***
Surrexit Christus sol verus vespere noctis....
Tado, pater patriae, caelestis gaudia paschae
percipias meritis limina lucis: ave.
Christ the Sun of Truth goes forth in the evening of night.
O father of our Country, may thee feel the reward of
The celestial joy of Easter, the threshold of light: Hail.
(Sedulius Scottus, Carmen Paschale (A.D. 430) in Waddell 1977,118-119)
***
A rigdorais rogaidhe triasar chin i cri
Grien taithnemhach togaide, Isu mac De bii.
O royal door elect, through which came into the body
The shining choice Sun, Jesus, Son of the living God.
(Early Irish "Metrical Litany of the Virgin Mary" in Plummer 1925, 96-97)
2.
Early Christian Solar Orientation.
Both Romano-British pagan and Early Christian sites are oriented generally east-west
(Thomas 1985, 233). The author's research in Ireland, Scotland, Orkneys and Shetlands
demonstrates that Celtic Early Christian oratories were oriented to sunrise on Celtic Early
Christian saint's days (e.g., St. Patrick and St. Aidan of Lindisfarne) and to pagan CrossQuarter days (Tiede 2001). If further research demonstrates that Romano-British Early
Christian architecture adopted uniquely Roman pagan solar orientation conventions, then it
may be possible to classify premedieval British chapels as either Celtic Early Christian or
Roman Catholic. It may also be possible to suggest monastic affiliation among monasteries in
the otherwise decentralized Celtic Early Christian Church based on shared calendric
orientation.
3.
Irish Oratories.
The English word "oratory" means a small church or chapel and derives from the Latin orare
(to speak, beseech or pray), hence oratorium (place of prayer). Old Irish differentiates
between a wooden oratory, duirthech or "timber house" and a drystone masonry oratory,
amhliag or "stone house."
Ecclesia [, the Latin term for church,] was constantly in use since about AD 300.
From it came the Irish eclais. Owing to its use as a house of prayer it was often
called the ‘oratorium.’ Latin templum passed into Celtic, becoming in Old Irish,
tempul. (Ryan 1986, 287)
***
Scholars have speculated about possible architectural conventions incorporated into Irish
oratory orientation and design. For example, Grellan D. Rourke of Ireland's Office of Public
Works has surveyed oratories in Counties Kerry and Cork and concluded, "there are
interesting patterns" (personal correspondence, 3 July 1992). Harold Mytum notes that, "The
churches were oriented approximately east-west, but the exact angle seems to have been
dictated by the topography." He also notes that the uncharacteristic use of Romano-British
rectilinear architectural design contrasts to the Celtic tradition of circular sacred sites (Mytum
1992, 84, 241; cf. Wallace 1992, 65).
The Gallarus Oratory is a particularly interesting example of solar syncretism found in the
art and architecture of the Irish Early Christian Church. The Gallarus Oratory (Sáipéilín
Ghallarais) is located on the Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry, Ireland (Cuppage 1986, 286-289)
(see Figure 1). It has a window declination of -0.27°, despite a +8.25° skyline. That means
that ca. AD 800, the orientation of its single east window framed the sunrise of the Vernal
Equinox. The Vernal Equinox also coincided with the Feast Day of St. Patrick (d. 461/493?),
March 17th. At the time of the oratory's construction, as well as today, during the monastic
canon's Third Hour of Prayer (Treces), the equinox sunlight flooded the darkened oratory
with the rays of light. The first beam of light entered the eastern window parallel to the
oratory's major axis, beginning the Paschal lunisolar cycle determining Easter, the most
important Christian Holy Day. This event is illustrated on an illuminated page of the Book of
Kells, ca. AD 800 (Fol. 202V: The Temptation, Luke 4:9) where the Christ figure appears in
the window of an oratory bearing two sunflower (or Coptic Christian mandala of
Horus/Apollo seen in the example from Edfu/Atbo, Upper Egypt in Horn, 1990, 96) sceptres
in the Egyptian manner, each flower with eight golden petals, each in turn bearing a solid red
disk (see Figure 2).
The author photographed the oratory window framing the solar disk rising behind the base
of Mt. Brandon at approximately 9:20 AM local time on the morning of the Vernal Equinox,
20 March 1992 (see Figure 3). The alignment is accurate to the day of the equinox because
then the sun's angular velocity along the horizon is at its maximum, moving just over one
solar diameter (0.5°) daily in azimuth. The equinox light would have been seen just as
dramatically over a thousand years ago because of two extant stone hinges above the western
door. The hinges appear to have been used to secure wooden doors, which would have
eliminated all sunlight save that entering the window at equinox sunrise.
An Irish
monastic source, Hisperica Famina (ca. AD 547), confirms that oratories had doors: Unitum:
ab occiduo limite amplectiture ostium (It has a joined door on the western boundary).
(Browne, 1954, 4-5; Leask 1955, 21; and Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of
Ireland (27) 1897, 207)
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Michael D. Coe Fund and Augusta Hazard Fund
of Yale University for research grant support in 1999.
Figure 1. The author and the west door, Gallarus Oratory, Dingle Peninsula, Co. Kerry, 20 March 1992.
Figure 2. Christ the True Sun above and in the window of the oratory, Book of Kells , (Fol. 202V: The
Temptation, Luke 4:9).
Figure 3. Computer-generated Vernal Equinox Sunrise in the east window, Gallarus Oratory, Dingle Peninsula, Co.
Kerry.
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