Fosterage in the Medieval Irish Church

Abstract

Irish religious writers used the language of fosterage to describe relationships saints created within and between monasteries. Fosterage was used because it focused on education and the idea of a family without a biological connection. Fosterage was used to describe oblation and monastic education. Tying the practices of monastic recruitment to such a social pillar within medieval Irish society insulated monasteries, to a certain extent, from the debates on oblation taking place on the Continent. Fosterage was based around education, feeding and care, and as such was readily incorporated into religious writing that described human relationships with a caring and nurturing divinity.