The Irish Church to 640

Abstract

While Columbanus and his successors were interacting with the Merovingian and Lombard Churches, and the Roman mission was facing problems in Anglo-Saxon England, transformation was occurring in Ireland. The Irish Church never lost touch with trends on the Continent and as the controversy over Easter increased in Merovingian Gaul, Ireland was soon embroiled as well. The process of change in Ireland was slow and far from monolithic, however. While most of the southern Irish Churches switched to the Victorian table in the early 630s, Iona did not abandon the Celtic-84 until the early eighth century.