Our history of evolution shows a natural and forever changing understanding of the vast expanse of human existence . . . including the understanding of our spiritual sources...
At the turn of the seventh century, very much against his protest, a distinctive visionary man was elected into the position of pope, reflecting the respect and confidence many influential people of that time period held for this humble, highly educated Roman abbot.
Their confidence was not unfounded. Pope Gregory I implemented strategies previously unheard of in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. One policy of radical significance and of importance to the story of …a rib from Eve, was documented in 601 AD; rather than coerce the conversion of pagans to Christianity through force and violence, he commanded a more subtle, gentle method.
For a number of years, in the spirit of the apostles, this monk-turned-pope acted as a missionary, evangelizing Christianity among the Germanic tribes of Europe. Such experiences gave him tremendous insight, appreciation, and great affection for our Celtic ancestors. Pope Gregory recognized the ease at which individuals with acclaimed spiritual power could influence these people. He also understood the stubbornness that caused them to cling to sacred traditions and rituals of worship. When he became pope, he forbade the destruction or desecration their temples, holy wells, or any other holy places. Instead, he ordered the clergy under his dominion to anoint these places with holy water, substitute the bones and other holy relics of newly discovered saints, and to encourage their traditions to be followed, with the sudden appearance and presence of the Christian saints as intermediaries to the one true God.
In this way, pagan idols and holy places were transformed with Christian images and relics. Historic evidence demonstrates many cases where saints revealed a mystic past remarkably similar to a pagan Celtic god or goddess, who was solicited for comparable miraculous interventions.
The following are excerpts from a letter written by Pope Gregory to the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 601AD:
. . . the temples of idols should not be destroyed.
. . . Let blessed water be prepared, and sprinkled in these temples, and altars constructed, and relics deposited…
. . . For it is undoubtedly impossible to cut away everything at once from hard hearts, since one who strives to ascend to the highest place must needs rise by steps or paces, and not by leaps.
Pope Gregory’s policies were supported well into the seventh century, and were recognized by not all, but enough of his successors as effective. Of course, for some highly placed clergy in his ecclesiastic flock, waiting decades for such policies to come to fruition was ridiculous at best. To permit worship to continue at these unholy places was repugnant to them. Many believed a firm hand was needed to prove to the ignorant pagan country folk that the Christian God was mightier than the idols they bent a knee to.
Additionally, Pope Gregory extended an earlier papal policy of keeping close ties with the fiercest and most powerful monarchies of these Germanic tribes, the Merovingians, descended from the ancient Frankish tribal leader, Merovech. Pope Gregory reigned during one of the most violent blood feuds in the history of this fierce family, fueled by two Merovingian sisters-in-law, Brunhild and Fredegund. These two queens hated each other with a passion. After decades of savage feuding, the warring factions competed to win support of the clergy by influencing the investment of their vast treasuries and tax revenues into alms for the church, building churches, monasteries, and nunneries. Gregory’s approach of gentle protest and continued alliance with both women serendipitously caused this contest to expand the Catholic version of Christianity in these territories, far beyond what any missionary work could have ever achieved.
Gregory’s continued alignment and significant ties with the Merovingian queens was controversial. The hands of both were dripping with the blood of their own family members, slaughtered at their whims through the kings under their influence. Brunhild and Fredegund both had a habit of eliminating uncooperative clergy, or casting the offending churchmen into their keeps.
The story, ...a rib from Eve, begins at a time when the foundations of his policy had been laid by Pope Gregory, and the blood feud of Brunhild and Fredegund had been concluded with the demise of both women.
It was a time when pagan conversion continued and the patriarchal Catholic Church had gained a strong foothold in the Germanic and English kingdoms. The clergy were rapidly becoming fed up with the power and influence our Celtic women ancestors exerted over their men.
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