Celtic Christianity is a form of Christianity that was common, or held to be common, across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages. Some writers have described a distinct Celtic Church uniting the Celtic peoples and distinguishing them from adherents of the Roman Church, while others classify Celtic Christianity as a set of distinctive practices occurring in those areas. Varying scholars reject the former notion, but note that there were certain traditions and practices present in both the Irish and British churches that were not seen in the wider Christian world.
A Celtic Cross in Knock, Ireland
Modern icon of Aristobulus of Britannia
Amphibalus baptizing converts, from The Life of St. Alban, written and illustrated by Matthew Paris († 1259)
The discovery of St. Alban's bones, illustrated in The Life of St. Alban
Tonsure is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word tonsura and referred to a specific practice in medieval Catholicism, abandoned by papal order in 1972. Tonsure can also refer to the secular practice of shaving all or part of the scalp to show support or sympathy, or to designate mourning. Current usage more generally refers to cutting or shaving for monks, devotees, or mystics of any religion as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem.
A baby's first haircut, which is often a head shave, is a common rite of passage in Hinduism.
Celtic stone head from ancient Bohemia (150–50 BC), possibly depicting the form of the later Celtic Christian tonsure
St Bartholomew (by Carlo Crivelli, 1473, in the Ascoli Piceno Cathedral)
Clerical tonsure (note the scissors in the bishop's hands) of an Orthodox man in conjunction with ordination to minor orders.
