Saint Aidan's Kirk

by Steven B. Young

The chapel was given the name Saint Aidan's Kirk after completion of the film. Steven Young explains the name and the chapel's purpose here.

Saint Aedan was a Celtic monk who left the Priory of Iona in A. D. 634 to help King Oswald of Northumbria spread Christianity in his Kingdom. Aidan—he is now known by the English version of his name—founded the Priory on Lindisfarne, the Holy Isle. He seems to have been instrumental in bringing together elements of the Celtic branch of the Church with the more Rome-oriented phase developing in the southern and eastern portions of the British Isles.

Christianity was well established throughout Northumbria within a few decades of Aidan’s arrival, centered on Lindisfarne, Durham, and Jarrow, the home of the Venerable Bede.

We know very little about the church buildings of the time. Bede himself was chagrined that the cathedral was built of timber and roofed with thatch. We can assume that parish churches, of which little trace remains, were mainly built of wood.

In the late eighth century, the first Viking raids wreaked havoc on Christian establishments in the British Isles, with Lindisfarne bearing much of the brunt. But the Vikings, mostly from Norway, also took Christianity home with them. Their homeland was rich in timber and skilled builders in wood, and they soon developed a distinctive church architecture. We can presume that it was at least influenced by earlier wooden churches from the south, and that the Stave Churches of medieval Norway reflect this.

The new Saint Aidan’s Kirk in Wolcott was built as an attempt to capture some of the spirit of the wooden parish churches of Scotland and Norway of the late first millennium AD. It is inspired by this idea, but it is not a copy; there is nothing left to copy. It is, though, partially patterned on the earliest and simplest of the remaining stave churches of Norway. It stands on a forested hilltop near the shores of a pristine lake, as did many of its precursors. The hope is that St. Aidan, or St. Columba, or St. Olaf would feel at home here.

We hear a great deal about the simplicity and austerity of the Church as it existed on the fringes of northwestern Europe in early medieval times. But there is plenty of evidence that the more joyful, playful aspects of life, and of Christianity, were given their due, as well. One need only look at the Book of Kells to become aware of the outpourings of joy, delight, and vibrant color that could emerge from the Christian milieu of the time. While there were black-cowled monks and solemn liturgical processions, there was feasting, dancing and music as well.

The current Saint Aidan’s Kirk reflects this heritage. Christian life—indeed all religious life—respects both the dark currents of pain and despair and the joyful exuberance of being alive and part of a community located in a world of overwhelming beauty. Saint Aidan’s Kirk has been built with the hope that it may prove to be a focal point for contemplation, joy, conversation, music, and the continuance of a tradition with many living roots in the shores of the North Atlantic of a thousand or more years ago.