The history of this powerful symbol is ambiguous. There are many variations of interpretations and legends about the original meaning. In our modern multicultural world the ringed cross is as much a symbol of ethnic heritage as it is of faith and it is often used as an emblem of ones Irish, Scottish or Welsh identity. in Ireland, many a tombstone is marked with the Celtic Cross.
The meaning of the Celtic Cross is told in legend of Ireland's St. Patrick. He was shown a sacred standing stone that was marked with a circle. St. Patrick took this opportunity to show the union of old and new ways. He marked a cross through the circle and blessed the stone.I haven't been able to locate any additional information about "St. Patrick's Cross" and I seemed to have packed away our information from Ireland, but when Ryan and I were at the Rock of Cashel we saw St. Patrick's Cross.
Book of Kells
The book of Kells is an ornately illuminated manuscript, written by Celtic monks around AD 800 in the style known as Insular art. It contains the four gospels of the Bible in Latin, along with prefatory and explanatory matter decorated with numerous colourful illustrations and illuminations. Today it is on permanent display at the Trinity College Library in Dublin.
Today it consists of 340 vellum leaves, called folios. The text is accompanied by incredibly intricate full pages of artwork, with smaller painted decorations appearing throughout the text itself. The book has a broad palette of colours with purple, lilac, red, pink, green, yellow being the colors most often used. Surprisingly, given the lavish nature of the work, there was no use of gold or silver leaf in the manuscript. The pigments used for the illustrations had to be imported from all over Europe. (Wikipedia)
I was surprised at how amazingly gorgeous the Book of Kells appeared after all these years. Unfortunately you were not allowed to take any pictures of the pages or in the main chamber of the Long Room in the Old Library (largest library in Ireland). It was a rare and fascinating experience that I would highly recommend.
Here is a great website to learn more about the Book of Kells: http://www.bookofkells.ie/
Resources:
http://www.celtarts.com/celtic.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells
http://www.snake.net/people/paul/kells/
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