Translation: Jon Alkorta Martiartu, PhD (EHU/UPV)
Skellig Michael: the oldest monastery in the West
Let’s travel to a remote place in Ireland, to the island of Skellig Michael, which is a place that appears in the Star Wars saga at the end of Episode VII The Force Awakens and throughout Episode VIII The Last Jedi. We are talking about the place where Luke Skywalker was hidden and where Rey went to train to become a new Jedi. It is an incomparable setting that is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is a remote island about 12 kilometers off the southwest coast of Ireland. It pairs with the small Skellig, another smaller island located very closely.
The key to this place, apart from being a green island with very steep mountains, is that it houses the oldest Christian monastery built in the West.
We know that sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, a monastic complex was built on the broad northeastern summit of the island. During the life of this compound, a monastery was also created, one of the most unique architectural expressions of early Irish monasticism, located just below the summit of the South Peak at 218 meters above sea level, the highest point on the island.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the veneration for this place continued and, in time, it became famous throughout Europe as a place of pilgrimage. We also know that in the 19th century two lighthouses were built to aid the safe passage of ships along the southwest coast of Ireland. One of them is still in operation today.
The fact that the site is so inhospitable and steep has favoured the preservation of the monastery, so we can have a very clear idea of what these buildings were like in the early Middle Ages.
As Ireland is one of the great Catholic countries, a treasure like this is very well studied, cared for and protected. The first reference to the islands of Skellig is a Celtic legend in which it is said that this was the burial place of Ir, son of Milesius, who drowned during the landing of the Milesians, who were a Celtic lineage that, interestingly, came from Galicia.
Another text from the 8th or 9th century tells of an episode of conflict between the kings of western Munster, rulers of the Celtic clan of the Tuatha Dé Danan, and the kings of Cashel, from central Ireland. Duagh, king of West Munster, is said to have “fled to Skellig”. This story is believed to date from the 5th century, but we have no way of knowing if there was a settlement on the island at that period.
We also know that quite possibly a monastery was founded as early as the 6th century, according to the story of St. Fionán, one of the first Irish saints, but the first certain reference to monks at the Skelligs dates from the 8th century when the death of “Suibhni dé Scelig” was recorded. Skellig is also referred to in the annals of the 9th and 10th centuries and it is from this time that the monastery’s dedication to St. Michael the Archangel comes from, sometime before 1044, when the death of “Aoidos of Scelic-Mhichíl” was recorded. It is likely that the patronage of St. Michael comes from the construction of the church dedicated to this archangel within the monastery. This church was mentioned by the cleric and historian Giraldus Cambrensis at the end of the 12th century. In fact there is an account that tells of a miraculous supply of wine for daily mass in the Church of St. Michael, implying that the monastery should have been in constant occupation at that time.
In the 13th century, a general climatic change led to colder temperatures and numerous storms. This, along with changes in the structure of the Irish Church, marked the end of the hermit community at Skellig Michael. The monks appear to have moved to a colony called Ballinskelligs on the mainland, dating from about this time.
Moving forward in time, Skellig Michael appears on a number of Italian and Iberian charts dating between the 14th and 16th centuries, as well as the accounts of the Spanish Armada, showing that the island was known to them around 1588. In 1578, the island passed to the Butler family after the dissolution of the monasteries, although it continued to be a place of pilgrimage into the 18th century.
The monastery, which is contained within an inner and another outer enclosure, is located on the plateau above the sloping rock on the northeastern summit. The location was well chosen to provide shelter and water collection. There was a large amount of stone there, which facilitated construction. The monks used a system of retaining walls to construct level terraces on which they built their buildings within the inner enclosure, while the lower terraces within the outer enclosure provided garden areas for cultivation.
Within the monastery there are several structures that have been preserved, such as the Great Oratory, which was the most important building of the monastery while it was functioning. Next to it there are several cells. Specifically, there are six conical stone huts, also called clochans, where the monks lived. They are circular on the outside and rectangular on the inside and were built with great care so that rainwater would not filter through the stones.
The area around the oratory is paved and there is a special section of quartz floor at the front of the oratory. Next to it we have the Monks’ Cemetery and the so-called leachta, a large decorated cross. Besides this one, more than a hundred stone crosses of different sizes have been recorded on the island. The two largest are highly decorated and located north and south of the Great Oratory.
And then there is the Church of Saint Michael. This is the only monastic structure on the island built with lime mortar. It dates from two periods, the first possibly related to the dedication of the site to said saint in the late 10th or early 11th century and the second dating from the 12th century.
The church has a window to the east and a door on the northern side and the sandstone was brought from the nearby island of Valentia to make its ornamental elements. It is believed to have had a wooden roof structure, but unfortunately, part of this church collapsed in antiquity.
The place, protected by UNESCO since 1996, cannot be visited for conservational reasons, but it is known that some sailors, for a small fee, can take you to the island. I think it must be quite an experience to reach the place, climb its impressive staircase and contemplate a monastic enclosure unique in the world.
OpenEdition le sugiere que cite este post de la siguiente manera:
Dr. Pedro Ortega (5 de diciembre de 2023). Skellig Michael: El monasterio más antiguo de Occidente. El blog de Tartalo. Recuperado 19 de marzo de 2025 de https://doi.org/10.58079/unw1