Crois Chill Daltain

The cross at the church of the foster-son.

Crois Daltain (Kildalton Cross) stands on the Isle of Islay, Inner Hebrides Scotland. Its name comes from the poetic Gaelic name for the beloved foster-son, here referring to Saint John the Evangelist (also known as John the Theologian). 

In Gaelic Scotland the ancient Celtic practice of fosterage bound together kith and kin: Sons from the community were fostered in the chief’s household or anothers’, and the chief’s sons’ by his vassals. Interwoven together kith becomes kin, these foster sons were loved with an even a greater love than a family’s own son. In the Journal Etudes Celtiques  Exequiel Monge Allen highlights the vernacular names of Saint John used by early Irish monks was often  ‘John of the Breast’ and also ‘the beloved foster-son of Jesus Christ’.

The wisdom of Saint John was deeply loved and teachings followed by the monks. The way of following Saint John is rooted in “the School of John” also called the “traditions of John”. Reverend Professor John Behr, University of Aberdeen, writes how this school of teachings has been traced by scholars from Saint John to the second Century writings of Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, an Easterner in the West: Saint Irenaeus received mentoring and teaching from Polycarp of Smyrna who knew and followed the beloved disciple of Jesus, Saint John. 

Crois Daltain is carved from grey-green chlorite schist said to be crafted by monks from Iona with the mastery of the Pict stone-mason. It is a remarkable 8th-century mono-lithic high stone cross. Each face tells tales of resurrection power of the cross. Upon the front of this cross facing west the Pict saw their indigenous Pict imagery of the snake symbolising the afterlife respectfully placed on the cross silently pointing to the resurrected Christ. In the Book of Kells, produced around the year 800, the snake was commonly used as a symbol for Christ’s resurrection from the dead.

The eastern side has a mosaic of biblical imagery that speaks of God’s power and grace to a tribal warrior people. In her book ‘Picts, Gaels and Scots’ archeologist Sally Foster describes this imagery: “At the top of the shaft sits the Virgin and Child with angels, while around the hollow central boss (defined by animals) are scenes from the Old Testament: Cain murdering Abel; David killing the lion; and the sacrifice of Isaac and Abraham.”

Such imagery may seem strange to us, but it spoke into the condition of forever-warring and raiding Pict kings. Sally Foster notes the relationships the Columbian and other Christian monks had with Pict kings in the 7th and 8th-century and how their influence began to reduce violence and bring stability.

This ancient high Celtic cross respectfully stands on a border between two worlds, and in our contemporary contexts it silently invites a deep response from Pagan pilgrims, secular wanderers and voyaging Christians.