A full-colour edition of this inspiring and fascinating work of Celtic spirituality. Starting with the ancient sun-oriented monuments of the megalithic age, Streit traces an unbroken spiritual culture in Ireland from the time of stone circles and dolmens, through the Celtic era, into the period of the early Christian stone crosses. The highly evolved stone-age culture was absorbed and developed by the Celts when they settled in Ireland in the centuries before Christ. They in turn found it natural to accept Christianity which developed in a unique manner in such a spiritual climate. Early hymns and liturgical texts, combining the older nature practice with the new religion of Christianity, bear witness to this unbroken evolution. Finally, Streit depicts the amazing missionary zeal of monks like Columbanus who established Celtic Christianity across the vastness of Europe during the Dark Ages, until its suppression by the Church of Rome in the eighth century. Fully illustrated in colour, this is a book for giving and cherishing.