Origin of the word Culdee
The name Culdee comes from Chaldee, (Chaldeans pronounce the word Chaldee as Kaldee or Culdee), in the sense that it alludes to Abraham the Chaldee, who left his home, worldly wealth, kindred and idol making to find the Promised Land. So, like Abraham, we are Chaldees in that we become spiritually divested of those worldly things in order to attain unity with the One, and to help our fellow beings achieve the same. The following is an excerpt from Betha Choluim Chille, a medieval Irish Life of Columba translated by Whitley Stokes. It illustrates why Iona Columban monks refer to themselves as Culdees. “‘Leave thy country, and thy land, thy kindred in the flesh, and own home, for sake, and get thee into the country that I will shew thee.’ …The Lord Himself gave this friendly counsel unto the head of the perfect Faith and of the complete Belief, to wit, unto Abraham son of Terah,that he should leave his own country and land, to wit, the country of Chaldea, and that he should go in pilgrimage into the country which God shewed him, to wit, the Land of Promise. Now, three ways there are in which one leaveth his fatherland when he goeth into pilgrimage, and there is one of these for which no reward is gotten from God, and two for which (reward) is gotten. Sometimes a person leaveth his fatherland in the body only, and his mind severeth not from sins and vices, and he desireth not to practice virtues or good deeds. The pilgrimage, therefore, that is made in that wise, there groweth thereof neither fruit nor profit to the soul; but it is a labour and disturbance of the body in idleness, for it little profiteth a man to abandon his fatherland if he doeth not good away from it. For even unto Abraham himself, on leaving his own country and on separating from it in the body, the Lord gave this counsel, when He said: ‘Take thy heed henceforth off country and land, and let not thy mind be for turning thereto again.’ as if what God himself had manifestly said to Abraham was—: ‘Shun both body and soul henceforth, in thy pilgrimage, the sins and vices of the land wherein thou hast aforetime dwelt in the body; for it is the same to anybody as if he dwelt in his home should he copy in his pilgrimage the customs of the his home. For it is not by path of feet, nor by motion of body, that one draws nigh to God, but it is through practice of good customs and virtues. Another time, a person leaveth his home in desire of heart and of mind, though he leaveth not in the body, as it happens to the ordained, who spend their lives in their own countries till death, for laymen and clergy detain them in the lands wherein they dwell, because of their great profitableness to all; and since it is not for the sake of the body they abide in their fatherland, their good will shall avail them with the Lord as a pilgrimage. At another time, then, a man leaveth his fatherland completely in body and in soul, even as the twelve Apostles left, and those of the perfect pilgrimage for whom the Lord foretold great good in the gospel, when he said: ‘Take heed of this,’ saith Jesus, ‘ye few of many who have forsaken for me your land and your fleshly kindred, your wealth and your worldly happiness, that ye shall receive an hundred-fold of good from me here in the world and in the life everlasting yonder after the sentence of Doom.’ These are they of the perfect pilgrimage in truth, it is in their person that the prophet spake in praise and in thanks to God. ‘I give thee thanks for it, O God,’ saith the prophet, ‘I have pilgrimage and exile in the world even as the elders who went before.’ Many of the faithful servants of the Lord, both in Old Law and the New Testament, fulfilled perfectly this kindly profitable counsel, to wit, they left their country and their land, their home and their kindred in the flesh, for sake of the Lord of the Elements, and they went into willing pilgrimage in far-off lands with monks, even as he fulfilled it and left his native country for the love and fear of the Lord, he the high saint and the high sage and the son chosen of God, for whom there is a festival and commemoration at the occurrence of this season and of this time, to wit, sanctus presbyter Columba, to wit, the noble priest of the Island of the Gael, the focal ball which was set forth with the diverse talents and gifts of the Holy Ghost, to wit, the holy Colomb Cille son of Fedilmith.” For centuries after St. Columba left his home in Ireland and founded his monastery at Iona, Culdees left their homes and traveled to foreign lands teaching and founding monasteries. Columbanus traveled to Italy and established the monastery at Bobbio. Eriugena traveled to France, headed the Palatine Academy, translated the works of Dionysius the Areopagite and wrote the Periphyseon. Many other Culdees educated the people of Europe in history, ethics, the liberal arts and theology. These Culdees made such a contribution to the education of the western world that the author Thomas Cahill attributes them with saving civilization. So a Culdee is one who leaves country, land, kindred in the flesh, and home behind, sometimes literally and always spiritually, to be a benefit to himself and his fellow beings.