When St. Patrick first came to Ireland in the 5th century AD, he encountered the Celtic people-with their flourishing spiritual tradition, already thousands of years old. Where the Christians worshipped one God, the Celts had many-and in fact, found divinity all around them: in the rivers and hills, the sea and sky, and in every kind of animal. The Celtic reverence for the spirit in all things, and their celebrations of the continuous mysteries of everyday existence, survive