She kept her voice mild but the challenge was unmistakable.
She had reminded the Venerable Mac Faosma that she was not merely a religieuse, but sister to his king, and holder of a position that allowed her to sit even in the presence of provincial kings without asking permission first. In this way, she also reminded the Venerable Mac Faosma that it was his place to rise when she entered a room.
The Venerable Mac Faosma cleared his throat to disguise either his annoyance or his embarrassment.
‘I have nothing to discuss with you, Fidelma of Cashel,’ he finally said.
‘But I have something to discuss with you, Venerable Mac Faosma,’ she responded evenly.
‘Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman,’ snapped the old man.
For a moment Fidelma was nonplussed and then her lips began forming angry words but the Venerable Mac Faosma raised his hand, palm outward as if to placate her.
‘I quote the wise words of the Blessed Augustine of Hippo who argues that to administer the Faith we cannot and should not have intimacy with women.’
‘I am aware of those who preach this idea,’ replied Fidelma, controlling her irritation. ‘Nevertheless, it is a fact that the majority of priests here and even in Gaul and Frankia are married. Was it not Pelagius, the second of his name to be called the Holy Father, who decided less than a century ago that there was no harm in the religious being married so long as they did not hand over church property to their wives or children? In the inheritance of property lies the real reason for this idea that men and women who take to the religious life should not naturally join with one another and have children.’
Venerable Mac Faosma returned her bold gaze from beneath a lowering brow.
‘Nevertheless, there is a growing number of us who believe that light and spirit are good, and darkness and material things are evil, and that a person cannot be married and be perfect. Was it not the Holy Father Gregory the Great who pronounced that all sexual desire is sinful in itself?’
Fidelma snorted in disgust.
‘You mean that such a natural desire is therefore evil? Is it then suggested that the God we worship created such an evil?’
Mac Faosma made to speak but Fidelma interrupted him with a gesture of her hand.
‘While such theological discourse is entertaining, Venerable Mac Faosma, this has little to do with the reason I am here.’
‘I wish to make it clear that I am of the body that believes that we of the religious should live in celibacy,’ replied the old man stubbornly. ‘I adhere to the ruling of the Council of Laodicea that women should not
‘You have made your views known,’ replied Fidelma patiently. ‘But now let us speak of the matter which has brought me here.’
‘And that is?’
‘I believe that you are interested in the work of the Venerable Cinaed who was murdered in this abbey a few days ago?’
‘Interested?’ The word was a sneer. ‘The man was a charlatan and, moreover, a traitor!’
‘I believe that you often debated your views in public.’
‘If his ramblings could be held worthy of debate. I merely put the correct view lest he corrupted the minds of the youthful students at this place.’
‘In what way do you claim that he led his students into error?’
‘In what way…? In ways that you would not be able to comprehend because it requires someone who has studied philosophy to come near to such an understanding.’
Fidelma kept her features immobile as she sought to control her own temper at the arrogance of the old man.
‘Someone qualified to the level of anruth is not entirely devoid of intelligence, Venerable Mac Faosma,’ she said quietly.
‘Someone qualified as an ollamh might think differently.’ The old man sneered but scored a point for an ollamh was the highest degree available in the secular and ecclesiastical colleges of the five kingdoms. ‘What would you know of the argument of the concept of the Holy Trinity?’
Fidelma’s eyes narrowed at the challenge.
‘I know that the term denotes the doctrine that God is a unity of three persons — the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit — and that Tertullian coined the term three centuries ago. I know that it has become an official doctrine in the Creed…’
‘Quicunque vult salvus esse…’ The Venerable Mac Faosma made the opening words into a question, challenging Fidelma to continue. ‘Whosoever will be saved… What is the prime article of the Faith?’
‘… ut unum Deum in Trinitate, et Trinitatem in unitate veneremur
…’ continued Fidelma in Latin. ‘That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance.’
The Venerable Mac Faosma regarded her carefully for a moment or two.
‘So you possess some basic intelligence?’ he said sourly. ‘Very well. Cinaed was a monotheist. Do you know what that is?’
‘That he believed in one God and not in the three. As I understand it, he would argue that Holy Scripture makes no explicit statement of the trinity. It was the acceptance of Christ as a divinity, at the Council of Nicaea — and not just a divinity that was created but a deity of himself — that caused some of the early philosophers to conceive the idea of the triune God. As I understood it, the creed that was adopted at Nicaea simply accepted the idea of Blessed Gregory the wonder-worker from Neocaesarea.’
The Venerable Mac Faosma was nodding.
‘Challenging those learned Fathers of the Faith is to imperil the soul. Cinaed wrote blasphemous rubbish!’ he snapped. ‘ Qui vult ergo salvus esse, ita de Trinitate sentiat. He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. Cinaed was wrong. Utterly wrong. Rome has declared that there are neither three gods nor three modes of God but that they are co-equally and co-eternally God.’
Fidelma bowed her head.
‘Of course, that must be the logical outcome otherwise the concept of trinity would deviate from the uncompromising monotheism of the religion of Abraham which Christ gave us a new interpretation of.’
The Venerable Mac Faosma stared at her in irritation.
‘We must accept the Creed that the Blessed Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria has given us, for it is specifically stated that except one believe faithfully, they cannot be saved. And will go down into everlasting fire… qui vero mala, in ignem aeternum!’
Fidelma smiled softly.
‘I would like to think that such a supreme deity would look more kindly on the beings he created with minds to question. I remember that the Venerable Cinaed also questioned the belief that this Creed was even penned by Bishop Athanasius three centuries ago. He claimed that the Creed is Latin in its symbolism and had Athanasius really been the author he would have written it in Greek. He argued that we have enough of Athanasius’s work to see the absence of the phrases that were dear to him. Athanasius would have used words like homoousion for essence or substance and not subsantiam, which is a Latin usage.’
The Venerable Mac Faosma gave a sneering laugh.
‘So, Sister, you claim to be a scholar of language as well as philosophy?’
‘I claim nothing of the sort. I have simply read the Venerable Cinaed’s discourse on the Trinity. All I claim to be is a dalaigh investigating his murder.’
‘And what has his death to do with me?’
‘When did you last see him?’
The question was suddenly sharp and caused the old man to blink rapidly.
‘The day before his body was discovered. I passed him in the tech — screptra. We did not speak. I have no reason to speak to a person whose views are beyond the orthodoxy of the Faith unless in public debate.’
‘You never saw him again?’
‘I have said as much. My servant, Brother Benen, came to me on the following day to say that Cinaed’s body had been discovered. That is all I know about the matter.’
‘So you last saw him in the library.’