Columba, Most Holy of Saints (Scottish Medieval Plainchant)

Celtic chant is the monophonic, liturgical plainchant associated with the Celtic rite practiced by early medieval Christian communities in Celtic Britain, Gaelic Ireland, and Brittany. Closely related to other Western chant families yet distinct from the Roman-Gregorian tradition that later prevailed, it accompanied the Mass and Office in monastic and ecclesiastical contexts. No authentic notated melodies of Celtic chant survive; consequently, its musical profile is inferred from liturgical books, textual parallels, and comparative study with sibling chant traditions. By the 12th century, the Roman rite (and its Gregorian chant) had supplanted the Celtic rite, leaving Celtic chant as an extinct but historically significant strand of early Western liturgical song.