It is said that when St. Patrick first arrived in Ireland on a mission to introduce Christianity to the pagan residents, he was shown a standing stone with a circle carved into it representing the Pagan Sun God (or possibly the Moon Goddess). He then inscribed the Christian cross on to the circle, thus creating the first ever Celtic Cross.
A war of words has raged in recent years over whether the Celtic Cross is a Pagan or a Christian symbol with each claiming it as their own. However the truth I that it was probably both.
In the early days of Christianity in Britain, great efforts were made to incorporate the ancient Pagan religions into Christianity and many things were merged together in this way. The prime example being the number of greenman carvings found in medieval churches.
