St Columba

According to tradition of royal descent, Columba was born in 521 in County Donegal, Ireland. He received a monastic education at Clonard Abbey from the Irish monk, Finnian. Subsequently he went on to found a number of Irish monasteries before falling foul of Finnian and King Diarmit; both of whom disputed his right to keep a psalter he had copied whilst at Clonard Abbey. The dispute led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561, after Columba had raised an army to fight with King Diarmit. The battle led to Columba being excommunicated, and being obliged to go into exile.

In 593 Columba landed in Scotland, and shortly thereafter proceeded to found a monastery on the Island of Iona. The late sixth and seventh centuries were a time when large numbers of the Irish population were emigrating to northern Britain; later displacing the Picts, who at the time constituted its native population. Consequently, Columba did not find himself completely without the company of his fellow countrymen. Although Columba’s role in bringing Christianity to Scotland has been somewhat exagerated, he was responsible for converting the Brude, king of the Picts. Most of Columba’s life   was taken up with the founding of his monastery, which latterly became a centre of learning, and in copying books.

Typically of even the most famous saints who lived in the centuries between the fall of the Roman Empire, and the writing of Bede’s “History of The English Speaking Peoples”, nothing much more is known for certain regarding the life of Columba. He died in the early hours of the morning in the year 597,  just before he was due to recite Matins with his community.

Tagged as: finnian, life of columba, monk, picts, sixth century