Columba

Columba, also known as Colmcille, lived from 7 December 521 to 9 June 597 AD. An Irish abbot and missionary, he is credited with beginning the Hiberno-Scottish mission that brought Christianity to what is now Scotland. His most lasting achievement was founding the abbey on Iona, which for centuries served as a major religious and political centre in the region. He is the patron saint of Derry and, alongside Patrick and Brigid, one of Ireland’s patron saints. Both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts venerated him, and he is counted among the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

Born in Tyrconnell, Columba studied under several of Ireland’s most prominent church figures and established multiple monasteries there. Around 563 AD, he and twelve companions sailed to Kintyre before settling on the island of Iona in the Hebrides, part of the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata. There they founded Iona Abbey, which became a base for evangelising the pagan northern Pictish kingdoms. Though he remained involved in Irish politics, he spent most of his later life in what became Scotland. Three early-medieval Latin hymns attributed to him survive.

Columba was the son of Fedlimid and Eithne of the Cenél Conaill, born in Gartan, a district beside Lough Gartan in Tír Chonaill (mostly modern County Donegal, Ireland). On his father’s side, he is said to be the great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, a pseudo-historical 5th-century Irish high king. One tradition places his birth on a flagstone called Leac na Cumha in the townland of Lacknacoo. He was baptised in Temple-Douglas, in the County Donegal parish of Conwal, by his teacher and foster-uncle Cruithnechán. For about five years he lived in what is now Glencolmcille, a district named after him. It is uncertain whether his birth name was Colmcille or if he adopted it later; Adomnán of Iona believed it was his birth name, but other Irish sources give his birth name as Crimthann (meaning ‘fox’). In Irish, his name means ‘dove’, the same as the Prophet Jonah (Jonah in Hebrew also means ‘dove’), a fact noted by Adomnán and other early Irish writers, though it is unclear if he was deliberately named after Jonah. Columba is the Latin equivalent for dove and also the name of the bird genus.

After sufficient progress in letters, he entered the monastic school of Movilla at Newtownards under Finnian of Movilla, who had studied at Ninian’s “Magnum Monasterium” on the shores of Galloway. Around age twenty, already a deacon, he finished his training at Movilla and travelled south to Leinster, where he studied under an aged bard named Gemman. He then entered the monastery of Clonard, governed by Finnian, a man noted for sanctity and learning. There he absorbed the traditions of the Welsh Church, as Finnian had been trained in the schools of David. The study of Latin learning and Christian theology flourished in these monasteries. Columba became a pupil at Clonard Abbey on the River Boyne in modern County Meath. During the sixth century, some of the most significant figures in Insular Christianity studied there; the average number of scholars was said to be 300. Columba was one of twelve students of Finnian of Clonard known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He became a monk and was eventually ordained a priest.

Another teacher was Mobhí Clárainech, whose monastery at Glasnevin attracted famous men like Cainnech of Aghaboe, Comgall, and Ciarán. A pestilence that devastated Ireland in 544 scattered Mobhi’s disciples, and Columba returned to Ulster, his family’s homeland. The following years saw the foundation of several important monasteries: Derry, at the southern edge of Inishowen; Durrow, County Offaly; Kells, County Meath; and Swords, County Dublin. While at Derry, he is said to have planned a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem but got no further than Tours. From Tours, he brought a copy of the gospels that had lain on the bosom of Saint Martin for 100 years; this relic was deposited in Derry. He is also believed to have established a church on Inishkea North, County Mayo, named St Colmcille’s Church, and another monastery at Carrickmore, County Tyrone, where the church of St Colmcille stands within the Parish of Termonmaguirc on Rockstown Road.

Some traditions claim that around 560 Columba quarrelled with Finnian of Moville over a psalter. Columba copied the manuscript in Finnian’s scriptorium, intending to keep the copy, but Finnian disputed his right to do so. This conflict may have led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in Cairbre Drom Cliabh (now County Sligo) in 561, where many men died. Richard Sharpe, translator of Adomnán’s *Life of St. Columba*, warns against accepting the many references linking the battle to Columba’s departure from Ireland, though the annals indicate Columba supported his own king against the high king. Long-standing political conflicts resulted in the clan Neill’s battle against King Diarmait at Cooldrevny in 561. One issue was the king’s violation of the right of sanctuary belonging to Columba as a monk, following the murder of Prince Curnan, Columba’s kinsman. Prince Curnan of Connacht, who had fatally injured a rival in a hurling match and taken refuge with Columba, was dragged away.