Anonymous

“ He did so; and when he came to the division of the consecrated host, he called upon Columba to join him as a priest in breaking the Lord's bread, "Ut simul quasi duo presbyteri, Dominicum panem frangerent." Coming up to the altar, and looking him in the face, the saint said, "Christ bless you brother; do you alone break it, according to the episcopal rite, for now we know you are a bishop. Why have you hitherto endeavored to conceal yourself, so as not to let us pay you that veneration which we owe to you?" ”

“ The northern parts of Britain presented at this juncture many attractions to induce the saint to select that region as a fit theatre for his future labors. On the Northern Picts the light of the Gospel had not yet shone. It is true that the Scots, a neighboring colony from Ireland professed Christianity, but the glories of religion had been almost shorn of their splendor, and it required an apostolic zeal to reinvest them with all their interest, and rekindle the sacred fire now slumbering under the embers of sinful indifference. ”

“ It was to Etchen, bishop of Meath, that the holy candidate had recourse for ordination. This prelate was descended from an illustrious family in Leinster, but he had stronger claims to the veneration of his countrymen than any which can be derived from a glorious ancestry. Etchen, notwithstanding his noble birth, was remarkable for apostolic simplicity, and emulating the example of the first founders of the Catholic church, was distinguished for the practice of the most exalted virtues. ”

“ The magi, or ministers of the national superstition, were the only persons from whom the missionaries had now any reason to fear opposition, and they gave it; for, despite of the sanction of the king, they used every artifice to render unavailing the labors of the saintly men. An entire family being converted by the blessed Columba to the Christian faith, their deadly hatred was so provoked, that they were disposed to view with pleasure any misfortune befalling its individual members. ”

“ The fervent Columba was now in his twenty-fifth year, and perceiving from the example of the holy men his contemporaries, as well as those who had already passed to a glorious immortality, that the great object which he had in view would be best attained by multiplying throughout the land monastic institutions, he determined on laboring for their establishment, that the edifying example of the members should be every where felt; their observance of evangelical perfection invariably furnishing a powerful incentive to the national piety. ”

“ While asleep one night, it seemed to her that an angel approached, bearing in his hand a robe of unparalleled beauty, which having presented to her, he after a short interval withdrew, and spreading it forth suffered the wind to carry it away. Disappointed at this strange proceeding, Aethena anxiously inquired why she had not been permitted to retain this beauteous garment, and her interrogatory was met by the reply that it could not be allowed to remain with her. Meanwhile, and as the angel spoke, Aethena kept her eyes steadfastly fixed on the mantle which was now balanced in the firmament ”

“ We may guess at, but cannot speak their joy, their gratitude. Surely now they blessed the hour in which they embraced Christianity, and were more strongly confirmed in the belief of its mysteries: the people, too, assembled in crowds to witness the wonder which Columba had wrought, testified by their acclamations their grateful acknowledgments to him, and their faith in the omnipotence of the God whom he came to preach unto them.
The interests of his monastery at Hy, required that the saint should occasionally interrupt his apostolic labors in Pictland, in order to revisit it. ”

“ Columba's was Aidan, a very religious man, who had lived twelve years with St. Brendan of Clonfert. On the day before his arrival, the saint said to the brethren, "We intend to fast to-morrow as usual, because it will be Wednesday; but, in consequence of the arrival of a stranger, the fast will be broken." The event verified the prediction. Aidan did arrive; and St. Columba's dispensation with so holy an ordinance, observed even by the whole Irish Church, establishes his claim to great prudence and discretion. ”

“ Besides the holy men already mentioned, Columbanus, bishop in the province of Leinster, [3] came to see him. The holy abbot conceived a great friendship for this prelate, so that, being apprized of his death by revelation, he gave orders in the morning that the monks who were preparing for their respective occupations should refrain from work on that day; and when all was ready for the holy mysteries, the whole community, clothed in white garments as on a Sunday or other solemnity, proceeded to the church along with the saint. ”

“ This promise must surely have brought comfort to Aethena; our business is now to show how it was fulfilled. In early youth, or we might perhaps say infancy, Columba, owing to the piety of his parents, was committed to the tutelage of the venerable priest by whom he had been purified in the waters of baptism. Even then, the whole tenor of his conduct showed how strongly imbued he was with religious principles, for even then did he furnish presages of his future sanctity. ”

“ Transcribing holy books was a favorite occupation of Saint Columba. He left behind him 100 manuscripts, says A. Butler. (Lives of Saints, 9th June.) "The celebrated Book of Kells is the autograph of St. Columba, and consists of a copy of the four Gospels. One of the first paintings in this wonderful volume, (for there are several, all proving that even in the 6th century we had in Ireland a style of illumination peculiarly national, and for the age of no small merit,) is the Blessed Virgin with our infant Saviour in her arms, a halo of glory round her head, and angels above her. ”

“ The apostolic labors of St. Columba were not confined to the territories of the Picts and Western Islanders, he superintended also the ecclesiastical affairs of the British Scots, and formed some religious establishments in their kingdom; one of them, near Loch-Awe in Argyle, was governed by one of his monks named Cailten, of whom it is related, that he died at Hy, the parent-house, if we may so call it. ”

“ If they ever appeared in public, it was to reconcile enemies, to instruct the ignorant, to extirpate vice, and plead the cause of the unfortunate. [1] That much of their time was devoted to prayer and contemplation, there is good reason to believe, as well as that their repasts were few and exceedingly austere, their holy founder himself being of such mortified habits, that his fast was continual, and that when he reposed the floor was his bed and a hard stone his pillow. ”

“ His memory was for ages most dear to the northern nations, his monastery was selected for the sepulchres of the kings of Ireland, Scotland, and Norway; and the provincial bishops, though preserving in their episcopal functions the superiority of their rank, submitted in other points to the mandate of the abbot of Hy, as the legitimate successor of St. Columba. ”

“ Columba, changed his tone altogether when he found that he came only to establish peace between him and the king of the British Scots. The respective claims of the royal opponents were simply these: Aidan, the Scottish monarch, asserting a hereditary right to the sovereignty of Dalrieda in Antrim, demanded that the inhabitants of that territory should be relieved from the tribute paid by the other Irish principalities to the supreme monarch ”

“ When the internal economy of the new fabric was satisfactorily arranged, when hymns of praise and canticles of joy were sung, and above all, when the adorable Victim of our salvation was offered within its sacred precincts, the holy founder prepared to visit other parts of the country to make them participators in similar blessings. Dairmagh, now Durrough, was the next territory in which he erected a monastery ”