Saint Columbanus

“ 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. ”

“ On another occasion when they were crossing the mountains, Columba saw a vision of angels, and exhorted his companions to hasten on their way. "For," said he, "there is a man of good and honest life waiting beyond the hills to receive baptism before he dies." They quickened their pace, and when they reached Glen Urquhart, found, as Columba had predicted, an old man awaiting their arrival. The holy abbot baptized him and bade him depart in peace, and the angels whom he had seen on the mountains carried his soul to heaven. ”

“ It was in this beloved church of Derry that it was given so often to Columba to behold the angels adoring their Lord on His altar throne, and to hear the melody of their voices as they sang the eternal song of praise.
Prayer, labour, and study divided the hours of the day, and young as was the abbot, the hand that governed, though gentle, was very firm. Columba had learnt from his holy masters in the spiritual life to lead his monks by example even more than by precept. He slept on the bare ground, with a skin for covering and a stone for pillow. ”

“ Columba had a deep love and reverence for all honest labour done for God. One night he told his monks that he had just seen entering into heaven the soul of a blacksmith whom he had known long ago in Ireland.
"He has bought eternal life," he said, "with the labours of the earthly. He was charitable and gave of his poverty to the poor, therefore the Lord of the Poor has rewarded him." ”

“ In the years to come, when Columba was in Iona, one cold winter's day the brethren noticed that their beloved abbot was sad and silent.
"What ails you, Father?" asked Diarmaid, his faithful companion.
"My soul is sorrowful," said Columbcille, "for my dear monks of Durrow. Bitter is the weather, and their abbot keeps them hard at work, fasting and a-cold." ”

“ When Columba rose during the night as was his habit to kneel in prayer on the cold floor of his cell, his heavenly visitors would throng around him, mingling their praise with his. It was not surprising that the things of heaven should be so near to one who cared so little for the things of earth. He would go out on a winter's night, says his biographer, and stand in the waters of an icy stream during the time it took him to recite the Psalter, that he might obtain grace by his sufferings for the souls of the obstinate sinners who refused to amend their lives. ”

“ The people hastened to Columba, who went at once to the church. There with outstretched arms he poured forth his soul in supplication before the altar, and the fire ceased at his prayer.
A fragment of the rule in use amongst the old Celtic monasteries has been preserved, in which we can see the spirit of the monks of Columba's time:
"Yield submission to every rule—that is devotion.
"A mind prepared for red martyrdom—that is death for the faith.
"A mind fortified and steadfast for white martyrdom—that is the trials and mortifications and crosses of earthly life. ”

“ His friends and kinsfolk were generous, and churches and monasteries built by the Saint and owning him as their patron and head sprang up in every direction. Derry, Durrow, Kells, Raphoe, Sords, Drumcliff, Kilmacrenan, Drumcolumb, Glencolumbcille are but a few of his foundations. More than ever might it have been said of St. Columba that he was beloved of God and of man.
But God shows His love for His Saints in ways which are not the ways of men, and the chastening fires of sorrow and of suffering were to purify that ardent and impulsive nature. ”

“ It gives us greater confidence in the struggle, when [Pg 292] we have a patron saint who can have compassion on our infirmities because he was tried like us in all things; and, if we are to believe the story of his life, not altogether without sin. It is well too that he should be for us an example of perfect penance; even as he schooled himself in patient endurance, and all other noble virtues.
We, however, have to deal with Columba mainly as a scholar, a teacher, and a writer—the founder of many schools, the patron of learning, the protector and the idol of all the Bards of Erin. ”

“ As he grew older it seemed to those who knew him intimately that these flashes of supernatural insight became more frequent, and that the things of the next world were growing daily more familiar to him as the time of his earthly pilgrimage drew to an end. Many instances of this have been recorded by his biographers.
One morning at Iona when the Mass was about to be celebrated, Columba sent word to the priest whose turn it was to offer the Holy Sacrifice that day, to do it in honour of the glorious birthday of St. Brendan. ”

“ In one page of the Life of Columba we find the saint, on a child being brought to him for baptism, in a desert place where no water was, striking the rock like Moses, and drawing forth a rill, which remained in perennial existence—a fountain surrounded by a special sanctity. In the next page he deals with a well in the hands of the Magi. They had put a demon of theirs into it to such effect, that any unfortunate person washing himself in the well or drinking of its water, was forthwith stricken with paralysis, or leprosy, or blindness of an eye, or some other corporeal calamity. ”

“ Alone in their midst stood Columba, but his head was bowed upon his breast, and the grey eyes that had dashed so stormily at the Court of Tara were dim with tears. The cry that burst from his heart when the old man ceased to speak was the cry of another great penitent—one who in spite of human frailty had deserved to be called a "man after God's own heart." ”

“ Why should Columba, he asked himself resentfully, be loved and privileged above all the other scholars? He was the son of the Prince of Tir-Connell it was true, but in a monastic community such as Clonard were not they all equal before God? He began to be jealous of the influence exercised so unconsciously by his young companion, and harboured bitterness in his heart. Ciaran's guardian angel grieved over the havoc that was being wrought in that pure and gentle soul. ”

“ The gentleness of a naturally strong and fiery temperament won—so to speak—at the sword's point, is always an extraordinary force in the world, and we find the power of Columba over his fellow-men and his influence with them for good increasing every year.
St. Fintan, one of the Saint's first companions in Iona, was asked once towards the end of Columba's life to describe him to one who had heard much of his holiness, but who did not know him.
"He is a king amongst kings," answered Fintan, "a sage amongst wise men, a monk amongst monks. He is poor with God's poor ”

“ The child was instructed in religion by the priest who had baptized him, and the legends tell of angels who watched over him from his birth; and they say that he asked familiarly of his guardian angel if all the angels were as bright and young as himself. From the house of the priest he was sent to the monastery of St. Frinan at Clonard, where he studied and labored like the rest, and, though a prince, he ground the corn they ate. One of his companions, afterward a saint, was angry at the influence which Columba naturally possessed over the rest ”

“ Columba spoke to her and asked her what she was doing.
"I am gathering herbs for food," she replied, "for I have but one cow and it gives no milk; the poor must live as they can." Columba reproached himself bitterly that this poor woman should fare worse than he did. "We seek to win heaven," he cried, "by our austerities, and this poor woman, who is under no such obligation, outdoes us." ”

“ 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. ”

“ For the life of Saint Columba the chief source is the Vita by Adamnan, his eighth successor as abbot of Iona. It contains well-drawn sketches of the saint and much that is marvellous and incredible. It was edited with elaborate notes by Dr. W. Reeves, for the Irish Archaeological Society, in 1857. His work, rearranged and with a translation of the Vita, was republished as Vol. VI. of The Historians of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1874) . The Vita may also be found in Migne, Patrologia Latina, 88, col. 725-776. Bede, Ecc. Hist. iii. 4, refers to Columba. ”

“ 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?" ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Towards evening a boat was seen approaching the coast of Skye, manned by Pictish warriors supporting in their arms an old man whose trappings proclaimed him to be of noble birth. Drawing their boat to the shore, they landed and formed a rude litter with their shields, on which they carried the old chieftain up the hill and laid him down at Columba's feet. The Saint spoke to the dying man of the faith of Christ and baptized him, and shortly afterwards he gave up his soul to God. ”

“ The saint’s labours in Scotland must be regarded as a manifestation of the same spirit of missionary enterprise with which so many of his countrymen were imbued. Columba established himself on the island of Hy or Iona, where he erected a church and a monastery. ”

“ Nature’s land-marks are all there, and testify to the truth and accuracy of Adamnan’s most minute details; but the works of human hands are gone—by men they were raised, and by men they were destroyed.
It is no part of our purpose to refer to Columba’s missionary labours amongst the Picts of the Highlands, whom he converted to the faith of Christ. We can only make a brief reference to his influence both as a saint and as a scholar on the learning of his own time, and of subsequent ages. ”

“ So among the peaceful hills and lakes of Donegal the boy Columba grew into manhood. Tall and fair and straight of limb was the son of Eithne and Fedhlimidh, with a voice clear and sweet as a trumpet-call, and a heart that was fearless, pure, and true. Cruithnechan had done his work well; he had taught Columba all that he knew of earthly lore and of heavenly; but the time of his fostering was over. He must go forth now into the great world that lay beyond the quiet mountains, the world of strife and of tragedy, of joy and of sorrow. ”

“ 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. ”

“ God will give to him eloquence and power; and when he has grown to man's estate he will be counted amongst the great ones of his country."
The Saint's prophecy came true. The little idiot boy grew into the great St. Ernan, venerated both in Ireland and Scotland; and it was he himself who told the story to the abbot Adamnan who wrote the great life of Columbcille.
CHAPTER IX FOR CHRIST AND HIS LOVE THE visitation of the Irish monasteries completed, Columba returned to Iona. But it was no longer as an exile that he left the shores of Erin. ”