Columba (Colum Cille) was the
great grandson of the high King Niall who ruled Ireland when Patrick
(St. Patrick) had been taken there from Roman England as a slave.
He became a monk and then, probably
because of his royal status quickly was promoted to be an abbot and
he founded several great monasteries in Ireland. In the year 563 he
felt called to leave his homeland and go on a pilgrimage. He chose
twelve fellow monks to go with him, which is a biblically symbolic
number. The history is unclear but he seems to have had other reasons
for getting out of Ireland – he had had a row with King Diarmaid
and had also had a court judgement against him for stealing a psalter
– which he said he only borrowed from St Finnan to make a
copy!(Doesn't that sound very contemporary - Copyright piracy 1500
years ago!) The argument led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in the
year 561 in which many men were killed.
So whether his journey from Ireland to
the Hebridean island of Iona was a great missionary pilgrimage as his
loyal biographer Adomnan described it, or a case of him making the
most of being sent into exile we will never know.
On Iona Columba and his brethren
erected huts to form a monastery using wattle and daub (ie sticks and
mud) and eventually building a small stone church, near the present
day abbey.
From there his monks set out on many
coracle bound missionary journeys to Tiree and the neighbouring
islands and into south west Scotland. In Argyll he consecrated Aidan
as the king of the Scots in the year 574, making the most of his
royal connections. Aidan's kingdom covered the western islands and
some of mainland Scotland as well as stretching into Antrim in
Northern Ireland.
There are many fanciful tales of
Columba's life including his meeting with the Loch Ness monster, as
well as stories of pastoral and missionary work across Scotland. His
influence spread and some “saxo” (ie Saxon English) were sent to
him for instruction in the faith.
Columba died on Iona on 2nd
June 597, the same year that the king of the Saxons, Æthelberht, was
baptised by Augustine, the Benedictine monk who became the first
Archbishop of Canterbury..
In the Revd the Lord George MacLeod (1895-1991) similarities can be seen to Columba. He came from a privileged background - his father was a Baronet. He was educated at an elite English public school (Winchester) and Oriel College Oxford, before becoming an officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders through the first world war. He then devoted himself to following in the footsteps of Christ and worked as a church minister to the poor in a deprived area of Glasgow. He might have seen himself as a latter day Columba as he took groups of men (artisans and trainee ministers) to Iona to rebuild the ruined ancient stone abbey. Also like Columba, was motivated throughout by a missionary zeal for the life changing values of the gospel. He couldn't escape his background and was promoted in later life to the House of Lords by the then prime minister, Harold Wilson.
In the Revd the Lord George MacLeod (1895-1991) similarities can be seen to Columba. He came from a privileged background - his father was a Baronet. He was educated at an elite English public school (Winchester) and Oriel College Oxford, before becoming an officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders through the first world war. He then devoted himself to following in the footsteps of Christ and worked as a church minister to the poor in a deprived area of Glasgow. He might have seen himself as a latter day Columba as he took groups of men (artisans and trainee ministers) to Iona to rebuild the ruined ancient stone abbey. Also like Columba, was motivated throughout by a missionary zeal for the life changing values of the gospel. He couldn't escape his background and was promoted in later life to the House of Lords by the then prime minister, Harold Wilson.
(The photo is of St Columba in the stained glass window in Iona Abbey)
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