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Life of St Columba
St Adamnán of Iona, tr. Reeves, 1874
Second Preface
THERE was a man of venerable life and blessed memory, the father and founder of monasteries, having the same name as Jonah the prophet; for though its sound is different in the three different languages, yet its signification is the same in all: what in Hebrew is Iona, in the Greek language is called Περιστερὰ, and in the Latin Columba. Such and so great a name was not given, it is believed, to the man of God without a special providence. For according to the faith of the Gospels, the Holy Ghost is shown to have descended on the only begotten Son of the Eternal Father, in the form of that little bird called the dove; and hence for the most part in the sacred books the dove is known to designate in a mystical sense the Holy Ghost. Hence also our Saviour in His Gospel has ordered His disciples to preserve the simplicity of the dove ingrafted in a pure heart, for the dove is a simple and innocent bird. By that name, therefore, it was meet that the simple and innocent man should be called, who gave to the Holy Ghost a dwelling-place in himself by his dove-like ways; a name to which may with propriety be applied what is written in the Proverbs, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.” Justly, therefore, not only from the days of his infancy was our president, by the gift of God, honoured by this special name, but even many long years before his birth it was given to him as a child of the promise in a wonderful prophecy of a soldier of Christ to whom it was revealed by the Holy Ghost. For Maucta, a pilgrim from Britain, a holy man, a disciple of St. Patrick the Bishop, gave the following prophecy of our Patron, as is known by us on the testimony of learned ancients. “In the last ages of the world,” he said, “a son shall be born, whose name Columba shall be announced in every province of the isles of the ocean, and brilliantly shall he enlighten the last ages of the earth. The little farms of his small monastery and of mine shall be divided by the boundary of a narrow fence, and he shall be a man most dear to God, and of great merit in His sight.” In describing the life and character of our Columba, I shall in the first place, as briefly as I can, give a general summary, and place before my readers’ eyes an image of his holy life. I also briefly shall notice some of his miracles, as a foretaste to those who eagerly read them, the more detailed account of which shall be given in the three last books. The first shall be his prophetical revelations—the second his divine virtues wrought by him—the third the apparitions of angels and some manifestations of the brightness of heaven upon the man of God. Let no one think of me as either stating what is not true regarding so great a man, or recording anything doubtful or uncertain. Let him know that I will tell with all candour, and without any ambiguity, what I have learned from the consistent narrative of my predecessors, trustworthy and discerning men, and that my narrative is founded either on written authorities anterior to my own times, or on what I have myself heard from some learned and faithful ancients, unhesitatingly attesting facts, the truth of which they had themselves diligently inquired into.
St. Columba then was born of noble parents; his father was Fedilmith, son of Fergus, and his mother was Aethne, whose father can be called in Latin Filius Navis, but in the Scotic tongue Mac Nave. In the second year after the battle of Culedrebina (fought A.D. 561), and in the forty-second of his age, St. Columba, resolving to seek a foreign country for the love of Christ, sailed from Scotia (Ireland) to Britain. From his boyhood he had been brought up in Christian training in the study of wisdom, and by the grace of God had so preserved the integrity of his body, and the purity of soul, that though dwelling on earth he appeared to live like the saints in heaven. For he was angelic in appearance, graceful in speech, holy in work, with talents of the highest order, and consummate prudence; he lived a soldier of Christ during thirty-four years in an island. He never could spend the space of even one hour without study, or prayer, or writing, or some other holy occupation. So incessantly was he engaged night and day in the unwearied exercise of fasting and watching, that the burden of each of these austerities would seem beyond the power of all human endurance. And still in all these he was beloved by all, for a holy joy ever beaming on his face revealed the joy and gladness with which the Holy Spirit filled his inmost soul.