Columba of Iona

Life events

1. Born — 521

   Columba was born on 7 December 521 to Fedlimid and Eithne of the Cenel Conaill in Gartan, beside Lough Gartan in Tir Chonaill (modern County Donegal, Ireland).

2. Baptized — 521

   He was baptised in Temple-Douglas, in the County Donegal parish of Conwal, by his teacher and foster-uncle Cruithnechan.

3. Educated — 541

   Columba studied under Finnian of Movilla at Movilla, then entered Clonard Abbey on the River Boyne where Finnian of Clonard governed around 300 scholars; he became one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland trained there.

4. Ordained — 546

   After studies at Clonard and at Mobhi Clarainech monastery at Glasnevin, Columba became a monk and was ordained a priest.

5. Exiled — 563

   Around 563, following the Battle of Cul Dreimhne in 561 and synodal pressure, Columba left Ireland with twelve companions in a wicker currach; the island of Iona was granted to him by his kinsman Conall mac Comgaill, King of Dal Riata, where he founded the abbey that became the dominant centre of Christianity in northern Britain.

6. Other — 565

   Columba visited King Bridei of Fortriu at his base near Inverness; Adomnan records an encounter that year with a water beast in the River Ness, the earliest known reference to what later traditions would call the Loch Ness Monster.

7. Council — 575

   In 574/575 Columba returned to Ireland to attend the Synod of Drum Ceat and founded the monastery of Drumcliff in Cairbre (now County Sligo).

8. Died — 597

   Columba died on Sunday, 9 June 597 on Iona and was buried in the abbey; his relics were removed in 849 and divided between Alba and Ireland, and the Brecbennoch reliquary was reputedly borne before the Scottish army at Bannockburn in 1314.

Relationships

Documented claims

• Around 560, Columba copied a psalter belonging to Finnian of Movilla without permission; Finnian disputed his right to keep the copy, a conflict some traditions link to the Battle of Cul Dreimhne in 561. (plausible)
• The Amra Coluim Chille, composed within three or four years of Columba death in 597, is regarded as the earliest vernacular poem in European history; it consists of twenty-five stanzas of four verses of seven syllables each. (likely)
• Two abecedarian Latin hymns attributed to Columba at Iona Abbey -- Altus Prosator (23 stanzas on Creation and Apocalypse) and Adiutor Laborantium (27 lines addressing God as helper and guard) -- survive as primary literary evidence of his authorship. (plausible)
• Columba is Latin for dove, paralleling the Hebrew name Jonah; his Irish name Colmcille likewise means dove, and Adomnan of Iona explicitly noted the parallel with the Prophet Jonah. (likely)
• The Brecbennoch, a reliquary made at Iona in the mid-8th century, was reputedly carried before the Scottish army at Bannockburn on 24 June 1314; since the 19th century tentatively identified with the Monymusk Reliquary, though scholars now doubt this. (legendary)