St Columba of Iona (Colmcille), Apostle of the Picts

St Columba, in Irish Colum Cille or Colmcille, "the dove of the Church", was an Irish monk and priest of royal blood who in 563 left Ireland with twelve companions, founded the monastery of Iona off the west coast of Scotland, and from there brought the faith to the northern Picts. He died at Iona on the night of 8 to 9 June 597, and his feast is kept on 9 June in Ireland and Scotland, where he is one of the great patrons of the nation and of its Church. He is not on the universal calendar of 1962, but the Roman Martyrology names him on 9 June: "At Iona, an island of Scotland, St Columba, priest and abbot" (In Ióna, Scótiæ ínsula, sancti Colúmbæ, Presbýteri et Abbátis).

Who was St Columba?

Columba was born in Donegal, in the north of Ireland, traditionally at Gartan on 7 December 521. He belonged to the royal kindred of the northern Uí Néill: on his father's side he descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages. Baptized with the name Colum (in Latin, Columba, "dove"), he was raised by a priest who was his foster-father, then went to the great monastic schools of Ireland. He was formed by St Finnian, received the diaconate, studied under an old bard in Leinster, and was ordained priest. He was never a bishop: Bede insists that the founder of Iona was "not a bishop, but a priest and monk".

Back in the north, in the years after 544, he founded monasteries. The two dearest to him were Derry, on the Foyle, and Durrow, "the field of oaks", which Bede names as his famous monastery in Ireland. Many other houses traced themselves to him, among them Kells, which became the head of the Columban monasteries in Ireland in the ninth century and gave its name to the famous Book of Kells.

Why did St Columba leave Ireland?

In 561 the battle of Cúl Dreimne was fought between the northern Uí Néill, Columba's kin, and the High King Diarmait. Later Irish writers made Columba its cause. In their story, he had secretly copied a psalter belonging to St Finnian; the king judged the dispute against him with the saying "to every cow its calf, to every book its copy"; then the king's men killed a young prince who had taken sanctuary with Columba, and the saint's clan went to war. Thousands fell, and Columba, to do penance, was told by his confessor to leave Ireland for ever and win for Christ as many souls as had died in the battle.

This is a legend, and it should be read as one. The earliest witnesses, St Adomnán, ninth abbot of Iona, who wrote his Life of the saint about a century after his death, and St Bede, say nothing of a stolen psalter or of a penance imposed for a battle. Adomnán gives the motive as the desire to be a pilgrim for Christ and to carry the Gospel to the heathen. A psalter called the Cathach ("the battler"), traditionally said to have been written by Columba's own hand, is still preserved in Dublin; the attribution is a tradition, not a proof.

St Columba on Iona

In 563, in his forties, Columba crossed the sea with twelve companions in a currach, a boat of hides stretched over wicker, and settled on the small island of Iona (in Irish, Í), in the kingdom of Dál Riata, the Irish settlement in what is now Argyll. The Irish tradition says the island was given to him by his kinsman Conall, king of Dál Riata; Bede says he received it from the Picts. A bay at the south end of the island, today called St Columba's Bay, is the place where, according to local tradition, his boat came to land.

On Iona he built a monastery of wooden huts, a church and a guest-house, and lived a life of prayer, penance, study and copying of the Scriptures. Adomnán describes him sleeping on a bare stone with a stone for a pillow. The island became the mother-house of a great family of monasteries in Scotland and Ireland, and later, through St Aidan and Lindisfarne, the source of the conversion of Northumbria.

The apostle of the Picts

From Iona Columba travelled into the land of the northern Picts, beyond the mountains of Drumalban. Bede writes that he came "to preach the word of God to the provinces of the northern Picts" in the ninth year of the reign of Bridei (Bede calls him Bridius), son of Meilochon, their powerful king, "and he converted that nation to the faith of Christ, by his preaching and example". The southern Picts had already received the faith long before from St Ninian.

Adomnán tells how, on his first visit to the king's fortress near Inverness, the king refused to open his gates; Columba made the sign of the cross on the doors, knocked, and they flew open of their own accord. The king went out to meet him and honoured him from then on.

St Columba and the Loch Ness monster

The story usually cited as the oldest written account of a monster at Loch Ness comes from Adomnán's Life of St Columba (Book II). It does not take place on the loch itself but on the River Ness, which flows out of it. Columba, travelling in the land of the Picts, came upon local people burying a man who had been seized and savagely bitten by a water-beast while swimming. The saint nonetheless told one of his companions, Lugne, to swim across and bring back a boat from the other bank. The beast rose and rushed at the swimmer with its mouth open. Columba raised his hand, made the sign of the cross, called on the name of God, and commanded:

"Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed."

The beast fled in terror, Lugne came back safely, and the brethren and the pagans who had seen it gave glory to the God of the Christians. Adomnán tells the story to show that the saint's word had power over nature in the name of Christ, as the prophets of the Old Testament had. Whatever one makes of the modern legend of "Nessie", the Christian story of the River Ness is about the sign of the cross, not about a monster.

The death of St Columba (597)

Adomnán's account of Columba's last days is one of the most beautiful pages of early Christian writing. In May 597, old and worn out, the saint was carried in a cart to bless the monks working on the western side of the island. On Saturday, 8 June, he blessed the barn and its store of grain; on his way back the old white horse that carried the milk came and laid its head on his breast and wept, and Columba would not let it be driven away. He climbed the little hill above the monastery and blessed it, foretelling that this small place would be honoured by kings and peoples.

Then he sat down to copy the Psalter, and stopped at the verse of Psalm 33: "but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good." "Here," he said, "at the end of the page, I must stop; and what follows let Baithene write." The next verse, Adomnán notes, suited his successor: "Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord."

That night, after giving the brethren his last counsel, "that ye be at peace, and have unfeigned charity among yourselves", he hurried at the midnight bell into the church, alone, and knelt before the altar. His attendant Diarmait found him lying there; the monks ran in with lights, and Diarmait raised the saint's right hand so that he could bless them. With that blessing he died, in the first hours of Sunday, 9 June 597, about seventy-seven years old.

Where are the bones of St Columba?

Columba was buried at Iona, and his relics were later placed in a shrine. From the end of the eighth century the Viking raids made the island unsafe, and in the ninth century the relics were moved. According to the Scottish chronicles, part of them was taken around 849 to Dunkeld, in Scotland, where King Kenneth mac Alpin had built a church; part was carried to Ireland. A later Irish tradition claimed that his bones were laid at Downpatrick, with those of St Patrick and St Brigid. Their present whereabouts are unknown: history is silent about them after the twelfth century.

When is the feast day of St Columba?

The feast day of St Columba is 9 June, the day of his death. In the calendar of 1962 he is not on the universal Roman calendar: on 9 June the universal Church keeps only a commemoration of the martyrs Sts Primus and Felician. His feast is kept in the proper calendars of Ireland and Scotland, and the Roman Martyrology announces him on that day. The prayers of those national propers are not part of the universal Missal of 1962 carried in our app, and we prefer not to print a Collect we have not been able to check against the liturgical books. You will find the universal feasts of the year in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962.

Ireland counts him, with St Patrick, the apostle of Ireland and St Brigid, among her three great patrons; you can pray the novena to St Patrick and the novena to St Brigid of Ireland in the same spirit, or the old prayers gathered in our page on Irish blessings. Scotland honours him as the monk who brought the faith to the Picts, beside her principal patron, St Andrew the Apostle. His life belongs with those of the other great monks and missionaries in our page of Catholic saints.

St Columba and St Columban: not the same saint

The two names are often confused, and many searches mix them. St Columba (Colmcille, 521-597) is the abbot of Iona and the apostle of the Picts. St Columban (Columbanus, who died in 615) is another Irish monk, a generation younger, who left Ireland for the continent, founded the monasteries of Luxeuil in Gaul and Bobbio in Italy, and died at Bobbio. Each has his own feast: St Columba on 9 June, St Columban in November.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was St Columba?

An Irish monk and priest (521-597) of royal descent, founder of Derry and Durrow in Ireland and of the monastery of Iona in Scotland, who converted the northern Picts. He is also called Colmcille, "the dove of the Church".

Who is St Columba the patron saint of?

He is one of the three patrons of Ireland, with St Patrick and St Brigid, and is honoured throughout Scotland as the apostle of the Picts and the founder of Iona.

When is the feast of St Columba?

On 9 June, the day of his death in 597, in the proper calendars of Ireland and Scotland. He is not on the universal calendar of 1962, but the Roman Martyrology records him on 9 June.

Did St Columba see the Loch Ness monster?

The account usually cited as the oldest of a monster in the Ness comes from Adomnán's Life of St Columba, written about a century after his death: on the River Ness, Columba drove off a water-beast that attacked one of his monks by making the sign of the cross. Adomnán tells it as a miracle of the saint's power in the name of Christ.

What does Colmcille mean?

Colum Cille is Irish for "dove of the Church". Colum, like the Latin Columba, means dove.

Where are the bones of St Columba?

Their present location is unknown. Moved from Iona in the ninth century because of the Vikings, part went to Dunkeld in Scotland and part to Ireland; a later legend placed them at Downpatrick with St Patrick and St Brigid.

Is St Columba the same as St Columban?

No. St Columba founded Iona and died in 597; St Columban (Columbanus) founded Luxeuil and Bobbio on the continent and died in 615.

Who wrote the Life of St Columba?

St Adomnán, ninth abbot of Iona, about a hundred years after Columba's death. It is in three books, on his prophecies, his miracles and his visions of angels, and ends with the account of his death.

The Iter Fidei app carries the calendar of 1962, the Roman Missal and the Breviary in Latin and English, to keep the feasts of the Church day by day. Join early access here.

Sources. St Adomnán, Life of St Columba (Book II on the River Ness and the gate of King Bridei; Book III, the death of the saint). St Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book III, chapter 4. Roman Martyrology, 9 June. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims (Psalm 33).