THE LIFE OF SAINT COLUMBA.

IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.-THE PREFACE BEGINNETH.

IN beginning, with the help of Christ, in compliance with the urgent requests of my brethren, to write the life of our blessed Patron, I shall take care to warn, in the first place, others who may read it, to believe the facts which it records, and to attend more to the matter than to the words, which, as I think, sound harsh and barbarous. Let them remember that the kingdom of God consisteth not in richness of eloquence, but in the blossoming of faith, and let them not for any names of men, or tribes, or obscure places in the base Scotic tongue, which, as I think, seem rude when compared with the various languages of foreign nations, despise a record of useful deeds wrought not without the help of God. We must also warn our readers that many other things regarding this man of blessed memory, well worthy of being told, have been omitted for the sake of brevity; in order not to tire their patience, a few only out of many have been recorded here. And this, as I think, every person who reads the following work will perhaps observe, that of the great actions of the same holy man, popular fame has published the less important, when compared even with the few which we shall now briefly relate. From this point, in this our first brief preface, I now proceed, with the help of God, to explain in the commencement of the second, the name of our holy prelate.

A

IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST.-THE 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 ПIepiσrepà, 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 himthe 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.

BOOK I.

OF HIS PROPHETIC REVELATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

A brief narrative of his great Miracles.

ACCORDING to the promise given above, I shall commence this book with a brief account of the evidences which the venerable man gave of his power. By virtue of his prayer, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, he healed several persons suffering under various diseases; and he alone, by the assistance of God, expelled from this our island, which now has the primacy, innumerable hosts of malignant spirits, whom he saw with his bodily eyes assailing himself, and beginning to bring deadly distempers on his monastic brotherhood. Partly by mortification, and partly by a bold resistance, he subdued, with the help of Christ, the furious rage of wild beasts. The surging waves, also, at times rolling mountains high in a great tempest, became quickly at his prayer quiet and smooth, and his ship, in which he then happened to be, reached the desired haven in a perfect calm.

When returning from the country of the Picts, where he had been for some days, he hoisted his sail when the breeze was against him to confound the Druids, and made as rapid a voyage as if the wind had been favourable. On other occasions, also, contrary winds were at his prayers changed into fair. In that same country, he took a white stone from the river, and blessed it for the working of certain cures; and that stone, contrary to nature, floated like an apple when placed in water. This divine miracle was wrought in the presence of King Brude and his household. In the same country, also, he performed a still greater miracle, by raising to life the dead child of an humble believer, and restoring him in life and

vigour to his father and mother. At another time, while the blessed man was yet a young deacon in Hibernia, residing with the holy bishop Findbarr, the wine required for the sacred mysteries failed, and he changed by his prayer pure water into true wine. An immense blaze of heavenly light was on many and wholly distinct occasions seen by some of the brethren to surround him in the light of day, as well as in the darkness of the night. He was also favoured with the sweet and most delightful society of bright hosts of the holy angels. He often saw, by the revelation of the Holy Ghost, the souls of some just men carried by angels to the highest heavens. And the reprobates too he very frequently beheld carried to hell by demons. He very often foretold the future deserts, sometimes joyful, and sometimes sad, of many persons while they were still living in mortal flesh. In the dreadful crash of wars he obtained from God, by the virtue of prayer, that some kings should be conquered, and others come off victorious. And such a grace as this he enjoyed, not only while alive in this world, but even after his departure from the flesh, as God, from whom all the saints derive their honour, has made him still a victorious and most valiant champion in battle. I shall give one example of especial honour conferred by Almighty God on this honourable man, the event having occurred the day before the Saxon prince Oswald went forth to fight with Catlon (Ceadualla of Bede), a very valiant king of the Britons. For as this same King Oswald, after pitching his camp, in readiness for the battle, was sleeping one day on a pillow in his tent, he saw St. Columba in a vision, beaming with angelic brightness, and of figure so majestic that his head seemed to touch the clouds. The blessed man having announced his name to the king, stood in the midst of the camp, and covered it all with his brilliant garment, except at one small distant point; and at the same time he uttered those cheering words which the Lord spake to Jesua Ben Nun before the passage of the Jordan, after Moses' death, saying, "Be strong and of a good courage; behold, I shall be with thee," etc. Then St. Columba having said these words to the king in the vision, added, "March out this following night from your camp to battle, for on this occasion the Lord has granted to me that your foes shall be put to flight, that your enemy Catlon shall be delivered into your hands, and that after the battle you shall return in triumph, and have a happy reign." The king, awaking at these words, assembled his council and related the vision, at which they were all encouraged; and so the whole people promised that, after their