Adamnán

Adamnán (?627-704), Abbot of Iona from 679 and biographer of Colum Cille; born probably in Donegal. His Vita Columbae (Life of Colum Cille), composed some time between 690 and 700, includes an appeal for the peaceful celebration of the Easter season. He also wrote a description of the Holy Land (De Locis Sanctis). A vision attributed to him forms the subject-matter of Fís Adamnáin, in the Book of the Dun Cow.

Abbot of Iona, Argyllshire (now Strathclyde), 679–704; tenth in line of succession from Iona’s founder, Colum Cille (St Columba). Author of Vita Columbae, a Latin life of Colum Cille, in 690–700, nearly a century after the saint’s death (c.597) and attributed, but unlikely, author of Fís Adamnáin [A Vision], a portrayal of heaven and hell that was widely read in medieval times and is sometimes cited as an anticipation of Dante. Credited with the founding of Dunkeld, Tayside (until 1974, Perthshire), later an important centre of Celtic Christianity. Adamnán is the patron of the Diocese of Raphoe, Co. Donegal; feast-day 23 September.