Colum Cille [Columba]

Colum Cille [Columba] (?521-597), one of the three patron saints of Ireland, the others being Patrick and Brigit. Born in Gartan, Co. Donegal, he was baptized Crimthann and given the name Colum Cille (‘dove of the church’) by an angel. Educated at monasteries in Moville and Clonard, he founded churches in Derry, Swords, Durrow, and Kells. A dispute over the ownership of a Psalter was settled by Domnall, the High King, whose judgment went against Column Cille. Sailing to Iona with twelve others, he founded a monastery which became an ecclesiastical centre in Scotland, Northern Britain, and Ireland. In 575 he attended the convention of Druim Ceat, when he intervened on behalf of the bardic order. At his death he was buried on Iona. The poem Amra Choluim Cille (Eulogy of Colum Cille) was written shortly after his death. Vita Columbae, a Latin life, was written a century later by Adamnán. He became the supposed authority for many prophecies. Many traditional stories about the saint are narrated in Maghnus Ó Domhnaill's 16th-cent. life, and he is described in John Colgan's Triadis Thaumaturgae (1647).