ST. COLUMBKILLE-A SAINT OF IRELAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 2998, 9 December 1896, Page 4

ST. COLUMBKILLE-A SAINT OF IRELAND.

Columba waa boln in (lie year A.rl. Of royal lineage, of artistic temperament, and with a poetic, passionate soul, Columba passed a happy youth among the oak groves and beside the creeks and cliffs of Donegal. As a scion, of the princely race of the Hy Nialls <-r O’Donnells, the princes of I’yroonnel, and the lords of Donegal Oastle, Oolumba received the best education the Colleges of his country could give, and wo learn that he was a student at Sc. Furman's School at Mnville, at the Seminary of Q-cmmiau, the Bird of Leiuiter, and at the Monastery of Olonard in Meath.. Uncertain for a time whether to be a warrior for glory, or a soldier of Ohrist, he finally chose the latter career alid Was ordained a priest by tue Bishop of Clonford in County Meath, lie henceforth devoted himself to the foundation of churches, and in twenty years he is reported to have founded thirty-seven churches in Ireland, among which may be mentioned the sees of Daphne, Tory Island, Drumcliffe, and Swprds,

The ealht waa a passionate lover of books, and his devotion to writing led to pis exile from the land he toVed so welt, and to the ‘foundation of the church in Scotland, It happened thus: --3 t. Finnian, of Moville, had a psalter which Columba aidoutly desired tu possess ; so he stole into the. church at .night, and diligently set to Wotk to make a copy The legend runs that he was aided in his pious-work by a miracle, and that be got the light by which to write by holding up the fingers of his left hand, from the tips of which proceeded a miraculous flame. When the copy was completed, and Oolumba wished to remove it from the church, St. Finmtfn Was extremely angry and claimed Ihe Copy, The matter was referred to King Diarmid, who gave the judgment, that as the calf went with the cow, so the son-book went with the toother-book. This judgment of an old Irish king is particularly interesting at the present time, when questions of copyright are frequently raised. This ancient psalter which Oolumba copied is said still to survive, and is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy. It consists of fifty-seven pages, and has a silver cover. It is called the Oathao (Fighter). For hundreds of years it was treasured by the O’Donnells, of Donegal Castle ; and was borne on the breast by the Ohieftain as a talisman on his goinginto battle. Oolumba was highly incensed at the decision ,of King Diarmid, and angered also at another act of the' king, he called to arms the northern Hy-Nialls or O’Donnells, and inflicted a severe defeat on King Diarmid. A synod of the Church was called, and it passed sentence of excommunication on 0 jlumbkillo for having Caused the death of so tnaiiy sons of the Church.' The sentence was eCrtamly subsequently reversed J but the judgments of courts signified nothing to Columba in comparison With the judgment of his own conscience; The man who had the courage to sin had the Still greater courage to repent. Overwhelmed with the burden of his guilt he became a wanderer, and in the course of his wanderings he came to the island of tnnishmllrry, off the coast of Sligo, where lived St. Molaiee, to whoUt he confessed his sins. The penance inflicted by .the saint was a heavy one; Columba was told that he must leaVe the land which he loved so dearly, not Could fie rest until hp had converted from Paganism to Christianity as many souls as the number of men who had been slain in the battle he had provoked. In grief, but with a determination to accept his punishment, Columba set sail from Derry with twelve devoted followers, and turning the prow of their gray curragh northwards they left F/rin behind. Fate, wind, and 1 waves led them to the barren island of lona, on the Scotch coast, and there the party lauded. lona became, under the influence of this heroic saint, the centre from which Christianity spread over Scotland. The life led by the monks was hard. Their time was spent in praying day and night, in teaching and receiving the guests who came from all parts of the world to see the renowned Abbot of lona. Women were not allowed to land on the island, nor did the saint even allow a cow to grace on it, for he said, “ Wherever there is a cow, then there must be a woman so from an island near, his monks fetched every day the milk they required. No longer did Columba wander through the glades of the woods, no longer did his soul flow out in poetry, for the evangelisation of the Wild Soots and Piets became his one absorbing thought and effort. Slinging theircurraghs on their shoulders, St. Columbkille and his monks traversed the wild shores of Scotland, and penetrating up north by way of the lochs, they entered the country of the Piets, or painted men, In Vain the Druidical magi exercised their epelia again at the Evangelists | the saint, of giant stature, with a voice of thunder, of kingly countenance and passionate enthusiasm, swept all before him, and twenty-one Christian churches were planted by him in the wilds of Piot-laud, and thirty-two in the Scottish Dalriada. His old love of writing did not, however, forsake him, and all the time spared from his duties was spent in transcribing MSS. The penance was paid and his sins were absolved, and at length the time came when he might return to Ireland. A great convention of chiefs and clergy was held near Lough Foyle, and Oolumba returned once more to hie beloved Donegal. It is noted that at this convention, St. Columbkille protected the bards and saved them from annihilation. The bards of Ireland of those days held much the same position as the newspapers ,of to-day. They carried the news from town to town, they recorded the deeds of the great, and by their words reputations were made or marred. Their arrogance and influence had become so great, and they exercised their power with so much cupidity, that the popular vote was cast for their total suppression. Ooluiubkille’a sympathy was, however, with the bards, for had be not in h!s fiery poetic youth written soma of the poems they sang ? He argued that the corn must nut be burned because of the weeds, and he pleaded, and with success, that the bards might be spared ; but rules were framed for their guidance and obedience. Dalian, the blind Homer of the Irish bards, was so stirred by gratitude, that he composed a p -cm in praise of St. Columbkille, but fearing to be puffed up by his own praise, he forbade it to be sung. After his death, however, this song kept alive the memory of Ireland’s great saint.

After the convention Culumbkille returned to lona, where his heart’s work now was. Constructing a fleet of leathern barks, he and his monks penetrated to the extreme north of Scotland, and carried the Gospel to the wild islarkts of the west. At last, at the age of seventysix, the time came for this warrior-saint to die. He knew his end was approaching. Placed in a car drawn by, white oxen, he made the round of the farms, bidding farewell to and blessing his followers and friends. Then he entered his coll to transcribe the Psalms for the last time; he had written the 31thPsalm when the weakness of death overtook him, and be lay down on his stone conch to rest. The bell for midnight prayers aroused him, be walked to tbealtar, and knelt before it. .As he prayed the old man fell forward on his face ; the monks rushed to raise him, St. Culumbkille was dead, and the great heroic soul bad passed to God.— Erin.