Two Saints

Two extracts from “A Calendar of Scottish Saints”
by Dom Michael Barrett, OSB.
Printed at the Abbey Press, Fort Augustus, 1919

ST COLUM CILLE OR COLUMBA died A.D. 597 (June 9th)
At twenty-five years of age he founded his first monastery at Derry; this was to be the precursor of the hundred foundations which Ireland owed to his zeal and energy. In these monasteries the transcription of the Holy Scriptures formed the chief labour of the inmates, and so much did Columba love the work that he actually wrote three hundred manuscripts of the Gospels and Psalms with his own hand.

But Columba was not destined to remain in Ireland. From his earliest years he had looked forward to the time when he might devote himself to missionary efforts for the benefit of those who knew not the Christian faith. In the forty-second year of his age he exiled himself voluntarily from his beloved country to preach the Gospel to the pagan Picts. The story of his having been banished from Ireland for using his influence to bring about a bloody conflict between chieftains is rejected by the greatest, modern historians as a fable. Early writers speak of the saint as a man of mild and gentle nature.

On Whit Sunday, A.D. 563, St. Columba landed with twelve companions on the bleak, unsheltered island off the coast of Argyll, known as Hii-Coluim-Cille or lona. For thirty-four years the saint and his helpers laboured with such success, that through their efforts churches and centres of learning sprang up everywhere, both on the mainland and the adjacent islands. lona became the centre whence the Faith was diffused throughout the country north of the Grampians. The monastic missionaries were untiring in their efforts. They penetrated even to Orkney and Shetland.

On Sunday, June 9, A.D. 597, St. Columba was called to his reward. He died in the church, kneeling before the altar and surrounded by his religious brethren. His remains, first laid to rest at lona, were afterwards carried over to Ireland and enshrined in the Cathedral of Down by the side of those of St. Patrick and St. Bridget. All these relics perished when the cathedral was burned by Henry VIII’s soldiers.

St. Columba was a man of singular purity of mind, boundless love for souls, and a gentle, winning nature which drew men irresistibly to God. His labours were furthered by Divine assistance, which was evidenced by numerous miracles. Among the saints of Scotland he takes a foremost rank, and in Catholic ages devotion to him was widespread. The churches dedicated to him are too numerous to mention. He himself founded no less than fifty during his residence in the land which he had chosen as the scene of his labours. Annual fairs were held on his feast at Aberdour (Fife), Dunkeld -each for eight days-Drymen (Stirlingshire), Largs (Argyllshire), and Fort-Augustus (Inverness-shire).

St. Columba’s holy wells were very numerous, for an old Irish record relates of him: “He blessed three hundred wells which were constant.” In Scotland they are to be traced at Birse (Aberdeenshire), Alvah and Portsoy (Banffshire ), Invermoriston (Inverness- shire), Calaverock (Forfarshire), Cambusnethan (Lanarkshire), Alness (Ross-shire), Kirkholm (Wigtonshire ), and on the islands of Garvelloch, Eigg and Iona.

“ST. CUMINE, Abbot, died A.D. 669. (February 25th)
He was the seventh abbot of Iona, and his learning and holiness rank him among the most illustrious monks of that renowned monastery.

The Synod of Whitby, which was instrumental in overthrowing the ancient Celtic computation of Easter and substituting the Roman use, occurred during Cumine's occupation of the abbacy. He wrote a life of St. Columba, probably to vindicate his sanctity after the apparent slight offered to his memory by the synod in setting aside the traditional usage which he had cherished. This life seems to have been the result of St. Colman's visit to lona before his return to Ireland

A more important work is St. Cumine's letter on the Easter controversy, which he wrote before he became abbot, and which shows a thorough acquaintance with the difficulties of the subject, as well as deep knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures and writings of the Fathers. He is often called Cumine Ailbhe (Cumine the Fair-haired). His name survives in Kilchuimein (Church of St. Cumine), the ancient designation of Fort-Augustus, and the only name by which it is still called in Gaelic.

A spot in the same neighbourhood is known as St. Cumine's Return; it is in the vicinity of a hill called St. Cumine's Seat. The parish church of Glenelg also is named after this saint.”