Columba, Saint

(fl. 543-615)

   Born in Tyrconnell, now County Donegal, Ireland. His father-grandson of Conall Gulban, from whom the northwest of Ulster takes its name of Tirconaill, and great-grandson of Niall Naighiallach, king of Ireland from 379 to 405 - was chief of a mountainous district in the northwest of Ireland. Columba (known in Ireland and the western isles as Columcille) is credited with the main role in the conversion of Scotland to Christianity. He and his 12 disciples erected a church and a monastery on the island of Iona, Inner Hebrides, Scotland (c. 563) as their springboard for the conversion of Scotland, in the time of Aidan MacGabrain of Dunadd, king of Dalriada. Columba died at Iona. His feast day is June 9. Restoration of the abbey buildings began in 1938 when Rev. George F. MacLeod established the Iona Community. Several books and Latin hymns are attributed to Columba. Some of his poems: "A Boat Song," "An Invocation," "Farewell to Ireland," "On a Dead Scholar," "Prayer to the Virgin," "St. Columcille the Scribe," "The Boyhood of Christ," "The Maker on High."

   Sources: An Antholog y of World Poetry. Mark Van Doren, ed. Reynal & Hitchcock, Inc., 1936. Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Isle of Iona, Scotland (http://www.isleof-iona.com). Iona: A history of the Island. M. McNeil. Blackie and Son Ltd., 1920, republished 1973. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse. Thomas Kinsella, ed. Oxford University Press, 1986. The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse. Robert Crawford and Mick Imlah, ed. Penguin Books, 2000. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.