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St Columba - The Celtic Connection |
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Colum, named Columcille, and in Latin Columba (meaning a dove), was born at Gartan in Tyrconnel, County Donegal, in AD 521. Descended from Niall, King of Ireland, he studied the Scriptures and the lessons of an ascetic life under the Bishop, St. Finian, advancing to the priesthood in AD 546, and in a short time had many disciples. St. Columba’s manner of living was austere yet he was ‘loving to everyone, happy-faced, rejoicing in his inmost heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
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It was on Iona that St. Columba came ashore from Ireland and began the conversion of Scotland. A place of pilgrimage and veneration throughout the centuries, for reasons of faith, it was also the cradle of the Celtic Kingdom of Scotland. The traditional date for St Columba’s landing on Iona (in the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles) is AD 563. |
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He travelled to Inverness to meet King Brude in AD 563. |
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St Columba is believed to have died on Iona, 9th June AD 597, some 34 years after his arrival. |
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