Collect
O God,
you girded your servant Columba
with the cincture of holiness
and made him a pilgrim for Christ
in the midst of the Irish and Scottish peoples.
Grant that, having his life and labours in remembrance,
we may rest upon your love and be cheerful in all adversities,
as we await the redemption of all things
in your well-beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
On June 9 we remember Columba, a mighty abbot in sixth-century Ireland, who ruled a network of monasteries in his native land and helped to lay the foundation of the Christian Church in Scotland.
Born into the clan O’Neill, Columba lived at a time when the druids, the priests of Celtic paganism, still held sway. He became known as someone whose Christian holiness allowed him to command the magic of the druids and to bend it to the will of Christ. Then, at the age of forty-two, he left Ireland in order to become, as a later biographer said, “a pilgrim for Christ.” He and twelve disciples settled on Iona, a small island off the western coast of Scotland.
By becoming “a pilgrim for Christ,” Columba meant to set a more perfect course for his inward voyage with the Lord — that is, to enter more deeply into the life of prayer and penance. But he was committed to helping others become “pilgrims for Christ,” too. So, from Iona, he founded several new monasteries in Scotland.
Missionary work was a by-product of these foundations. The still-pagan Scots were greatly impressed by the austere life of the Irish monks, and even more by Columba’s own powers. His disciples seized the opportunity and began to preach the Gospel. Before long many Scottish tribes were converted to Christ. Columba himself made a few journeys into the Scottish mainland, and he seems to have had a hand in converting at least one important chieftain. As a result, Columba came to be regarded as the Apostle of Scotland; and that is how we remember him today, which is the traditional anniversary of his death in the year 597.
IMAGE
Iona Abbey istock-1394201734 Credit: Michael Wood-Wilson