Vignettes from the Lives of the Irish Saints: Saint Colum Cille, the Gambler and the Poor Man

85. Another time when Columcille was in Derry, there came to him a gambler and a poor man. And he gave a groat to the gambler and a penny to the poor man. And it seemed passing strange to all that he gave more to the gambler than to the poor man. God revealed to Columcille that all were amazed thereat. And Columcille bade certain that were present to follow the gambler and the poor man to see what they would do with the money he had given them. And they found the gambler in a tavern drinking the worth of the groat and sharing it with every needy man that came to him. And it is thus they found the poor man: dead upon the road, and the penny Columcille had given him sewed in his garments, and five marks thereto. And they came with these tidings to Columcille.

And Columcille said: “God did manifest to me that the poor man had but thus long to live, and even had his life been long, he would have put to no use either for himself or for any other what he might have; but he would hoard it up, as he hath done the five marks. And albeit the gambler was an evil man in himself, yet did he not hoard what he gat, but with the worth of the groat he sustained himself and other poor men that were in need, and for this I gave him more than I gave the poor man.”

A. O'Kelleher and G. Schoepperle, eds and trans,  Manus O'Donnell, The Life of Colum Cille compiled in 1532, (Chicago, 1918),  77.

The Memory of Saint Colum Cille in Ireland and Scotland

Ireland bore him, Scotland holds his remains. Each country has precious memories of his work and witness. The Irish remember the young firebrand who set his country aflame with his zeal and covered half the land with monasteries and churches. They know his faults and they forgive them. He was a human saint. If his fiery temper led him to do wrong, he made magnificent amends. The Scots have gentler memories of a gentler man, the father of Christianity in their country. Others had come before him, preached their message and built their churches. Their message had been forgotten and their churches had fallen into ruin. But Colum Cille built on a firmer foundation, the rock-like solidity of his faith, and what he built remains to this day.

Desmond Forristal, Colum Cille - The Fox and the Dove (Dublin, 1997, 76-77.)

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Columba and the Dove

Below is a poem which captures the theme of exile which the Irish came to associate with Saint Colum Cille. It draws on the story that an exhausted, windswept bird from Ireland was blown on to the shore of Iona. The saint, for whom thoughts of his beloved northern homeland were never far away, nurses the avian exile back to health and sends him on his way home. The poem was published in an American religious journal of 1904 and the sentimental treatment of the theme of exile would, no doubt, have appealed to an Irish-American readership. In the version of this story which I am familiar with, the bird is actually a heron, but perhaps the writer here draws on the literal meaning of the saint's name - 'the dove of the church'. 

COLUMBA AND THE DOVE.

BY P. J. COLEMAN.

IN exile far from Derry's hill

It ached the sweet Columba sore

He nevermore might gaze his fill

On Erin's loved and lovely shore.

He nevermore might hear the finch

In Fanad's wood beside his home,

Nor watch round craggy cape and inch

The surges of Lough Swilly foam.

No more might see Ben Bulban fling

About his form his cloak of cloud,

Nor royal Edar, like a king,

Blaze out in heathery purple proud.

Nor see the shining salmon leap

The cascade white of Assaroe,

Nor net the trout, nor hear the sheep

Bleat in the meadows of Raphoe.

For so decreed the penance sore

That drove him forth an exiled man :

To see his native land no more,

While grass was green and water ran.

But daily, far from Derry's hill,

He walketh where the breakers roar,

And far through mist and sea-fog still

He watches from Iona's shore.

And gazeth o'er the ocean dim

Through smoking spume and drifting spray,

Where on the sunset's golden rim

His Erin lieth far away.

With arrowy sleet his eyes are blind,

The needles of the tempest sting;

When lo! against the northern wind

What cometh up on weary wing?

What cometh from the distant south,

The holy south where Erin lies?

A prayer leaps to Columba's mouth,

The tears well up within his eyes.

" My little bird from Derry's oaks,

Christ Jesu send him safe ashore,

That breasts the breeze with valiant strokes

Of wounded wing and pinion sore!'

So prays he, and through storm and sleet

It wins to land - oh, blessed thing!

An Irish dove, and at his feet

It droppeth with bedraggled wing.

The tears are on Columba's cheek.

" O little wanderer from home,

What dost thou in Iona bleak ?,'

Why wingest thou across the foam ?

" Why dost thou leave thine Irish nest

'Neath Derry's hill by reedy Foyle?

Oh foolish little bird, to breast

The wind that blusters over Moyle!'

" But thou, assuaged of grief and pain,

Shalt win again to Erin's shore.

O happy dove, to see again

The fields my feet may tread no more!"

So spake the Saint with tearful word,

The while with gentle hand he strook

Its plumage soft and raised the bird

And to his convent's shelter took.

And fed it there and brought it forth,

And set it free with happy smile,

And bade it hasten from the north

And win its way to Erin's isle.

'' O little wanderer from home !

Go, hasten hence and take my love

O'er golden leagues of sunset foam

To Durrow's hill and Derry's grove.

" 'Neath Derry's oaks, God's angels, go,

A shining host in garb of gold.

To Derry's oaks and sweet Raphoe

O take my blessing manifold!'

Up rose the dove in joyous flight

And winged its way unto the south,

As sure as by a beacon-light

The fisher gains the harbour's mouth.

And long with wistful eyes the Saint

Watched by the ocean's margin gray

The bird become more faint and faint

Until it vanished far away.

Catholic World, Volume 79 (1904), 620-622.

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Vignettes from the Lives of the Irish Saints: Colum Cille and Baoithín

One day Columcille and his disciple Beethan were walking along the sea-shore near Dublin. A storm arose, and they saw a ship wrecked by the waves.
"Why did the Almighty permit that ship to be lost?" inquired Beethan.
"One of the crew was a great sinner, and because of his sins those other men suffered shipwreck," Columcille replied.
"It hardly seems just," said Beethan, "that so many should die for the sins of one person."
Columcille did not answer. He knew his disciple spoke without thinking.
They passed on, and the saint took a bee-hive, which he asked his companion to carry. One of the bees escaped and stung Beethan, who dropped the hive. The honeycombs were broken in pieces.
"Why did you destroy the hive?" said Columcille, slyly.
"I was stung!" cried Beethan. "A bee stung my hand!"
"Then because you get a slight sting in one hand from a single bee, you consider the whole hive may fitly be destroyed?"
This time it was Beethan who did not answer.
"So," said Columcille, "the justice of God is not violated, although for the very grievous sin of one a multitude may pay the penalty."

Francis Carty, Two and Fifty Irish Saints (Dublin, 1941), 40-41.

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Goffine's Devout Instruction on the Feast of Saint Colum Cille

June 9 is the feast of Saint Colum Cille and this year there is something of an extravaganza taking place in the northern city of Derry (Doire Cholmcille) to honour him. The event, called The Return of Colum Cille, has been designed by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the man behind the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. There are some pictures of the event at this page, I note that the Loch Ness monster will be making an appearance and I can only hope that more serious elements of Columban tradition might also surface. Below is a much more conventional presentation of the saint taken from a nineteenth-century translation of the work of the German Norbertine, Father Leonard Goffine. Father Goffine looked at the liturgical texts for the day and then provided a commentary in a  question and answer format. I was pleased to see that he gave the full treatment to the feasts of Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid, but his treatment of Saint Colum Cille is not quite so comprehensive and later editions of the work omitted him entirely:

INSTRUCTION ON THE FEAST OF ST. COLUMBKILL OR COLUMBA.
[June 9.]

ST. COLUMBKILL or Columba of most noble extraction was born at Garten in the present county of Donegal, on the 7th of December, 521. From his childhood he devoted himself to the love of God with an entire disengagement of his heart from the world, and in perfect purity of mind and body. In the great school of the holy Bishop Aidan he learned the holy Scriptures and the lessons of ascetic life. Being ordained priest in 546, he began to give instruction in piety and sacred science, and soon formed many disciples. In 550 he founded the great monastery of Durrough, and afterwards many others, so that at the time of his death he had founded no less than one hundred monasteries in Ireland and Scotland. To these monasteries he has given a rule composed by himself.

King Dermot being offended at the great zeal of St. Columbkill in reproving public vices, the holy abbot left his native country, and came into Scotland. This happened in 565. There he preached and performed many miracles. The result of his labor was that he converted from idolatry to the faith of Christ the whole northern nation of the Picts. The southern Picts had received the light of faith long before by the preaching of St. Ninyas.

St. Columbkill's manner of living was always most austere. He lay on the bare floor with a stone for his pillow, and never interrupted his fast. His biographers say that despite his austerity his countenance always appeared wonderfully cheerful, showing the constant interior serenity of his holy soul, and the unspeakable joy with which it overflowed from the presence of the Holy Ghost. Every moment of his precious time he employed for the honor of God, either in praying, reading, writing, or preaching. His incomparable mildness and charity towards all men, on all occasions, won the hearts of all who conversed with him, and his virtues, miracles, and extraordinary gift of prophecy, commanded the veneration of all ranks of men. He was of such authority that neither king nor people did anything without his consent. Four years before he died, St. Columbkill had a vision of angels which caused him many tears, because these angels told him that on account of the prayers of the British and Scottish churches his exile on earth would be prolonged yet four years. Having labored in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold the time of his death, and on Saturday, the ninth of June, kneeling before the altar he received the Viaticum, gave his blessing once more to his disciples, and sweetly slept in the Lord, 597, in his 77th year. He was one of the greatest patriarchs of the monastic order in Ireland, and is justly called “the Apostle of the Picts."

Introit of the Mass: The mouth of the just man shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment: the law of his God is in his heart. (Ps. xxxvi. 30-31.) Be not emulous of evil doers, nor envy them that work iniquity. (Ps. xxxvi. 1.) Glory be to the Father &c.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Let the intercession of the blessed abbot Columba, we beseech Thee, O Lord, commend us unto Thee: that what by our own merits we are unworthy to receive, we may obtain by his patronage. Thro. &c.

Lesson and Explanation, see Feast of St. Anthony, Jan.17th.

Gospel, see Feast of St. Benedict, March 21st.

Rev. L. Goffine, Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, Holydays and Festivals throughout the Ecclesiastical Year, to which are added the Lives of Many Saints (New York and Cincinnati, O., 1880), 775-6.

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Vignettes from the Lives of the Irish Saints: Saint Brigid Exonerates Saint Brón

June 8 is the feast day of Saint Brón of Kilaspugbrone whom hagiography links with both Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid. In the Patrician texts Brón is depicted as an early disciple of our national apostle, appointed by him to found a church in the County Sligo district of Cassell-Irra, now known as Killaspugbrone, literally 'the church of Bishop Brón'. In the Irish Life of Saint Brigid, however, Brón is accused of raping a woman and of being the father of her child. Fortunately, although Saint Patrick is present at the gathering where this accusation is made, Saint Brigid arrives with another of her episcopal mentors, Bishop Mel, and saves the day. There are a number of charming aspects to this account. First, the ever-modest Saint Brigid is depicted as being reluctant to perform a miracle in the presence of Saint Patrick but nevertheless deals firmly with the issue. The mother's sins very publicly find her out and she is ultimately condemned by her own child. Then while the onlookers clamour for the woman caught in the lie to be burned, Saint Brigid is content for the sinner to do penance. Thus she demonstrates her characteristic virtues of modesty and mercy. The last line really says it all: 'The people are delighted, the bishop is liberated, and Brigit is glorified’.

42. INFANT DECLARES ITS FATHER.

Thereupon they come to Tailtiu. Patrick was there. They were debating an obscure question there, namely a certain woman had come to accuse a priest of Patrick’s household of being the father of her child. Brón was the priest’s name. ‘How has this been made out’, said everyone. ‘Not difficult’, said the woman, ‘I had come to Brón to have the veil blessed on me and to offer my virginity to God. This is what this wicked priest did, he debauched me, so that I have borne him a son.’ As they were debating thus, Brigit was coming towards the assembly. Then Mel said to Patrick: ‘The holy maiden Brigit is approaching the assembly and she will find out for you by the amount of her grace and the proximity of her miracles whether this is true or false; for there is nothing in heaven or earth which she might request of Christ which would be refused her. And this is what should be done in this case: she should be called apart out of the assembly about this question, for she will not perform miracles in the presence of holy Patrick. ‘ Brigit comes thereupon. The crowd rises up before her. She is immediately called aside out of the assembly to address the woman, and the priests except Patrick accompany her. ‘Whose is this child?’ [said Brigit] to the woman. ‘Brón’s’, said the woman. ‘That is not true’, said Brigit. Brigit made the sign of the cross over her face and immediately her head and tongue began to swell. Patrick then comes to them into the great hall. Brigit addresses the child in the presence of the people of the assembly, though it had not yet begun to speak. ‘Who is thy father?’ said Brigit. ‘Brón the bishop is not my father but a certain ill-shaped man who is sitting in the outermost part of the assembly; my mother is a liar.’ They all return thanks to God and demand that the guilty one be burned. But Brigit refuses saying: ‘Let this woman do penance’. This was done and the head and tongue lost their swelling. The people are delighted, the bishop is liberated, and Brigit is glorified’.

M.A. O’Brien, ‘The Old Irish Life of St. Brigit: Part I. Translation’, in Irish Historical Studies, Volume 1, no.2 (1938), 132-133.

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Vignettes from the Lives of the Irish Saints: Colum Cille Visits Comgall

On a certain occasion, when St. Columba had sailed in a vessel from Iona Island, to the monastery of Bangor; it happened, that one of his brethren died on board. When landed at the mouth of a river, and at a port, named Iniver Beg, the whole company hastened towards Bangor monastery, where they were received with much joy. Meantime, their deceased companion was laid with the baggage, in a secret part of the vessel. When the voyagers had received a kiss of peace, Comgall washed their feet, and asked, if they had any person, besides the assembled number, during the voyage. St. Columba replied, that one remained on board; Comgall requested, he might be sent for, that he might have an opportunity of enjoying their community's conversation and society. " For," said he, "after the labours of this voyage, the hands and feet of all must find rest, and the vessel with its effects must be taken under our care." St. Columba replied, " That brother will not come, unless you go to him." Without delay, Comgall went to the vessel ; but, not immediately finding the brother, he searched among the luggage, where he thought the monk might be sleeping. There, however, he was found dead. The servant of God was astonished, but betaking himself to prayer, Comgall said, "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ arise, and hasten with me to thy brothers." As if awaking from sleep, the dead man arose, and coming with our Abbot to his monastery, the latter observed, that his companion was deprived of one eye. The saint declared, that as he had prayed to God for a perfect restoration, in all his limbs and body, the monk should not labour under such a defect. At the same time, a fountain of water sprung from the earth, whereon they stood. In its water, the Abbot ordered that monk to bathe his face, when he recovered the eye, which he before wanted. Its lustre continued undiminished, even in his old age.

While St. Columba remained with our saint, they entered a church together, to recite Hours. Afterwards, returning to the monastery for supper, St. Comgall ordered a brother to bring some food, which it was thought the house did not contain. But, on going to the cellar, that brother brought the required viands, which were placed before both great saints. These partook thereof, giving thanks. Knowing this to be the gift of God, St. Columba said to St. Comgall, "O holy father, this food is not to be taken with indifference, for it has not been provided by men, but by God's Angels." Those, who were present, immediately said, "Blessed be God for his gifts".

It is recorded, that on another day, while these two great saints were at table, they saw the devil placed in a seat reserved for the cook of the monastery. Surprised at this sight, the saints entertained suspicions, regarding the virtue of this cook. On being sent for, seeing his place occupied by a demon, the cook cried out with a stern voice, " Wretched demon, what brings you here? or what folly induces you to occupy this seat? Certainly, from my youth I have never served thee, and if otherwise, declare it: fly therefore to the sea-depths, or to the desert solitudes, where thou canst hurt no person." The demon then fled in silence. St. Columba and St. Comgall did penance for harbouring unjust suspicions, concerning that brother.

Note: A paper by Archbishop John Healy on the life of Saint Comgall and the monastery he founded can be found on my other blog here.

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