Saint Columba…Columban…Columbanus…Colmcille, he was from a noble family, from the Ulster kingdom of Dál Riata, he was the abbot of Iona, he is the patron saint of poets; and of Derry, the Irish call him Colmcille.
What we know of his life has been magnified by myth. This aggrandizement did not happen merely because the Irish love to boast. Through the aegis of church propaganda his story was augmented by fantastical accounts in a way that was typical of all hagiographies; through these his story took on a supernatural mystique, but Columba…Columban…Columbanus…Colmcille was famous in his day for his missionary work, he built monasteries in Scotland among the Picts, and also on the continent, in Frankia and Burgundia, and as far south as Lombardy.
He lived a long life and did many extraordinary things; he evangelized Europe as a Celtic Christian, setting out from Ireland with twelve companions, like Jesus with his disciples. He was accompanied by his son, Columbanus the Younger, a man known by the name of Cummain.
Some historians believe that Columbanus the Younger continued the work of his father, and that the son is responsible for all the work carried out on the continent in his father’s name, during the time at which the elder Columbanus took up his pen, becoming a prolific writer…two of Colmcille’s poems have survived
As the founder of the abbey at Iona he is credited with preserving a great storehouse of ancient writing through the dark ages, into modern times.
He is Colmcille, father of Cummain…to them belong the stories of Columba…Columban…Columbanus, they are the true patron saints of the Emerald Isle.
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