Adomnan of Iona

Adomnan or Adamnán [ 'aðavnaːn ], Latin Adamnanus , (* around 628; † 23 September 704 ) was an Irish saint, hagiographer and the ninth abbot of Iona (679-704).

He is particularly known for his two most important works as an author: Vita Columbae ("The life of St. Columban ") and De locis sanctis ("On the holy places"). He was also known as the herald of the Law of the Innocents ("Law of the Innocents", also Cáin Adomnáin , "Adomnáns Canon"). His academic achievements, which were already praised by contemporaries such as Bede and Ceolfrith , he probably owes to an education he enjoyed exclusively in his home country. In the accounts of those contemporaries, he is described as having a relatively high standard of criticism, a great deal of literacy in the scriptures, and meticulous accuracy in handling his material.

etymology

St. Eunan's Cathedral, Letterkenny

To date, different sources have used many different ways of spelling Saint Adomnán. The most prominent variants are Adomnán and Adamnan. The spelling A dom nán was probably the spelling he used himself and there is evidence that this spelling prevailed at least into the 10th century. But already in the old Irish period the middle vowel between non- palatal consonants changed to -a-, which led to the etymology "little Adam". Adomnán's name has been associated with at least 30 places. In Ireland , a popular form of his name is Saint Eunan, derived from the Gaelic- Irish Naomh Adhamhnán . In his home county of Donegal alone , at least four institutions are known to bear the name of St. Eunan, including St. Eunan's Cathedral of the Church of Ireland in Raphoe , where Adomnán himself worked, and the Roman Catholic St. Eunan's Cathedral in Letterkenny . In relation to Scottish place names, its name has been changed to Eodhnan and similar forms. There was even a church of Adomnán near Forglen in Banffshire , which may have already existed during Adomnán's lifetime.

resume

Adomnán was born around 628 and was the son of Ronan, son of Tinne and Ronnat of the Cenél n Enna . A descendant of Colmán mac Sétna , ancestor of the kings of Cenél Conaill and cousin of Columban , he belonged to the latter's family. His place of birth can be established with some certainty as County Donegal. However, some sources further limit this to the district of Raphoe in the east of Donegal and some to Tir-Aedna ( Tirhugh ) in the south of Donegal. However, the sources agree on the point that Adomnán did not receive his early training on Iona, as he did not personally know an abbot before Failbe (669–679). Some say he may have studied in Clonard prior to joining the Columban community . He was appointed abbot of Iona Monastery in 679 , ninth in succession to its founder, Columban. Adomnán was presumably in charge of the monastery from 673 to 676, while his predecessor Failbe was in Ireland.

Early in his office, probably around 686, Adomnán met Arculf , a Gallic bishop who had traveled to the Holy Land and other countries in the East and who was staying in Iona for a while. He provided Adomnán with information about the holy places of these lands, which led to his first important work: De Locis Sanctis . His family ties to Ireland and his position as head of the Colombian monk community led him on diplomatic and political missions in Ireland and Northumbria . Adomnán visited King Aldfrith of Northumbria in 686 as an Irish ambassador to ensure the release of 60 Irishmen who had been captured two years earlier by his predecessor Ecgfrith . During this mission he spent some time with the Abbot Ceolfrith at Wearmouth or Jarrow and was persuaded to adopt the Roman rules regarding the time of Easter and tonsure . He also succeeded in converting the Iona subordinate monks in Ireland to these rules, but his efforts to convince those on Iona themselves of the need for such reforms failed.

According to his contemporary Beda - who was a monk there during Adomnán's visit to Wearmouth - he presented a copy of De Locis Sanctis to King Aldfrith , but it is not certain whether he did this on his first visit or on his second in 688. Adomnán visited Ireland at least twice during his lifetime, first in 691 and again in 697. During his second visit, he promulgated the Law of the Innocents . Apparently he stayed in Ireland from 697 and did not return to Iona until the summer of 704. According to the records there, Adomnáns died in Iona on September 23, 704, at the age of 77.

Works

Adomnán is known for three works from his pen: The most important biography / hagiography of the founder of Iona, the Vita Columbae ( Life of Columba - "The life of Columban"), the collection of reports on holy places, De Locis Sanctis ("About the Holy Places ”) and the Law of the Innocents .

The Vita Columbae is less a biography of Saint Columban than a collection of his miracles in the service of God. It was probably written in Iona and was completed no earlier than 688, possibly either 690 or 696 or later, as suggested by various passages of the Vita. Completion before 697 is considered certain, however, since Adomnán did not stay in Iona from that year until shortly before his death.

The Law of the Innocents - Cáin Adomnáin , "Adomnáns Canon" was promulgated in 697 at a synod held at Birr , County Offaly . It aims to protect women, children and men from holy orders against violent acts in war and peace. Penalties were to be paid in part to "Adomnán and his community", i.e. Columban's community of monks. Although some other works are said to have been written in whole or in part by Adomnán, the two most important, De Locis Sanctis and the Vita Columbae, are the only known works that can be ascribed to him with sufficient certainty.

literature

Text editions and translations

Vita Columbae

• Alan Orr Anderson , Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson (Eds.): Adomnan's Life of Columba . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991 (critical edition with English translation; revised version of the 1961 edition)
• Theodor Klüppel: Adamnan: The life of St. Columba from Iona. Vita S. Columbae . Hiersemann, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-7772-1009-4 (translation with introduction)

De Locis Sanctis

• Paul Geyer: Itinera hierosolymitana saecvli IIII-VIII (= Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum Volume 39). Tempsky, Vienna 1898, pp. 220–297 (Latin text edition, digitized version ).
  • reprinted with minor improvements in Itineraria et alia geographica (= Corpus Christianorum , Series Latina Volume 175). Brepols, Turnhout 1965, pp. 177-234 (Latin text edition).
• Denis Meehan (Ed.): Adamnan's De Locis Sanctis . The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin 1958 ( Scriptores Latini Hiberniae . Volume 3) (pp. 36–120 Latin text edition by Ludwig Bieler with English translation and commentary).
• Herbert Donner : Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The oldest accounts of Christian pilgrims to Palestine (4th – 7th centuries) . Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart 1979, ISBN 3-460-31841-4 , pp. 315-421 (German translation and commentary).

Secondary literature

• Alfred P. Smyth: Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000 . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1989, ISBN 9780748601004 .

Web links

Wikisource: en: 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica / Adamnan  - Sources and full texts