Columban of Iona

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Russian icon depicting St. Columban

Columba (also Columban , Irish Colm Cille [ kɔl̪əm cɪl̠ʲə ], Old Irish Colum Cille [ kɔl̪ʊm cɪl̠ʲe ], German , church dove ' , also Columban Hy , Columban the Elder , * 521 / 522 in Gartan , Ireland ; † 597 on Iona , Scotland ) was an Irish monk and missionary . He is considered one of the "three patrons" and the twelve apostles of Ireland . He is not to be confused with the younger Columban ( Columban of Luxeuil ).

Life

Columban was born in 521 or 522 as Crimthann ("fox"). He belongs to the Kindred Cenél Conaill of the northern Uí Néill (O'Neill) in what is now County Donegal , which in his time put some of the Irish high kings in Tara .

In early youth he was a student of Finnian von Clonard , and around 540 he moved to the Glas Nóiden monastery. Around 546 he founded the monastery Daire Calcaich (Doire, Derry ). Also Durrow is regarded as its foundation, and about 50 other smaller churches in Ireland and Scotland call him as founder.

Columban started the book war when he met St. Finnian from Moville visited Finn in Drumm and secretly copied a book from his library. (The controversial copy of the Gospels supposedly still exists today - it is said to be the book Cathach (Warriors), which is kept in the Royal Irish Academy .) High King Diarmait mac Cerbaill from the Síl nÁedo Sláine in Tara judged: “The calf belongs to the cow , the copy to the book ”. Colum Cille cursed the king, which is believed to be a cause of the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne 561 between Colum Cille's clan and the Hochkönig. After the battle, Columban was excommunicated perhaps because of this, but this was repealed by the Synod of Tailtiu ( Teltown ) on the intercession of Brendan von Birr .

563 or 565 he went into exile ( peregrinatio ) to Alba (Scotland) and founded a monastery with twelve companions on the island of Iona . From there he evangelized with the Picts . (The Hagiographer Colum Cilles, Adomnán mac Ronáin, describes a special episode of this missionary work in the 27th chapter of his Vita Columbae . Colum Cille here orders an aquatic animal in the River Ness to be released from one of his followers. This is where the monster of is mentioned for the first time Loch Ness .) He also returned to Ireland several times. At the death of King Conall I of Dál Riata ( Dalriada ), he intervened in the succession and made Aidan mac Gabhran his successor. In 575 Columban served as a mediator at Druim Cett's royal meeting and prevented the expulsion of the filid (poets) from Ireland. In the 9th and 10th centuries it became customary to ascribe to him Latin and Old Irish church hymns ("Colum Cille cecinit") in order to claim his authority for them. However, his commitment to the old Irish poets, handed down only in the late hagiographies , has led since the Romantic era ( Ossian ) to the fact that he is often assumed to be a trained fili (poet) himself without concrete evidence being able to be produced. According to Adomnán, he died in Iona on the morning of June 9, 597.

Remembrance day

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Columban von Iona  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ PR Wilkinson: Thesaurus of Traditional English Metaphors . 2nd Edition. London 2002, p. 256.
personal data
SURNAME Columban of Iona
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Columban of Iona; Colum cille; Columban of Hy; Columban the Elder
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish church founder and missionary
DATE OF BIRTH 521 or 522
PLACE OF BIRTH Gartan , Ireland
DATE OF DEATH June 9, 597
Place of death Iona , Scotland