Northumberland, preserved aspects of the cult of
Colum Cille down to the later Middle Ages, includ-
ing some of the important early texts about him. His
cult was also brought to continental Europe by var-
ious means.
BRIAN LACEY
References and Further Reading
Anderson, M. O. Adomnán’s Life of Columba,revised ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Bourke, Cormac, ed.Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba.
Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997.
Clancy, Thomas Owen, and Márkus, Gilbert. Iona: The Earliest
Poetry of a Celtic Monastery.Edinburgh: Edinburgh Uni-
versity Press, 1995.
Herbert, Máire. Iona, Kells and Derry: The History and Hagiog-
raphy of the Monastic Familia of Columba. Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 1996.
Lacey, Brian.Colum Cille and the Columban Tradition. Dublin:
Four Courts Press, 1997.
Lacey, Brian. Manus O’Donnell: The Life of Colum Cille. Dub-
lin: Four Courts Press, 1998.
Lacey, Brian. “Columba, Founder of the Monastery of Derry?—
‘Mihi manet Incertus’.” Journal of the Royal Society of Anti-
quaries of Ireland128 (1998): 35–47.
MacDonald, Aidan. “Aspects of the Monastery and Monastic
Life in Adomnán’s Life of Columba.”Peritia: Journal of the
Medieval Academy of Ireland3(1984): 271–302.
Ó Riain, Pádraig. “Cainnech aliasColum Cille, Patron of
Ossory.” In Folia Gadelica, edited by R.A. Breatnach,
20–35. Cork: Cork University Press, 1983.
Picard, Jean-Michel. “Adomnán’s Vita Columbaeand the Cult
of Colum Cille in Continental Europe.”Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy98C (1998): 1–23.
Reeves, William.The Life of St. Columba, Founder of Hy;
Written by Adomnan. Dublin: The Irish Archaeological and
Celtic Society, 1857.
Sharpe, Richard. Adomnán of Iona: Life of St. Columba. Lon-
don: Penguin Books, 1994.
See alsoAdomnán; Ailech; Annals and Chronicles;
Brigit; Conversion to Christianity; Durrow,
Book of; Hagiography and Martyrologies;
Manuscript Illumination; Paschal
Controversy; Patrick; Poetry, Irish; Poetry,
Latin; Scriptoria
COLUMBANUS (c.540–615)
Columbanus was born in Leinster and died in Bobbio.
He is the earliest Irish Latin author known by name.
He was a scholar,peregrinus(seeperegrinatio), and
abbot. Columbanus can be approached by way of his
own writings (imperfectly preserved) and by the ear-
liest hagiographical account of him by Jonas of Bob-
bio. All of his extant writings, with one exception (the
hymnPrecamur patrem, preserved in the Antiphonary of
Bangor, a manuscript that was written in Bangor before
600 and came to Bobbio a century later) originated
after his departure from Ireland in around 590. Jonas,
the author of his hagiographical account, wrote a gen-
eration after Columbanus’s death. He had no personal
knowledge of Columbanus; his account of the years
in Ireland and in Italy is exceedingly brief. Jonas
appears to have drawn the bulk of his information from
monks in the Burgundian monasteries.
Columbanus “the dove” (a favorite monk’s name in
Ireland) received his first Latin education in Leinster.
His writings show that Latin education of a high stand-
ard was then available in Ireland. Jonas mentions his
teacher Sinilis, probably identical with a renowned
expert in computistics. Columbanus encountered a
woman hermit who encouraged him to become a per-
egrinus. However, before leaving Ireland, he spent some
years in the monastic community of Bangor under its
founder abbot Comgall. Jonas writes that Columbanus
composed in Ireland a commentary on the Psalms, now
lost, and hymns, one of which has survived.
The Latin of Columbanus’s writings is of excep-
tionally high quality; he acquired it in Ireland and had
little opportunity to further it in Gaul. He is believed
to have been familiar with some of the classical Latin
poets, but also with the poetry of Venantius Fortunatus.
Columbanus left for the continent around 590,
together with twelve monks (imitatio Christi) deter-
mined not to come back. Eventually he settled in the
Vosges mountains, then part of the Merovingian king-
dom of Burgundy, and established monasteries at
Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaines. The foundation of
more than one monastery (of which Luxeuil took
pride of place) became necessary when he attracted
a great number of followers from among the native
aristocracy. It cannot be established how his highly
ascetic life proved so attractive. He only worked as
a monastic leader and never seriously entertained the
idea of missionary work. It is likely that the thirteen
Instructiones, which provide the best insight into his
monastic ideals, were written in Gaul. From Luxeuil
he wrote to Pope Gregory I, and among other issues
he requested a copy of Gregory’s Regula Pastoralis,
of which he wrote with respect. This shows that he
was aware of what was current in the Christian world
of his days.
For most of the time Columbanus enjoyed the sup-
port of the regional monarchy, a fact obscured by the
eventual clash. However, he did not want the supervi-
sion of the local bishop, which was the norm on the
continent but was unknown in Ireland. He was sum-
moned to a synod in around 602 to justify himself, but
refused to attend and instead wrote a letter in which
he explained his position (Ep. 2; Walker, 1970).
Another important point of disagreement would appear
to have been the Irish Easter that his monks observed;
in this field he defended the Irish position vigorously,COLUM CILLE