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Columcille, Apostle of Scotland
great number of other monasteries and schools in Ireland,
of which thirty-seven are clearly marked, among them
Kells, Swords, Drumcliff, Screen, Kilglass and Grumcolumb.
He was at this time at the height of his powers
and enjoyed a reputation second to none in Ireland. His
activity was prodigious and opposition appears to have
kindled it into a fiercer flame. There is at this period
little evidence of the Columcille 'described by Adamnan, 1
"beloved by all" in whom "a holy joy ever Seaming on
his face revealed the joy and gladness with which the
Holy Spirit filled his inmost soul." That: seems to have
been a later development. Columcille during this period
displays all the ardor, the passion, and the self-will of
Irish writers
his masterful character and is credited by
with having been the prime instigator of three bloody
wars.
The events which led to the battle of Culdreimhne,
which was fought in 561 and which is traditionally assigned
as a cause of Columcille's exile to lona, cast a dramatic
light on the feelings and aspirations of the epoch, the
union and clash of barbaric passion and the highest cul-
ture, culminating on the lofty stage set by the Irish nation
in parliament assembled under the ancient Truce of God
at Tara. Finnian of Moville, with whom Columcille
had first studied, had visited Rome and returned with a
copy of the Psalms, probably the first translation of the
Vulgate of St. Jerome that had appeared in Ireland. Finnian
apparently valued his treasure so highly that he did
not want anyone to copy it, but Columcille, who was a
1 The commentator on the Felire of JEngus describes Columcille as "a
man well formed, with powerful frame; his skin was white, his face broad,
and fair and radiant, lit up with large, grey, luminous eyes; his large, well
shaped head was crowned, except where he wore his frontal tonsure, with
close and curling hair. His voice was clear and resonant, so that he could
be heard at the distance of 1,500 paces, yet sweet with more than the sweetness
of birds." He himself in one of his poems speaks of his "grey eye that
looks back to Erin."
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