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Ireland and the Making
of Britain
into Columcille's bosom and which he blest. Adamnan
goes
on :
"And going forth from thence and ascending a small hill, which
rose over the monastery, he stood for a little upon
its summit, and,
as he stood, elevating both his palms, he blessed his community and
said, 'Upon this place, however narrow and mean, not only shall
the kings of the Scots (i. e., the Irish) with their peoples, but also
the rulers of foreign and barbarous nations (i. e., the Picts, English,
etc.) with the people subject to them, confer great and no ordinary
honor. By the saints of other churches also shall no common respect
be accorded it.'
"After these words, going down from the little hill and returning
to the monastery, he sat in his cell writing a copy of the Psalms,
and on reaching that verse of the thirty-third Psalm where it is
written, 'But they that seek the Lord shall lack no thing that is
good:' 'Here,' said he, 'we may close at the end of the page; let
Baithin write what follows.' Well appropriate for the departing
saint was the last verse which he had written, for to him shall good
things eternal be never lacking, while to the father who succeeded
him (Baithin), the teacher of his spiritual sons, the following
(words) were particularly apposite, 'Come, my sons, hearken unto
me. I shall teach you the fear of the Lord/ since, as the departing
one desired, he was his successor not only in teaching but also in
writing.
"After writing the above verse and finishing the page, the saint
enters the church for the vesper office preceding the Sunday ; which
finished, he returned to his little room, and rested for the night on
his couch, where for mattress he had a bare flag and for a pillow
a stone, which at this day stands as a kind of a commemorative
monument beside his tomb. And there sitting he gives his last
mandates to his brethren, in the hearing of his servant only, saying,
'These last words of mine I commend to you, O little children, that
ye preserve a mutual charity with peace, and a charity not feigned
among yourselves; and if ye observe to do this according to the
example of the holy fathers, God, the comforter of the good, shall
help you, and I, remaining with Him, shall make intercession for
you, and not only the necessaries of this present life shall be suffi-
ciently supplied you by Him, but also the reward of eternal good,
prepared for the observers of things Divine, shall be rendered you.'
Up to this point the last words of our venerable patron (when
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