ST. COLUMBA FOUNDS THE MONASTERIES OF TYRCONNEL AND DURROUGH--
HE IS ORDAINED PRIEST--GLORIOUS TESTIMONY TO HIS SANCTITY--HE
ESTABLISHES OTHER RELIGIOUS HOUSES--AND FINALLY LEAVES IRELAND
FOR HY IN THE HEBRIDES.
BUT the time at length came in which our saint was to do great
things for God, and to realize the projects which he had long
conceived for promoting His glory. The fervent Columba was now
in his twenty-fifth year, and perceiving from the example of
the holy men his contemporaries, as well as those who had
already passed to a glorious immortality, that the great
object which he had in view would be best attained by
multiplying throughout the land monastic institutions, he
determined on laboring for their establishment, that the
edifying example of the members should be every where felt;
their observance of evangelical perfection invariably
furnishing a powerful incentive to the national piety.
Convinced that his native locality had a stronger claim on his
exertions in the good cause, to Tyrconnel did Columba wend his
way to solicit from his princely relatives still in power, a
convenient site for a monastery, with as much of the adjoining
land as might be deemed sufficient for its maintenance. He
succeeded: such a request was quite in accordance with the
noble and generous spirit that has ever characterized true
Irish piety, and the monastery was erected full soon, on a
gentle eminence adorned with a rich grove of majestic oaks,
whence it derived its appellative of _Doire Calgaich_. When
the internal economy of the new fabric was satisfactorily
arranged, when hymns of praise and canticles of joy were sung,
and above all, when the adorable Victim of our salvation was
offered within its sacred precincts, the holy founder prepared
to visit other parts of the country to make them participators
in similar blessings. Dairmagh, now Durrough, was the next
territory in which he erected a monastery; and here too were
his efforts blessed with most complete success; for in a short
time this structure might compete with its parent house at
Tyrconnel, in confering great advantages on the community at
large, as well as upon its immediate vicinity.
The period was now at hand when Columba was to be elevated to
the priesthood; and how did he prepare to enter upon and
receive so great a dignity? We may _imagine_ something of the
holy reverence, the angelic fervor, which he who had been
brought up in the shadow of the sanctuary, and inviolably
faithful to his first grace, brought to the priesthood; his
great interior lights, the result of his purity of heart and
strict union with God, enabling him to see more clearly that
none but saints, or such as resolutely strive for the
perfection of sanctity, are fit to "_stand before the Lord to
minister_ in His sight," to interpose between Him and His
people, and so to speak, "to make, by the word of their mouth,
the sacred body of the Incarnate Word Christ Jesus." It was to
Etchen, bishop of Meath, that the holy candidate had recourse
for ordination. This prelate was descended from an illustrious
family in Leinster, but he had stronger claims to the
veneration of his countrymen than any which can be derived
from a glorious ancestry. Etchen, notwithstanding his noble
birth, was remarkable for apostolic simplicity, and emulating
the example of the first founders of the Catholic church, was
distinguished for the practice of the most exalted virtues.
Columba on arriving at his habitation, found this humble
prelate at the plough, discharging during the hours which his
episcopal functions left free, the laborious duties of a
husbandman. He was welcomed with all that kindness and charity
which religion inspires, and having made known the object of
his visit, was duly ordained priest. Some of our ancient
writers assert, that in commendatory letters from some of the
Irish bishops which Columba produced on this occasion, there
were instructions to Etchen to promote him not only to the
priesthood, but even to the episcopacy, but that it happened
through some inadvertence on the part of the prelate, that
this was overlooked. When apprized of his mistake, he urged
the new priest to permit him to supply the rite of
consecration unintentionally omitted, but Columba conceiving
that the occurrence was directed by divine Providence, could
not be prevailed upon to acquiesce, and formed the resolution
which he ever after faithfully kept, of remaining for life in
the subordinate rank of the priesthood.
After his ordination, Columba returned to Durrough, and ere
departing thence met with one of those trials which are not
wanting to prove the humility and meekness of the saints of
God, but which ended to his glory. The holy man, it seems, had
adopted certain measures regarding his monastery, which being
disapproved of by some of the neighboring prelates, were
deemed a necessary subject of inquiry at a synod then holding,
in a place named Geisille, in the vicinity of Durrough; and
the result of this inquiry was a resolution to visit the holy
founder with an ecclesiastical censure. Apprized of the matter
under debate, the saint proceeded to the synod, which he
reached just as the prelates had determined to impose upon him
this severe punishment. As he entered, Brendan, abbot of Birr,
an ecclesiastic of high character and great influence, rose to
salute and welcome him, which was at once protested against by
the bishops, it being, they said, a great impropriety to show
any mark of attention to a person whom the council had
condemned. "Ah," replied the abbot, "had you seen what the
Lord has been pleased to manifest to me to-day regarding this
His elect, whom you are censuring, you would not have passed
that sentence. Wrong it is, and the Lord by no means
excommunicates him in virtue thereof, but rather more and more
exalts him." The synod were surprised at this remonstrance of
holy Brendan's, and at once the individuals composing it, each
and all anxiously inquired in what manner God had manifested
his approbation of Columba and his measures. The good abbot
then informed them, that while the saint was on the way to the
council, he saw a luminous pillar preceding him, and blessed
angels accompanying him through the plain. "I dare not,
therefore," he continued, "treat him with disrespect, for I
see that he is a man pre-ordained by God to be the guide of
nations to eternal life." This extraordinary announcement made
by a witness whose sanctity was incontestible, induced the
council to reconsider the proceedings which they had adopted
against Columba, and the result was so favorable, that without
further delay, the sentence of excommunication was reversed,
and each person present emulated his brother in treating with
respect and veneration "_him whom the King_" of heaven "_had
chosen_" so "_to honor_."
After leaving Durrough, which took place immediately, it would
seem, on the dissolution of the synod, our holy Columba
exercised his zeal by erecting monasteries in several parts of
the kingdom, similar to those already established in Durrough
and Tyrconnell. "The rule which he gave to his monks, has not
been transmitted to us by any Latin writer; and the Irish
copies of it which have been preserved, have hitherto eluded
the skill of the most patient antiquary. Venerable Bede, in
various parts of his works, has borne most honorable testimony
to their virtue. In glowing colors he paints their chastity,
their poverty, their obedience, the essential virtues of the
monastic state, as well as their patience and indefatigable
efforts to attain the summit of Christian perfection. No
motives but those of charity could induce them to leave their
cells, except at the hours appointed for religious duties and
manual labor. If they ever appeared in public, it was to
reconcile enemies, to instruct the ignorant, to extirpate
vice, and plead the cause of the unfortunate. [1] That much of
their time was devoted to prayer and contemplation, there is
good reason to believe, as well as that their repasts were few
and exceedingly austere, their holy founder himself being of
such mortified habits, that his fast was continual, and that
when he reposed the floor was his bed and a hard stone his
pillow. He must, moreover, have taught his children to love
well that prop, that necessary bulwark, that _sine qua non_ of
the monastic state, _holy silence_, except in time of
recreation, or when duty or necessity required the contrary;
otherwise the happy consequences which resulted, the glorious
fruits which were produced by his conventual establishments,
would never have consoled his piety and crowned his labors.
Unhappily for the glorious cause in which St. Columba was so
engaged, the party feuds and dissensions which disturbed the
peace of his own kinsfolk, interfered with the ulterior
designs which his zeal meditated. So long as he could hope
that his influence would conduce to the termination of the
hostilities carried on between the chieftains and princes of
his family, he was willing to labor for the restoration of
union and peace; but when the continued renewal of contests
and disputes which he thought had been composed by his
decisions, taught him how unavailing had been his efforts, he
resolved to leave Ireland and thus set aside a hindrance which
could not fail to mar his exertions in the cause of heaven.
The northern parts of Britain presented at this juncture many
attractions to induce the saint to select that region as a fit
theatre for his future labors. On the Northern Picts the light
of the Gospel had not yet shone. It is true that the Scots, a
neighboring colony from Ireland professed Christianity, but
the glories of religion had been almost shorn of their
splendor, and it required an apostolic zeal to reinvest them
with all their interest, and rekindle the sacred fire now
slumbering under the embers of sinful indifference. The
prospect of rescuing the Picts from their idolatry, and of
reviving among the Scots connected with him by the ties of
kindred and country, the fervent piety which so pre-eminently
distinguished their common ancestry, afforded, though fraught
with difficulty, the purest pleasure to the soul of Columba,
and which pleasure was heightened by the hope, that in this
region also he might be able to diffuse those monastic
institutions, which had so much benefited and become the pride
and glory of Ireland.
In the vicinity of that part of Caledonia where St. Columba
chose to begin his new career, there is a cluster of isles
known at the present day by the synonyme of "The Hebrides,"
which isles, or at least some of them, seem to have then been
subject to the prince who ruled over the Scottish colony which
had settled in Caledonia. The sequestered site of the present
Hebrides admirably adapted them for the seclusion of the
monastic life, and in such a retreat as they afforded, the
saint felt convinced that the followers of his institute might
devote themselves most freely to the holy exercises of the
cloister. His connection with Conall, the sovereign of the
above colony, (for Conall, like Columba, was lineally
descended from the Dalradian dynasty,) gave reason to hope
that he might obtain permission to found a monastery in one of
these islands: he sought it and was successful; Hy, the
smallest of them, now distinguished by the name of Icolmkille,
being generously bestowed upon him by the prince for his use
and that of his children in Christ. Taking twelve of these
with him, Columba sailed from Ireland, and the weather proving
propitious, all safely arrived at Hy of the Hebrides. The
great things operated there for God deserve, and shall find
place in a new chapter.
[1] Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church.