THE APOSTLE OF SCOTLAND
IN the mountain fastnesses of Caledonia beyond the Grampian Hills,
lived a wild and hardy race of men known to their British neighbours as
the Picts or "Painted People." The name had originally been bestowed on
them by the Romans in allusion to their habit of going into battle with
their bodies tattooed all over with strange devices. They were a brave
and warlike tribe, who had resisted the landing of Agricola and his
legions, and after several pitched battles had driven the Roman eagles
triumphantly before them to the sea. In later days they became the
terror of the Britons of Strathclyde and Northumbria, descending upon
them in wild hordes and raiding their country without mercy. These men
were the original ancestors of the Highlanders of Scotland, in whom the
courage and the fighting spirit, typical of the race, have survived
through all the vicissitudes of their country, and who to this day are
acknowledged to be the bravest and hardiest of the soldiers of the
Empire.
It was to this people, like himself of Celtic origin, that Columba was
to carry the priceless gift of the faith, entering with a handful of
unarmed men into the heart of the country which the Roman legions had
feared to penetrate. Brude or Bmidh, the Pictish King, was entrenched
in his fortress on a rocky hill near the site of Inverness. The little
band of missionaries wound their way up the hill, chanting as they went
a psalm of confidence in God. At their head was Columba, bearing aloft
the cross. The tidings of their approach was brought to the Pictish
King, who ordered that the gates of the fortress should be barred
against them and admittance refused.
Broichem, the high-priest of the Druids, the foster-father and chief
adviser of King Brude, was probably responsible for the order, for, the
Christians once admitted, he feared that his influence would be no
longer supreme. Columba, however, was not in the least daunted by this
inhospitable reception. He made the sign of the Cross before the barred
gates and struck them strongly with his clenched fist. Bolts and bars
shot back at his touch, and silently the great gates rolled open to
give the Saint and his companions passage. The King, who had seen the
marvel together with all his Court, was struck with fear, and went to
meet Columba with fair and peaceful words. From henceforth he treated
him with reverence and courtesy, confirming to him the gift of Iona,
which might be considered to lie as much in his territory as in that of
the Dalriadan king, and remaining throughout his lifetime a true friend
and protector.
It was not until some time later that he became a Christian, but the
Druids could foresee the results of his friendly intercourse with the
missionaries, and resolved not to lose their influence without a
struggle. Their bitter enmity was to follow Columba for years, and to
be the chief hindrance to his work amongst the Picts.
The religion of the Druids of Caledonia differed in some degree from
that of the Druids of Britain. The people were taught to worship the
sun, the rivers and the forests. Certain of the streams and wells which
were, said the Druid priests, under the influence of a beneficent
spirit, were wholesome and good to drink, while to taste of others
which they declared to be under the rule of evil spirits, would be
followed by instant death.
The first thing to be done was to convince the people of the falsity of
their belief and to make them cease the idolatrous practices connected
with it. Columba drank in their presence of the water that was supposed
to be deadly, to prove to them that no evil effects would follow. The
Druids pursued him wherever he went, interrupting him continually in
his preaching, holding him up to the derision of the people, and
misrepresenting what he said. Columba bore all their insults with
patience; but when it came to trying to drown the missionaries' voices
in the singing of the psalms of the Church with shouts and mocking
cries, his zeal for God's glory overcame for once his meekness, and he
intoned the holy chant in such a voice of thunder that his adversaries
were silenced, and the King and his people trembled with fear.
In spite of the Druids, crowds flocked to hear the preaching of
Columba, and many were converted to the faith. On one occasion, shortly
after the conversion to Christianity of a whole family, the eldest son
fell ill and died. The Druids were of course at hand to assure the
sorrowing father that the loss of his child was a well-merited
punishment indicted by the gods of his country in consequence of his
apostasy. The man's faith wavered, but Columba was watching over his
converts; and after doing what he could to console the grief of the
boy's parents, asked to be left alone beside the bier to pray. With
tears and entreaties he besought of God to show forth His almighty
power, and the Heavenly Father heard the prayer of His servant and
raised the child to life. Columba led him to his parents, and their
faith in the true God was confirmed for ever. The prayer of
Columbcille, says Adamnan his biographer, was as powerful with God as
that of Elias and Eliseus in the old law, and Peter, John, and Paul in
the new.
One day when the Saint was preaching the Gospel in the island of Skye,
he had one of those flashes of supernatural insight of which we have
spoken several times before. He told his companions that there would
come to them that very day an old Pictish chief who was at the point of
death, and who had tried to lead a good life according to the natural
law of God and the light of his own conscience.
It happened as he had foretold. Towards evening a boat was seen
approaching the coast of Skye, manned by Pictish warriors supporting in
their arms an old man whose trappings proclaimed him to be of noble
birth. Drawing their boat to the shore, they landed and formed a rude
litter with their shields, on which they carried the old chieftain up
the hill and laid him down at Columba's feet. The Saint spoke to the
dying man of the faith of Christ and baptized him, and shortly
afterwards he gave up his soul to God.
On another occasion when they were crossing the mountains, Columba saw
a vision of angels, and exhorted his companions to hasten on their way.
"For," said he, "there is a man of good and honest life waiting beyond
the hills to receive baptism before he dies." They quickened their
pace, and when they reached Glen Urquhart, found, as Columba had
predicted, an old man awaiting their arrival. The holy abbot baptized
him and bade him depart in peace, and the angels whom he had seen on
the mountains carried his soul to heaven.
The chief Druid Broichem had a young Irish slave-girl, taken captive in
time of war, for whose freedom Columba had several times petitioned.
The Druid, who was not likely to look favourably on any request of the
great Christian missionary, even refused to accept the ransom offered
for the girl, though she was pining her heart out for her family and
her home.
Columbcille warned him that if he persistently refused to show mercy to
his captive, the punishment of God would overtake him, and he would die
before Columba himself left the country, but Broichem was not to be
moved. Not long afterwards Columba set out on his return journey to
Iona, but he had hardly reached Loch Ness when he was overtaken by two
messengers from the high-priest beseeching him to take pity on their
master, who had been suddenly taken ill and was in danger of death.
They were assured that the Druid would recover, but only on condition
that he set the Irish maiden at liberty. She was at once sent to
Columba, who found means for her return to her country and her people.
As for Broichem, he was more incensed than ever against the Christians,
and considered how he could best check their growing influence with the
people.
The Druids seem to have had a certain power over the elements, perhaps
through the evil spirits whom they worshipped. They had heard of and
seen the miracles worked by Columba, and resolved to show how superior
their powers of magic were to his.
On the day fixed for the departure of the missionaries, Broichem
threatened that he would cause a thick fog and a contrary wind to
arise, so that it would be impossible for them to embark.
The people were gathered in crowds to bid farewell to Columba, when to
their great consternation the Druid's threat was fulfilled. The fog was
dense and the unfavourable wind blew stormily. This time at least they
had triumphed, or so they thought, and they did not attempt to conceal
their joy.
But Columba, nothing daunted, bade the mariners spread their sails, and
the awe-stricken crowd on the shore beheld the boat flying swiftly
westwards to Iona in the teeth of the contrary wind, as if it had been
altogether in their favour.
The departure was not to be for long. Again and again Columba revisited
the mainland to strengthen and confirm the faith of his converts; and
in course of time churches and monasteries sprang up amongst the
forests and the mountains of Caledonia, little strongholds of
Christianity the beneficent influence of which was soon to penetrate
throughout the length and breadth of the land.
Columba had many faithful helpers in his missionary labours. Malruve, a
kinsman and countryman of his own, soon followed him to Iona to share
in his work among the Picts. He became abbot of Appercrossan, now
Applecross, on the north-west coast of Caledonia, and suffered the "red
martyrdom" some years after the death of Columbcille, at the hands of
Norwegian pirates. St. Canice, the companion of Columba and Ciaran at
Clonard and Glasnevin, also followed his old friend across the sea. He
founded a monastery and a church on the shore of Loch Lagan, and
another in Fifeshire. St. Kenneth, as the Scotch called him, was noted
for his eloquence and learning, and wrote a commentary on the four
Gospels which was much valued in his day.
Drostan, one of the most beloved of the first companions of Columba,
was chosen to govern a monastery founded on the east coast in the
present district of Buchan. When he realized that the breadth of
Scotland would henceforward separate him from the brethren whom he
loved, and the father of his soul, he wept so bitterly that Columba
declared that the new foundation should be called the "place of tears,"
and Dear (Deer) it remains to this day, to prove to us that the
religious life has not the effect, as some people suppose, of hardening
the hearts and freezing the affections of those who embrace it, but
asks only that love go hand in hand with sacrifice in order that it may
be conformed to the love of Christ.