Irish Saints
Columcille
Columcille (Dove of the Church) was born in AD 521 in Gartan, Co. Donegal, and belonged to the Uí Néill dynasty. He is also know as Columban.
He received his training from Finnian of Moville, at the head of Strangford Loch, where “he learned the wisdom of Holy Scripture.” (Adamnan) After that, he joined the monastery of Clonard, where up to 3000 students received training from another Finnian. These monasteries were the schools or universities of those days. They were also centers of active evangelical outreach.
There are more than 50 monasteries in Ireland and Scotland claiming to be founded by him, probably only 3 (Derry, Durrow and Iona) were founded by Columcille himself, the others by his disciples. These include famous foundations like Kells, Swords, Drumcliffe and Tory.
History's 1st copyright case
Columcille had made an (illegal) copy of a portion of Scripture (the Psalms) from a book that belonged to Finnian. Columcille pleaded that he had in no way injured Finnian's original and that Finnian should not oppose multiplying the Scriptures for the instruction of the people. The High King, Diarmuid, ordered the return of the copy to the owner of the original with “to every cow her calf, to every book her copy!” Another reason for the subsequent war might have been that Diarmuid had killed Curnan, the son of the King of Connaught, while he was under protection of Columcille.
Dairmuid was defeated, and 3000 warriors were killed in the following battle. The copy of the Scriptures (the Cathal) returned to Columcille, but an Irish Synod decided that Columcille was the origin of the war and the death of many men and expelled him.
Iona
Two years after the battle of Cúl Dreimne (near Carny, co. Sligo), in 563 Columcille left Ireland with twelve disciples in an open boat of wickerwork “ wishing to be a pilgrim for Christ.” He sailed to Iona, a small island off the west coast of Scotland, visible from co. Antrim and built a monastery of small beehives huts there. The college of Iona was considered for centuries to be the light of the Western world. Men, eminent for learning and piety, were sent forth to found bishoprics and universities in every quarter of Europe. For thirty-four years Columcille lived and labored on that solitary rock. Occasionally he visited Scotland and Ireland, doing the work of an evangelist among the Scots and Picts, planting churches, and exercising an immense influence over all classes; but his great object was training men for the work of the gospel at home and abroad.
Columcille and the simple monks of Iona are credited with being the first who are mentioned as deferring baptism until a profession of faith was practicable, but sometime later, in the next century, they were crushed by papal edict.
Columban
Columban, a monk of great sanctity, appears to have left about sixty years after Columcille. He was born in Leinster, and trained in the great monastery of Bangor on the coast of Ulster. A society of three thousand monks, under the government of its founder, Comgal, was fostered in this convent.
With a colony of monks he sailed from Ireland about the year 590. He landed in Gaul (France). He found a country that nominally was still Christian, but religious practice lacked much of the fervour and discipline Columban had known in Ireland.
The fame of his piety reached the ears of Guntram, king of Burgundy, who invited him to settle in that country. Declining the king's offer, the abbot requested permission to retire into some unapproachable wilderness. He established himself in the Vosges, where eventually he established a monastery in Luxeuil. For a time the missionaries had to endure great hardships. They had often for days no other food than wild herbs, the bark of trees, and probably fish from the stream. But by degrees they made a favorable impression on the people of the neighborhood. All classes looked on them with reverence. Especially those who were desirous of profiting by the prayers of these holy men sent provisions to them. The supply was described as miraculous. The piety and wonder-working powers of the abbot soon gathered numbers around him. Monasteries arose in different places, and votaries flocked in to fill them.
Columban presided as abbot over all these institutions. Although his delight was ever to wander in the wild woods, or to dwell for days in his lonely cave, he still exercised strict superintendence over all the monasteries that he had formed. Work, diet, reading, time for prayer, and the adjustment of punishment, were all ruled by himself. As an independent Irish missionary he ignored many rules that applied to the establishment and rule of monasteries. He had many disputes with his neighbors as to the time of keeping Easter. He wrote on the subject to Pope Gregory and to Boniface, and placed the church of Jerusalem above that of Rome, as being the place of the Lord's resurrection. He labored also in Metz, Switzerland, and Italy; after founding many monasteries, he died in Rome in 615.
Gall
His best know disciple was Gall, who had accompanied him in all his fortunes. Gall was ill when his master passed through Italy and could not follow him, but was left in Switzerland. He preached to the Swiss in their own language, founded the famous monastery which bears his name, and is honored as the apostle of Switzerland. He died about the year 640.