The Life of Saint Columba, Abbot, and Apostle of the Northern Picts

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Iste est qui ante Deum magnos virtutes operatus est, et de omni corde suo laudavit Dominum.
This is he who before God operated wonders, and with all his heart praised the Lord.
AFTER having attempted to write the life of our illustrious St. Patrick, with that of his spiritual daughter Bridget, the saintly patroness of Ireland, it is but meet, and may be expected, that we should also endeavor to furnish the biography of the holy Columba, or Columkille, who, living almost in the same era, filled with the same spirit, and enclosed in the same shrine, has ever been deemed with them one of Erin's chief patrons, his name being interwoven with theirs in the reminiscences of Irish piety.
This glorious saint was born about the close of the year 521, so that as a spiritual star, he began to rise in the firmament of the Irish Church, just as St. Bridget had disappeared therefrom to shine in heaven. His birth and future eminence were predicted during the lifetime of St. Patrick, perhaps by the holy apostle himself. By his father, Mancanava, the blood of the Nialls, princes of Tyrconnel, flowed in his veins, while by his mother Aethena, who drew her origin from an illustrious family in Leinster, he was connected with Caithir, the reigning monarch of all Ireland.
When the period arrived which terminated the holy deacon's residence in the monastery of St. Finnian, feeling desirous of becoming still more perfect in virtue and learning, he did not on leaving Moville at once return home, but for some time placed himself under the tuition of a certain master named Germanus, who had recently come from a foreign country, and had already acquired a high reputation in Ireland for piety and literature. The same special Providence who had hitherto watched over and illustrated the opening career of our saint, still continued its loving care of him. His new preceptor clearly saw that Columba was a cherished object of the divine predilection, having among other proofs less equivocal, evidence that the Almighty on a certain occasion revealed to him the judgment which he was about to visit on a guilty individual.