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

by Anonymous

THE

LIFE OF SAINT COLUMBA,

ABBOT AND APOSTLE OF THE NORTHERN PICTS

AND PATRON OF THE MONASTIC ORDER IN IRELAND.

"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."

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CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND HOLY DISPOSITIONS OF ST. COLUMBA—HIS ECCLESIASTICAL TRAINING AT ST. FINNIAN'S—HE RECEIVES THE HOLY ORDER OF DEACON

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.