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.
CHAPTER III.
ARRIVAL OF ST. COLUMBA WITH HIS MONKS IN HY, WHERE HE BUILDS A CHURCH AND MONASTERY—HE PREACHES TO THE NORTHERN PICTS, AND WORKS TWO STUPENDOUS MIRACLES—OTHER MISSIONARY LABORS OF THE SAINT—HIS CONNECTION STILL WITH IRELAND AND INTEREST IN IRISH AFFAIRS—HE RETURNS TO THAT COUNTRY AND MAKES THE VISITATION OF HIS MONASTERIES, &c.
THE first care of Columba and his monks on arriving at their destination, was to erect a monastery and build a church. A period of nearly two years seems to have been engrossed in the completion of these undertakings, as well as in the settlement of disciplinary matters connected with the new establishments. When these were arranged, the saint proceeded to execute his purpose of evangelizing the Northern Picts, who occupied all that part of Scotland northward of the Grampian mountains. No missionary had as yet appeared in this inhospitable clime; the formidable barrier which separated its inhabitants from their southern neighbors, hitherto preventing the glad tidings of salvation from being wafted to their coast. The work seemed reserved for our own Columba, and to it he went accompanied only by a few of his disciples, with all the zeal and firmness which ever characterizes the truly apostolic man.
The news of his arrival having reached the ears of Brude, the sovereign who held dominion in these parts, he shut himself up within the walls of the royal residence at Inverness, hoping there to remain undisturbed from the intrusion of the man of God. Fearing, however, that the solicitude of the latter for his conversion should prove superior to this precaution, he moreover issued orders that if the saint approached, the palace gates should be closed against him. The apprehensions of the prince were realized; for, anxious to obtain the regal sanction, the royal mansion was the first place which Columba visited.