Life of Saint Columba Part 2

There the wind sings through the oaks and the elms, The joyous note of the blackbird is heard at dawn, The cuckoo chants from tree to tree in that n.o.ble land.

And again he calls it:

A city devout with its hundred crosses, Without blemish and without transgression.

In the years to come, when Columba was in Iona, one cold winter's day the brethren noticed that their beloved abbot was sad and silent.

"What ails you, Father?" asked Diarmaid, his faithful companion.

"My soul is sorrowful," said Columbcille, "for my dear monks of Durrow.

Bitter is the weather, and their abbot keeps them hard at work, fasting and a-cold."

At the same moment Laisren, the abbot of Durrow, felt a sudden inspiration to bid his monks get their dinner, and take a little rest, on account of the severity of the weather. Another day about the same time, when the monks of Durrow were building their new church, Columba in his cell at Iona saw one of them falling from the roof. He cried to G.o.d for help, and his guardian angel--such is the flashlike speed of an angel's flight--caught the monk ere he touched the ground.

More famous even than the "Book of Durrow" is the celebrated "Book of Kells," the most wonderful monument of the art of the Sixth Century that has come down to us. It was written also by the hand of Columbcille for Kells, his third foundation, though some of the ill.u.s.trations were probably added at a later date.

The story runs that not long after the foundation of Durrow, Columba went to Kells, one of the royal seats of Diarmaid, High King of Ireland. Now Diarmaid belonged to the southern branch of the Hy-Nialls and was regarded by the northern branch with no great favour. When Columba arrived the King was absent, and the Saint was treated with scant ceremony by the soldiers of the royal guard, to whom he was probably a stranger. When Diarmaid returned and heard of the insult that had been offered in his royal palace to the greatest and most beloved of the Saints of Erin, one of the royal blood and his own cousin, he was ready to make atonement by any means in his power. He offered to give Columba Kells itself and the surrounding country for the founding of a monastery and a church.

It is possible that Diarmaid, whose seat on the throne was anything but secure at the time, was not unmoved by the thought that the powerful clan of the Hy-Nialls of Tir-Connell would not be slow in avenging the insult to one of their clan. However that may be, Columba accepted the gift with grat.i.tude, and so the monastery and the church of Kells came to be built.

The great Gospel of Columbcille, or the "Book of Kells," has been the admiration of all ages. The patience and the delicate skill required for such an undertaking is to be wondered at. Certainly the old monks believed that if a thing were worth doing at all it was worth doing well, particularly if that thing happened to be a copy of the Gospels of Christ.

The untiring zeal and the labours of Columba had indeed brought forth fruit throughout the whole country. His friends and kinsfolk were generous, and churches and monasteries built by the Saint and owning him as their patron and head sprang up in every direction. Derry, Durrow, Kells, Raphoe, Sords, Drumcliff, Kilmacrenan, Drumcolumb, Glencolumbcille are but a few of his foundations. More than ever might it have been said of St. Columba that he was beloved of G.o.d and of man.

But G.o.d shows His love for His Saints in ways which are not the ways of men, and the chastening fires of sorrow and of suffering were to purify that ardent and impulsive nature. The haughty spirit of the descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages had yet to be conformed to that of his great Master Who is meek and humble of heart.

CHAPTER IV

THE COW AND THE CALF

WE have already spoken of the pilgrimage to Rome of St. Finnian of Moville, and of the treasure that he had brought back with him from over the sea--a copy of the Scriptures translated and corrected by the hand of the great St. Jerome himself. Columba, when at Moville, must often have seen and perhaps even have handled the precious volume. In later days, so great was his desire that each of his monasteries should have its copy of the Word of G.o.d, that he would seek out and transcribe with his own hand all the most carefully written and most authentic ma.n.u.scripts to be found in Ireland.

The love of these old books, regarded by the Saints of Ireland as their most precious treasure, amounted almost to a pa.s.sion with Columba, so that we are hardly surprised to find him journeying to Moville to ask permission from his old master to make a copy of his rare and valuable ma.n.u.script. But he was met by an unexpected rebuff; St. Finnian guarded his treasure with a jealous eye, and feared to trust it in any hands but his own. He firmly refused the request of his old pupil, and no entreaties of Columba could move him from his decision. But the determination of Columbcille was equal to his own, and he resolved to obtain the object of his desire in spite of St. Finnian's prohibition.

He waited until all had gone to rest, and then, armed with parchment and pigments, went softly to the church, where the precious book was kept. Night after night, in spite of weary hand and eye, he laboured at his self-imposed task until the day broke, and men began to stir. To undertake the transcription of the whole book would have been an impossibility, working thus secretly in the night; he therefore confined himself to copying the Psalter. To Columba, poet as he was by nature, the psalms of the "sweet singer of Israel" were particularly clear, and the wording of the new version gave the force and the melody of the original more perfectly than any rendering up till then in use.

The lonely vigils in the church pa.s.sed quickly, in spite of the weariness that a.s.sailed but could not daunt the enthusiastic scribe.

One night, one of the scholars of Moville, happening to pa.s.s the door of the church, was astonished to see a bright light s.h.i.+ning through the crevices of the door. He stooped and looked through the keyhole.

Keyholes as well as keys were on a large scale in the sixth century, and he obtained a good view of the interior, and of Columba bending over the reading desk with a pile of parchment before him, copying with skilful hand the treasure of Moville. The whole chancel was s.h.i.+ning with a brilliant light which fell directly across the page on which the writer was at work.

The young man, awestruck at the sight, crept softly away, and warned his master of what was taking place. St. Finnian knew Columba's skill in transcription. He made no move until the Psalter was completed, and his old pupil was preparing to depart. Then he accused his guest of having taken a copy of his book without his permission and against his will, and claimed the work as his rightful property.

This was to touch Columba in a tender spot. His nocturnal labours had cost him many weary vigils, but he had borne the weariness gladly for the sake of the prize--to give up the fruit of so much toil was more than could be expected of him. He flatly refused to yield to Finnian's claim. The old man was determined; Columba was firm; neither would give way. It was agreed in the end to appeal to the King at Tara, and to hold his judgment as final. Diarmaid might be considered as a fit judge in such a matter. The friend and patron of the great monastery of Clonmacnoise, founded by Ciaran in his presence and with his help, the King was looked upon by all the Saints of Ireland as their friend.

Moreover, he was Columba's own cousin, and had treated him on a former occasion with reverence and consideration. Columba himself had no doubt that the judgment would be in his favour, and went readily at Finnian's suggestion to lay the matter before him.

But Diarmaid's position on the throne was more secure than it had been in former days. He may have thought that he had less reason to fear the enmity of the Hy-Nialls of Tir-Connell. He had heard much of the sanct.i.ty of Columba, and may have supposed that in spite of his high lineage he would be ready to bear with patience an adverse judgment. He may have been actuated by the old enmity between the two branches of the family; or he may have decided according to his own conscience as he thought right and just. Be that as it may, the judgment came as a thunderclap to Columbcille.

"To every cow," said the King, "belongs its own calf." Since the copy of Columba was the "son-book" of the ma.n.u.script of Moville, it belonged by rights to its mother, and therefore to Finnian.

Columba's indignation knew no bounds. The judgment was unfair and unjust, he declared; Diarmaid should bear the penalty. With das.h.i.+ng eyes and burning heart he turned his back on King and courtiers, and strode from the royal presence.

He was now a man with a grievance, who considered that he had been most unjustly treated, but the resentment which was as yet but smouldering in his heart was soon to be fanned into a flame.

It came to pa.s.s that Diarmaid made a great feast at Court and invited all the princes and n.o.bles of Erin to attend. Games were held for several days in the green meadows of Tara, that the young athletes might show their skill in wrestling. Now brawling and quarrelling at these royal games had been strictly forbidden by the King on account of the serious accidents that had happened on former occasions. But the blood of young Ireland was hot and undisciplined, and in a moment of anger, Curnan, the heir of the Prince of Connaught, struck the son of the King's steward and felled him to the ground. The act was altogether unpremeditated, but the blow had struck the lad in a vital spot; when they tried to raise him, they found that he was dead. Young Curnan dared not face the wrath of Diarmaid, and fled for protection to Columba, who was his kinsman.

It was an acknowledged thing that an abbot or the founder of a religious house had the right to give sanctuary even to great criminals, and the claim was universally respected. But Diarmaid was very angry and sent messengers who dragged the boy from the very presence of Columba and'put him to death on the spot.

This fresh insult was more than Columbcille could bear. The rights of the Church had been violated in his person. His own people, the Hy-Nialls of the north, should judge between him and Diarmaid, he declared, and set forth on his journey northwards, breathing vengeance as he went. The King himself was not a little apprehensive as to what might be the results of his arbitrary action; he stationed guards on all the roads that led northwards, and even tried to detain the fugitive in prison. But Columbcille successfully evaded the traps that had been set to catch him, and by a lonely path across the mountains went his way to Tir-Connell. As he journeyed he sang a song of confidence in the G.o.d in whom he trusted to protect the right.

I am alone upon the mountain Do Thou, O G.o.d, protect my path.

Then shall I have no fear, Though six thousand men were against me.

What protection shall guard thee from death?

The Son of Mary shall cause thee to prosper.

The King who has made our bodies He it is in whom I believe.

My Lord is Christ the Son of G.o.d, Christ, the Son of Mary, the great abbot, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

So singing he went speedily and in safety to his own country, where he recounted his wrongs to the men of his own race.

Aedh, Prince of Connaught, the father of the lad who had been so cruelly put to death, was already preparing for vengeance. The chiefs of Tir-Connell joined him, hot in Columba's cause. The men who gathered to avenge the insult made a formidable army, and Diarmaid on his side lost no time in gathering his forces for battle.

The encounter took place at Cuil-dreimhne, between Balbulbin Mountain and the sea, and the fight was long and b.l.o.o.d.y. Columba, say some of the old writers, was himself present, and prayed with outstretched arms for the victory of his people.

Three thousand of Diarmaid's men fell on the field of battle, while the losses of the Hy-Nialls of the north, such was the efficacy of the prayers of Columbcille, were comparatively slight. The victory was complete, but Diarmaid was not the man to take his defeat meekly.

He appealed to the Church to judge the conduct of Columba. Did it seem right and good, he asked, that a priest and an abbot, the founder of religious houses, and one who had dedicated his life to the service of Christ, should have provoked a b.l.o.o.d.y war which had been the death of thousands of innocent men? The churchmen looked grave. The case thus stated did not promise well for Columba.

He was the friend of all: the zeal and fervour of his life, the charity and generosity of his heart were known throughout the length and breadth of Erin. There was but one weak point in that n.o.ble nature--the haughty spirit that had come to him with the hot blood of the Hy-Nialls; and certainly he had been sorely tried by circ.u.mstances.

Yet--the fact was incontestable--his conduct as an abbot and as a priest was open to the gravest censure. He was ordered to appear before an ecclesiastical council which was summoned to meet at Teilte in the heart of the King's domains to hear the judgment that should be p.r.o.nounced upon him by the Saints of Erin.

CHAPTER V

A BITTER PENANCE

MANY of the holiest men in Ireland were present at the Synod of Teilte.

St. Enda of Aran had pa.s.sed from his life of penance to the glory which is eternal; but St. Brendan of Birr, and probably his namesake the Bishop of Clonfert, with his a.s.sistant St. Moinen, Oena of Clonmacnoise, successor of the saintly Ciaran, and St. Kevin of Glendalough, formed part of the Council.

When Columba was seen approaching in the distance, St. Brendan of Birr alone arose and went forward to receive him. The Fathers objected to his action. It was not fitting, they said, that one who was under the grave censure of the Church should be greeted with marks of deference and honour.

"If you saw what I see," replied the holy Brendan, "you would hasten to do likewise. I see Columba, as he climbs the hill, surrounded by a column of light, and angels going before and after him. I bow before the Hand of G.o.d which destines him to convert a whole nation to the faith of Christ."

His words made a powerful impression on the a.s.sembly, for the wisdom of Brendan was known to all; and there was a deep silence as Columba entered.

After a short pause one of the elders arose and stated the case in words that were brief and simple. Columba, he said, was under the censure of his brethren for having stirred up strife in the King's dominions, which had led to a fierce and b.l.o.o.d.y battle.

"The King's behaviour was unjust," replied Columba, "and it is hard for a man to bear injustice patiently."