Saint Columba

Saint Columba
Saint Columba, Apostle to the Picts
Apostle of the Picts
Born	(521-12-07)7 December 521 Gartan, County Donegal, Ireland
Died	9 June 597(597-06-09) (aged 75) Iona, Scotland
Venerated in	Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church Lutheran Church Anglican Communion Presbyterian Church
Major shrine	Iona, Scotland
Feast	9 June
Attributes	monk's robes, Celtic tonsure and crosier.
Patronage	Derry, floods, bookbinders, poets, Ireland, Scotland.

Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, 'church dove'; 7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

Columba studied under some of Ireland's most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 he and his twelve companions crossed to Dunaverty near Southend, Argyll in Kintyre before settling in Iona in Scotland, then part of the Ulster kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading Christianity among the northern Pictish kingdoms who were pagan. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him.

Columba was born to Fedlimid and Eithne of the Cenel Conaill in Gartan, near Lough Gartan, in modern County Donegal, in Ireland. On his father's side, he was great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish high king of the 5th century. He was baptised in Temple-Douglas, in the County Donegal parish of Conwal (midway between Gartan and Letterkenny), by his teacher and foster-uncle Saint Crunathan. It is not known for sure if his name at birth was Columba or if he adopted this name later in life; Adomnan of Iona thought it was his birth name but other Irish sources have claimed his name at birth was Crimthann (meaning 'fox'). In the Irish language his name means 'dove', which is the same name as the Prophet Jonah (Jonah in Hebrew is also 'dove'), which Adomnan of Iona as well as other early Irish writers were aware of, although it is not clear if he was deliberately named after Jonah or not.