THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the west coast of Scotland, on the border between the territories of the Picts and the Scots (Irish) of British Dalriada, whose king, Conall, was his kinsman. It was an admirable center for missionary work. At first he labored chiefly among his countrymen, wliose Christian faith was sorely tried by t heir heat hen neighbors. Then he proceeded through Pictland to the court of King Brudc, near Inverness. He converted the king (565), and the people followed as a matter of course. During the following years he visited in person nearly all of modern Scotland. Everywhere he foundetl churches and monasteries, adding their charge to those already under his rule in Ireland. When Conall died (574) his successor, Aidan, sought and obtained inauguration at Columba's hand. In 575 he attended a convention at Drumceatt in northern Ireland. It was proposed there to abolish the order of bards; but Columba, who not improbably belonged to the order himself, succeeded in having measures adopted looking toward reformation rather than annihilation. He also secured a more independent position for Aidan and his kingdom.
Columba was fond of fine manuscripts, and during his last years spent much time in transcribing. On the day before his death he was at work upon the Psalter and reached the end of a page with the words: " They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing " (Ps. xxxiv. 10). " Here," he said, " I must stop; let Baithene [his cousin and successor as abbot] do the rest." When the monks entered the church for matins the next morning they found him lying before the altar, and, with a feeble effort to give his blessing, he passed away. Columba was impulsive and at times, perhaps, failed to curb an imperious temper. But his faults were those of his race, and were lightly regarded in his time. He was emphatically a His man of action, born to lead and also Character, to win. Adamnan describes him as " like an angel in countenance, of polished speech, holy in work, of most excellent disposition, great in counsel, through thirty-four years living as an island soldier [of Christ]. Not a single hour would he allow to pass without devoting himself to prayer, or reading, or writing, or at least to some manual labor. Day and night, without any intermission, he was so occupied in unwearied exercises of fasts and vigils that the special burden of any one labor might seem beyond human possibility. And meanwhile he was dear to all, always showing a cheerful, holy face, and was gladdened in his inmost heart by the joy of the Holy Spirit." Three Latin hymns are attributed to Columba and several Irish poems of more or less doubtful genuineness. The Rule of St. Columba is a collection of maxims for a solitary living near a monastery rather than a monastic rule properly so called.
Bibliography: For the hymns consult J. H. Todd, The Book of Hymns of the Ancient Church of Ireland, ii. 201- 263, Dublin, 1869; The Altus of St. Columba, ed. by the Marquess of Bute, Edinburgh, 1882; Bernard and Atkinson, The Irish Liber Hymnorum, for the Henry Bradshaw Society, xiu (1898), i. 62-89, ii. 23-28, 140-1713; for the Irish poems, W. Reeves, Life of St. Columba, pp. Ixxviii.- Ixxix., 264-277, 285-289, Dublin, 1857; for the rule, Haddan and Stubbs, Council, ii. 119-121; W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, ii. 608-609, Edinburgh, 1877. The stand-
ard life is by Adamnan [679-704], edited with notes and dissertations by W. Reeves, Dublin, 1857, new ed., with Eng. transl. and an unfortunate rearrangement of the notes by W. F. Skene, Edinburgh, 1874. A useful edition of Adamnan'ti work i.s by J. T. Fowler, Oxford, 1804, transl. 1895; it is newly translated by W. Huysshe, London, 1906, and is in MPL, Ixxxviii. For other lives, etc., consult ASB, June, ii. 180-236; J. Colgan, Trias thaumaturga, pp. 317-514, Louvain, 1647; Lanigan, Ecd Hist, ii. 106-181, 236-259; C. F. R. de Montalemberti Les Moines d'occident, iii. 99-331, Paris, 1866, Eng. transl. printed separately as St. Columba, Apostle of CaUdonia, London, 1868; W. D. Klllen, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, i. 30-39, London, 1875; W. F. Skene, Celtic Scotland, ii. 52-55, 79-84, 85 sqq., 467-507, Edinburgh, 1877; A. Bellesheim, Geschichie der katholischen Kirche in Schottland, i. 27-65, Mainz, 1883; J. Healy, Insula sanctorum, pp. 291-331, Dublin, 1890; G. F. llaclear. Apostles of Mediceval Europe, pp. 41-56, London, 1888; E. A. Cooke, St. Columba, his Life and Work, Edinburgh, 1893.
COLUMBAN, SAINT (called also the " Younger Columba"): Abbot of Luxeuil and of Bobbie; b. in Leinster, Ireland, c. 550; d. in Bobbio (37 m. n.e. of Genoa) Nov. 23, 615. Like his older namesake and so many of his countrymen, impelled by the love of wandering and the longing for the ascetic life, influenced also by the admonition of an aged female recluse, he left parents and home. For many years he was a member of Comgall's monastery at Bangor on Belfast Lough. Then with twelve companions he went by way of Britain to Gaul (c. 590). Christian life on the Continent was then suffering from the irruption of the barbarians, which had destroyed the old civilization and settled large bodies of heathen in many places. Columban and his company were well received at the court of Guntram, king of Burgundy (d. 593), and established themselves in the wilderness of the Vosges, at the site of a ruined fortress, Anagrates (Anegray), in the present department of Haute-Saone (590-591). As the number of monks increased he founded another monastery eight miles distant, amid the ruins of Luxuvium (Luxeuil, 72 m. n. e. of Dijon), once famous for its warm baths. The little band brought with them their Irish teachings and customs and comported themselves to a large extent independent of the diocesan bishop. Nevertheless, they suffered little interference. Their date for Easter gave most offense, and Columban saw fit to send letters defending his practises to Pope Gregory the Great, to a synod of Galilean bishops (6C3), and to a later pope, probably Sabinian. In 610 aU Irish monks were expelled from Burgundy, not, however, because of religious differences, but in consequence of the boldness with which Columban rebuked the vices of the king, Theodoric, and of the court. It was intended to send them back to Ireland, but at Nantes they were allowed to go at will. After spending some time with Clothair II., king of Neustria, at Soissons, Columban went to Theodebert, king of Austrasia, at Mctz, and at the king's request undertook missionary work among the heathen Alemanni and Suevi. He settled at Bregenz, at the east end of Lake Constance, but in 612 his old enemy, Theodoric, defeated Theodebert and seized his dominions. Columban then crossed the Alps, tarried for a while at Milan with Agilulf, the Lombard king, and wrote there a treatise against the Arians, which is not preserved. In 614