The character of Columbkille, though not without some grave blemishes, presents very interesting and noble features. He had an intense relish for the Word of God; he was a devout observer of providences; and he spent much time in prayer. "In every affair," says one of his more recent biographers, "he showed the same spirit of piety. If he only ascended his little car-when a car became necessary―he implored upon it the benediction of Him who alone could give it power to carry, and whose providence could keep it from falling. If the milk from the fold passed him every day, every day it had his solemn benediction. If he looked on the corn by which his family was to be fed, he could not fail of saying, 'Blessed be God;' or, 'God bless it.' If the wind blew this way or that, he took occasion from it, either to pray to God, or to thank Him, with an eye to such of his friends as the course of it concerned. If he visited a pious friend, the first salutations were mixed with alleluiahs, and the soul had its spiritual entertainment before the body was yet refreshed. . . . If he administered even counsel or advice, he would accompany it with prayer to Him who disposeth the heart to listen, and sometimes he would accompany that prayer with fasting. His best advices could not remove some differences between an individual and his wife in Rachlin.1 He therefore adds 'You two and I must spend this day in prayer and fasting.' This produced the desired effect, for the penitent wife at length confessed that she found she could obtain from God what to man seemed almost impossible."2 He was chivalrous and enterprising; and when, leaving his royal kinsmen and his fatherland, he ventured in a frail bark to cross a stormy sea that he might plant the gospel among the savage tribes of Caledonia, he exhibited the spirit of a true missionary.

There is something singularly touching in the record of his.

1 See O'Donovan's Four Masters, i. 252, where it is alleged that the place was not Rathlin-but the Island of Lambay, near Dublin. See also Reeves's Adamnan, 164, 165, note. Segienus, abbot of Iona, is said to have founded

the Church of Rathlin upwards of thirty years after the death of Columbkille.

Annals of the Four Masters, ad. A.D. 630.

2 Smith's Life of Columba, pp. 27, 37.

See

last hours on earth. He is said to have had a presentiment of his approaching end; and on the Saturday before his death, he observed-"This day is in the sacred volume called the Sabbath, which means rest; and to-day is verily a Sabbath for me, as it is the last with me of this present toilsome life, on which, after my wearisome labours, I come to enjoy my Sabbath." Ascending the hill which overlooked the monastery, he stood there, surveying it for some time; and then, lifting up both his hands, bestowed on it his blessing. Returning to his chamber he resumed his daily task of transcribing the Psalter, and proceeded to the place where it is written: "They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." 2 "Here," said he, "at the close of the page I must stop;" and indicated that the copy must be finished by the hand of another. After some time he lay down to rest on the bare flag with a stone for his pillow. When the bell of the monastery rang for matins, he rose, and hastened to the church—but, before his brethren could join him, he was in a fainting condition. The dying man, unable to speak, made a feeble effort to raise his right hand to bless the fraternity; and then immediately expired.

Though the gospel had made much progress in Ireland in the days of Columbkille, it is evident that pagan superstitions still retained considerable influence. In the traditionary accounts of the battle fought in A.D. 561, near Sligo, between the kinsmen of the great abbot and king Diarmaid, the followers of the chief monarch are represented as practising heathen rites; and it is extremely doubtful whether many of them were even nominal Christians. Monachism was ill fitted to promote the general improvement of the country. It presented religion under an artificial aspect, and sadly failed to cultivate and purify the social affections. Hence the holy

1 Adamnan, iii. 23. Saturday, long after the commencement of the Christian dispensation, was called the Sabbath. The first day of the week was known as the Lord's Day. On this day the monks were indulged in somewhat more generous diet. It was forbidden to fast on the Lord's Day.

2 Psalm xxxiv. 10.

3 See O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, i, 195, 6; and Petrie's "Antiq. of Tara Hill," Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xviii. Antiq. 123, 4.

and happy influence of the gospel was often unseen in the domestic circle, as well as in the intercourse of the tribes. We quite mistake if we form a very exalted estimate of the spiritual culture of the Irish churchmen of this period. Columbkille was concerned in no less than three noted battles; and one of these conflicts appears to have originated in disputes relative to ecclesiastical rights between himself and his brother abbot, Comghall, of Bangor.1 On such occasions the monks fought hand to hand in the hostile armies. Nor can it be deemed wonderful if Christian Ireland long retained traces of its earlier barbarism. The wilderness, under the appliances of the cultivator, is not made all at once to blossom as the rose; and we cannot expect to see the fairest fruits of the Spirit in a land of recent converts. Time is required to eradicate evil habits and prejudices; and ages may pass away before they have entirely disappeared. Christianity had not taught the kings of Ireland in the sixth century to live in peace; the saintly Columbkille is sometimes found stimulating the belligerents; and monks join keenly in the scenes of conflict. It is easier to sleep on a stone than to lay aside the pride of lineage; and many have practised the discipline of the cloister who have failed to mortify the lusts which war in the members.

1 See Reeves's Adamnan, p. 253. This battle was fought about A.D. 585, near Coleraine. The battle of Cooldrevny has been already mentioned. The third battle was a renewal of the old strife between his royal kinsmen of Ulster, and the southern Princes, and was fought about A.D. 587, near Mullingar. See Reeves's Adamnan, p. 254, note.

2 Reeves's Adamnan, p. 255.

CHAPTER III.

FROM THE DEATH OF COLUMBKILLE TO THE DEATH OF ADAMNAN, A.D. 597 TO A.D. 704.

IRISH MISSIONARIES, IRISH SEMINARIES, AND IRISH CIVILIZATION.

IN the seventh century Ireland was known by the designation of "The Isle of Saints." It was largely indebted for this honourable title to its monastic establishments-not a few of which were under the management of abbots eminent for piety and literature. The number of ascetics reported as connected with these seminaries is indeed amazing;1 and we could not be charged with unreasonable scepticism were we to suspect exaggeration. Even prior to this period three thousand monks 2 are said to have been under the care of Comghall of Bangor-a teacher who had acquired wide celebrity. We must, however, recollect that these institutes were then almost the only schools for the education of the rising generation; that the early monks were not bound by irrevocable vows; that multitudes, who cared little for

3

1 Some high authorities have asserted that in the seventh century the Irish monks were equal in number to all the other inhabitants of the kingdom. See Archdall's Monasticon Hibernicum, Introduction, p. xi.

2 Lanigan, ii. 63, 67. We must bear in mind that, according to the second Life quoted by Lanigan, all these monks were not congregated at Bangor-the head establishment. The 3,000 comprehended all under Comghall's jurisdiction. It is said that Finnian of Clonard had also 3,000 disciples, Lanigan, ii. 21. See also Reeves's Adamnan, 336.

3 Waddington's History of the Church, p. 370, London 1833; Gieseler's Text-book of Eccl. Hist. i. 274, Philadelphia, 1836. The Senchus Mor speaks of " 'a young nun who has not renounced her veil," vol. ii. p. 405, Dublin,

1869.

learning, were drawn to the monasteries by the attractions of novelty or the love of excitement; and that, in a country. covered with timber, a rude people, accustomed to provide themselves with extemporaneous dwellings in the woods, could have found small difficulty in obtaining anywhere the usual amount of accommodation. Though Ireland was disturbed by domestic feuds, it was, as compared with other lands, in the enjoyment of quiet and prosperity. When South Britain was conquered by the Saxons, and when the West of Europe was invaded and desolated by the Northern Barbarians, it remained free from foreign aggression. Thus it was that, for the greater part of the seventh century, the island was regarded as the abode of peace, and the asylum of literature. Students flocked to its shores from the Continent, as well as from England; and its reputation rapidly extended over the whole of Western Christendom.

On other grounds, Ireland, in the seventh century, might have claimed the designation of "The Isle of Saints," for its missionaries laboured with singular success in France,2 Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, as well as in Great Britain. Among the most distinguished of these heralds of the cross was Columbanus, the disciple of Comghall, abbot of Bangor. Columbanus was a native of Leinster; he is said to have been of respectable parentage; and, as he grew up, he commended himself to general favour by a pleasing address and a handsome person. He had a great thirst for information; he applied himself with much ardour to the study of rhetoric, geometry, and other branches of education then taught in Ireland; he was an excellent Latin scholar; he had a know

1 It would appear that the young scholars lived in huts erected extempore in the immediate neighbourhood of the church. It is said that they were wont to build a village, or villages, of huts as near to the school-which was kept in the church— as they conveniently could. See the account of Columbkille's hut in O’Curry's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish by Sullivan, vol. ii. 80, 81, London 1873.

2 Ebrard gives the name of 48 Culdee monasteries established in France. Zeitschrift für historische Theologie, 1863, p. 526.

3 His life has been written by Jonas, a monk of the monastery of Bobbio, who, flourished in the seventh century, not long after the time of Columbanus. It may be found in Migne's Patr. Cursus, tom. lxxxvii. See also Lanigan, ii. 263.