THE
"Iste est qui ante Deum magnos virtutes operatus est, et de omni corde suo laudavit Dominum."
"This is he who before God operated wonders, and with all his heart praised the Lord."
AFTER having attempted to write the life of our illustrious St. Patrick, with that of his spiritual daughter Bridget, the saintly patroness of Ireland, it is but meet, and may be expected, that we should also endeavor to furnish the biography of the holy Columba, or Columkille, who, living almost in the same era, filled with the same spirit, and enclosed in the same shrine, has ever been deemed with them one of Erin's chief patrons, his name being interwoven with theirs in the reminiscences of Irish piety.
This glorious saint was born about the close of the year 521, so that as a spiritual star, he began to rise in the firmament of the Irish Church, just as St. Bridget had disappeared therefrom to shine in heaven. His birth and future eminence were predicted during the lifetime of St. Patrick, perhaps by the holy apostle himself. By his father, Mancanava, the blood of the Nialls, princes of Tyrconnel, flowed in his veins, while by his mother Aethena, who drew her origin from an illustrious family in Leinster, he was connected with Caithir, the reigning monarch of all Ireland.
Previous to his birth, a dream or vision of singular import admonished Aethena that her child was to be specially blessed by the Most High. While asleep one night, it seemed to her that an angel approached, bearing in his hand a robe of unparalleled beauty, which having presented to her, he after a short interval withdrew, and spreading it forth suffered the wind to carry it away. Disappointed at this strange proceeding, Aethena anxiously inquired why she had not been permitted to retain this beauteous garment, and her interrogatory was met by the reply that it could not be allowed to remain with her. Meanwhile, and as the angel spoke, Aethena kept her eyes steadfastly fixed on the mantle which was now balanced in the firmament; and as it ascended towards the heavens she perceived that its dimensions became so expanded, as that it extended over mountains, forests, and distant plains. The novelty and grandeur of the spectacle increased her regret for the loss of so extraordinary and magnificent a costume; but while feeling thus sadly, a voice consoled her with those words: "Woman, grieve not, for you shall bring forth a son, who will guide innumerable souls to heaven, and be counted among the prophets of the Most High." This promise must surely have brought comfort to Aethena; our business is now to show how it was fulfilled. In early youth, or we might perhaps say infancy, Columba, owing to the piety of his parents, was committed to the tutelage of the venerable priest by whom he had been purified in the waters of baptism. Even then, the whole tenor of his conduct showed how strongly imbued he was with religious principles, for even then did he furnish presages of his future sanctity. "From his very childhood," says Adamnan his biographer, "Columba was devoted to those exercises of piety which befitted his tender years; and so holily solicitous was he for the preservation of spotless purity of mind and body, that by the superior sanctity of his manners, though dwelling upon earth, he was already ripe for heaven." But it was not alone by the pious life of the saintly Columba that the special predilection of heaven in his regard was made manifest; by the exercise of His omnipotence, too, did the Lord display