Adomnan’s Vitae Columbae

 Course: Western Europe in the Middle Ages

Introduction

Iona is the name of a miniscule island situated on the western coast of modern Scotland. Without any dispute, Iona was one of the most important religious centres in northern Europe in the early Middle Ages. As Bede once describes in his Historia Ecclesiastica, this monastery on the Isle of Iona “held for a long time pre-eminence over almost all the monasteries of the northern Irish and over the monasteries of all the Picts.”[1]

Much of the prestige of this monastery is attributable to Saint Columba who founded it at around 563 AD. Columba[2] was born in 521 in Donegal in Ireland, and was baptized at Temple Douglas. He first studied in the monastic school of Moville under the guidance of Saint Finnian and later received his final training at Clonard under another Saint Finnian. After he left Clonard, the twenty-five year old Columba, with his immense physical strength and mental energy, began to travel over the length and breadth of Ireland. It is claimed that “he had founded at least thirty-seven monasteries in Ireland alone in this period.”[3] His early life in Ireland was probably a happy one, for the chiefs and kings all respected the monks and often sent a tithe of their plunder to the monasteries.[4]

However, something decisive happened later in his life and forced him to leave Ireland.[5] When he was about forty years old, he was accused of making a copy of a rare sacred book without the consent of the owner, who happened to be his former instructor Finnian of Moville. King Diarmit later ordered Columba to return his copy to Finnian, a judgment that Columba at once denounced as wrong. He immediately fled to Kings of Cinel Conaill and Cinel Eogain, persuaded them to take revenge for him, and eventually defeated Diarmit in the so-called Battle of Cul-Dreimhne. However, jealous by other priests and saints in Ireland, Columba was later condemned of having caused all the deaths in that battle. The punishment was at first excommunication, but was later revoked and changed into an exile from Ireland. Accordingly, Columba sailed with his twelve disciples in 563 to Iona and built his monastery. He ruled as the abbot of Iona until his death in 597.

In order to fully understand the accomplishment of Saint Columba, it is essential to study the political and ecclesiastical situation in Ireland and Scotland in the late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. From 50AD to approximately 410, Britain had been an integral part of the Roman Empire, and it was in about the beginning of the second century that Christianity made its first appearance in Britain. Scotland and Ireland, which both escaped the Roman conquest, gradually adopted this new religion from Britain through various channels.

The spread of Christianity slowed down in southern Britain due to the invasion by the Angles, Jutes and Saxons which replaced Christianity by their pagan superstitions. In Scotland, the southern part of a race called Picts had lapsed from the faith as well[6], while the Pictian King Bruide and his court in northern Scotland who had never been converted still held firmly their pagan belief[7] that is sometimes known as druidism. In Ireland, however, Christianity and especially monasticism gained a strong foothold, mostly due to the efforts of Saint Ninian, Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget. This later allowed Ireland to become a well-spring of monasticism and of learning in Europe in the fifth and sixth centuries, in which Columba and his monastery had certainly played an important role.[8]

Among the dozens of Irish kingdoms that coexisted certainly not in harmony, Dalriata is of special importance. This kingdom possessed not only the north-eastern part of Ireland but also a part of western Scotland (including Iona), and apparently gave the Isle of Iona to Columba as well.[9] Dalriata, together with the Pictian kingdom in Scotland under King Bruide and the Northumbrian kingdom in south-eastern Scotland, would play a decisive role in the career of Columba.

A few people wrote biographies of Saint Columba, but the most important one is no doubt the Vitae Columbae, or Life of Columba, written by Saint Adomnan (625 – 704). A well educated monk[10], Adomnan was the ninth abbot of the Iona monastery from 679 to 704. He is believed to have written VC between 688 and 704,[11] when the status of Iona began to decline due its resistance to accept the Easter date set by Roman church. Furthermore, Adomnan would have been conscious of the 100^th anniversary of the death of Columba in 697, which might have been the most suitable occasion to finalize his biography of his great patron.

VC had survived in two versions of manuscript. The so-called version B differs from version A in that B contains the list of the twelve disciples who followed Columba to the Isle of Iona in 563, plus some other marginal differences.

A number of passages in VC deserve special importance. The two prefaces are essential parts of the whole book and must be included; i.38 is a typical passage about Columba’s prophetic vision; ii.1 is when he turns water into wine; ii.6 is about the holy man’s healing power; ii.11 is about his contest with the druids; ii.20 tells us about his vindictive character; iii.3 is a angelic vision scene when he was still a youth; the first part of iii.23 is about the scene where his horse drops tears, while the latter is a description of his last moment on earth.

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Preface begins

Wishing to respond to the importunity of the brothers[12], with Christ’s favour I shall describe the life of our blessed patron; and I shall in the first place endeavour to persuade all who may read it to have faith in the established facts that I relate, and to regard the substance rather than the words, which appear, I think, crude and of little worth. Let them remember that the kingdom of God inheres not in exuberance of rhetoric, but in the blossoming of faith. Let them not despise the publication of deeds that are profitable, and that have not been accomplished without the help of God, on account of some unfamiliar words of the Irish tongue, a poor language, designations of men, or names of tribes and places; words that, I suppose, are held to be of no value, among other different tongues of foreign peoples.

            We have thought that the reader should be warned of this also, that for the sake of brevity, we have left out many things concerning the man of blessed memory, even things that were worthy of remembrance; and that to avoid cloying the appetite of those who shall read, only a few things out of very many have been written down. And every future reader of these things will, I think, perhaps observe that rumour has spread widely among the peoples only very little of the very great matters concerning this blessed man, in comparison with even these few things that we propose now briefly to set down.

            After this first slight preface I pass on, with God’s help, to tell of our superior’s name, in the beginning of the second.

In the name of Jesus Christ, the second Preface

In describing the life and character of this our Columba, I shall first in brief language condense in as small space as I can, and at the same time bring before the eyes of the read, his holy way of life; and shall also set before those that read, as morsels to be eagerly savoured, some instances of his miracles. These things will be more fully disclosed below, divided into three books, of which the first will contain prophetic revelations; the second, divine miracles effected through him; the third, appearances of angels, and certain manifestations of heavenly brightness above the man of God. Let not any one suppose that I will write concerning this so memorable man either falsehood, or things that might be doubtful or unsure; but let him understand that I shall relate what has come to my knowledge through the tradition passed on by our predecessors, and by trustworthy men who knew the facts; and that I shall set it down unequivocally, and either from among those things that we have been able to find put into writing before our time, or else from among those that we have learned, after diligent inquiry, be hearing them from the lips of certain informed and trustworthy aged men who related them without any hesitation.

[I 38] Concerning a certain rich man, who was called Luguid the Lame

At another time, while the saint was for some days in Ireland, he saw a cleric sitting in a car and gaily driving over the plain of Brega. He first asked about him, who he was, and received from that man’s friends this answer concerning him: ‘That is Luguid the Lame, a wealthy man, and respected among the people’. Then the saint said in reply: ‘It is not thus that I see him. But on the day on which he dies, a poor and wretched man, he will have in his possession three stray beasts belonging to his neighbours, retained in one stone enclosure. And he will order one cow, chosen from the stray beasts, to be killed for him, and will ask that a portion of its cooked flesh should be given to him, as he reclines on the same couch with a harlot. So taking a mouthful of that portion he will then and there be choked, and die’.

            All these things, as is said by men who know, were completely fulfilled, according to the saint’s prophetic word.

[II 1] Of wine that was made from water

At one time, when the venerable man, while still a youth, was living in Ireland with the holy bishop Findbarr, acquiring knowledge of sacred scripture, it chanced on a certain festival that no wine was found for the sacrificial rite. When he heard the attendants of the altar lamenting among themselves over the lack of it, he took a pitcher and went to the well, so that he as a deacon might draw spring water for the sacred purposes of the Eucharist[13]; for at that time he was serving in the order of deacon. So the blessed man blessed in faith the watery element that he drew from the spring, calling on the name of Lord Jesus Christ, who transmuted water in Cana of Galilee[14]; by whose power in this miracle also the baser, that is the watery, substance was changed into the more desirable form, that is to say of wine, through the hands of the memorable man. The holy man returned from the well and entered the church, and put down beside the altar the pitcher containing this fluid. And he said to the attendants: ‘Here is wine, which the Lord Jesus has sent for the performance of his rite’. Learning this, the holy bishop with the attendants returned great thanks to God. But the holy youth attributed it not to himself, but to the holy bishop Findbarr. And so Christ the Lord manifested through his disciple, as a first evidence of power, this that he had performed through himself in Cana of Galilee, when he made the same thing the beginning of his signs.

            Let this miracle of God that was shown through our Columba illumine like a lantern the opening of this book, so that we may pass forward to the other miracles of power that were shown through him.

[II 6] Concerning the cures of various diseases, performed in the ridge of Céte

As has been told us by the men that knew of it, the man of memorable life cured the ailments of various sick people, by invocation of the name of Christ, during those days in which, when he went to the conference of kings, he remained for a short time in the ridge of Céte. By the extending of his holy hand, or when they were sprinkled with water blessed by him, or even by touching the hem of his cloak, or by receiving a blessing of any thing, such as salt, or bread, and dipping it in water, very many sick people, believing, regained full health.

[II 11] Concerning the malignant water of another well,

which the holy man blessed, in the land of the Picts

            At one time, when the blessed man passed some days in the province of the Picts[15], he heard that the fame of another well was wide-spread among the heathen populace, and that the insensate people venerated it as a god, the devil deluding their understanding. For those that drank from this well, or deliberately washed their hands or feet in it, were struck, by devilish art, God permitting it, and returned leprous, or half blind, or even crippled, or suffering from some other infirmity. Led astray by all this, the heathen gave honour to the well as to a god. When he learned of that, the saint went boldly to the well one day. The magicians[16], whom he often repelled from himself in confusion and defeat, rejoiced greatly when they saw this, since they imagined that he would suffer the like ills, from touching that noxious water. But he, first raising his holy hand in invocation of the name of Christ, washed his hands and feet; and after that, with those that accompanied him, drank of the same water, which he had blessed. And from that day, the demons[17] withdrew from that well, and not only was it not permitted to harm any one, but after the saint’s blessing, and washing in it, many infirmities among the people were in fact cured by the same well.

[II 20] Concerning Nesan the Crooked, who lived in the district [Lochaber] that

borders upon the lake of river-mouths

[…Nesan the young man once joyfully received the holy man as a guest. Columba then blessed Nesan’s livestock…]

            But concerning a certain very niggardly rich man, Vigenus by name, who had slighted Saint Columba, and did not receive him as a guest, he pronounced on the contrary this prophetic doom: ‘The riches of that greedy man, who has spurned Christ in pilgrim guests, will from this day be gradually diminished, and will be reduced to nothing. And he himself will be a beggar, and his son will run from house to house with a half-empty bag. And he will die, struck with an axe by one of his enemies, in the trench of a threshing-floor’.

            All these things concerning each were completely fulfilled according to the prophecy of the holy man.

[III 23] Concerning the passing to the Lord of our holy patron Columba

[…The life of Columba was coming to an end. One day as he was leaving the barn and returning towards the monastery, he sat down midway…]

And while the saint sat there, resting for a little while, being weary with age, behold, a white horse came to him, the obedient servant who was accustomed to carry the milk-vessels between the cow-pasture and the monastery. It went to the saint, and strange to tell put its head in his bosom, inspired, as I believe, by God, before whom every living creature has understanding, with such perception of things as the Creator himself has decreed; and knowing that its master would presently depart from it, and that it should see him no more, it began to mourn, and like a human being to let tears fall freely on the lap of the saint, and foaming much, to weep aloud.

            […The Saint later gave his last command to his clergy…]

            After them the saint was silent for a little, as the happy latest hour[18] drew near. Then when the beaten bell resounded at midnight, he rose in haste and went to the church and, running, entered in advance of the others, alone; and bowing his knees in prayer he sank down beside the altar. In that moment Diormit, the attendant, following later, saw from a distance the whole church filled inside with angelic light about the saint. As Diormit approached the doorway, the light that he had seen quickly faded. A few more of the brothers also had seen it, when they too were a little way off.

            So Diormit entering the church cried in a tearful voice: ‘Where are you, where are you, father?’ And groping in the darkness, since the lamps of the brothers had not yet been brought, he found the saint lying before the altar. Raising him a little, and sitting down beside him, he placed the holy head upon his lap. Meanwhile the company of monks ran up with lights; and when they saw that their father was dying they began to lament. And as we have learned from some men who were present there, the saint, whose soul had not yet departed, opened his eyes, and looked around on either side, with wonderful joy and gladness of countenance; for he was gazing upon the holy angels that had come to meet him. Then Diormit raised the holy right hand, to bless the saint’s company of monk. And the venerable father himself at the same time moved his hand, as much as he was able, in order that he might be seen to bless the brothers even by the movement of his hand, a thing that in the departure of his soul he could not do by voice. And after the holy benediction thus expressed he presently breathed out his spirit.

            When that had left the tabernacle of the body, his face continued to be ruddy, and in a wonderful degree gladdened by the vision of angels, so much that it seemed like the face not of a dead man, but of a living sleeper. Meanwhile the whole church resounded with sorrowful lamentations.
Hagiography

Hagiography is an omnipresent literary genre in Medieval Europe. Loosely defined, a hagiography is simply a biography of a saint. They are usually recited by priests during mass, read by literate audiences, and depicted in art for illiterate Christians.

Modern scholars have supplied us with a wide variety of reasons to explain the purpose of these biographies. On one hand, Lynda Coon says that these sacred biographies “facilitated the creation, preservation, and extension of Christian sanctity in an era when there was no systematic, institutionalized process of identifying a saint.”[19] On the other hand, Philippe Walter suggests that these works are meant to attract pilgrims to monasteries in need of subsidies, to please a given prelate, or to invent glorious markers for a religious community awaiting recognition.[20] Meanwhile, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín argues that they are written to glorify a particular abbot since “each community must be able to demonstrate that its patron was inferior to none other.”[21] Finally, Bieler once wrote that the main purpose of the primitive lives was the edification of the faithful.[22] Hence, hagiographies are certainly not meant to present the real life of the saint to the readers, but rather to glorify the saint for various religious purposes.

Vitae Columbae or Life of Columba (referred as VC below) written by Saint Adomnan in the late sixth century is one of the best examples of this new literary genre, among hundreds of others that had been written in roughly the same period of time. Its special importance is not only due to the fact that Saint Columba was the best-known saint of the early Irish church, but it is also partly because VC is “the longest piece of consecutive Latin prose which has come down from a seventh-century Irish milieu.”[23] Most important, the religious career of this saint as covered in VC represents a high point of the struggle between Christianity and paganism in Scotland. These reasons make Adomnan’s work to deserve special attentions for scholars studying early Irish and Scottish ecclesiastical history.

Celtic Hagiography

A second reason that makes VC particularly interesting is its Celtic hagiographical characteristics.[24] In Celtic society, as shown in their literatures, nature, especially supernatural power, appears as a theme to an unusual degree. Certainly not by coincidence, a majority of miracles in VC happen to be related to the elements.[25]

Moreover, in Celtic Christian writings, voyage literature is a very common theme. This seems to suggest that this-worldly character of spirituality is common among Celtic saints – as opposed to strict asceticism of churches in elsewhere. Interestingly, few of the stories in VC take place in Iona.[26] For most of the time, Columba is traveling in Scotland or Ireland and performs miracles among lay peoples.

Furthermore, Celtic saints are also notoriously amoral in that the power of the saint can often be manifest in destructive ways that sit uneasily with the ethical values of the Christian gospel. Commenting on the saints of Ireland, Gerald of Wales remarks that they are “more vindictive than the saints of any other place.”[27] In one occasion in VC, Columba purposely cursed a rich man to death who didn’t receive him as a guest.[28]

Last by not least, as noted by the Romans, the pagan Celts are reluctant to use writing in religious matters. It happens even though Adomnan seems to be very concerned with credibility of his sources, only in one occasion can we be sure that he had written source at his disposal.[29]

In short, it appears that Adomnan’s work neatly conforms to the style of a typical Celtic hagiography.

Characteristics of Vitae Columbae

For readers who are not accustomed to hagiographic writings, the first reading of VC can be a surprise. This is because the work does not look like a modern biography from any angle.

VC is divided into three books, each with its own theme. The first is devoted to recount instances of Columba’s powers of prophecy, the second to his miracles, and the third to angelic visions connected with him. Accordingly, the 112 passages in this work follow no particular chronology and may appear to be hopelessly jumbled together. Only in two instances[30] are we given a precise relative chronology – let alone a precise date, which would be highly abnormal in a typical modern biography. In fact, the majority of the passages begins with vague terms like alio in tempore (at one time)[31] which tell us nothing about date or chronology.

Furthermore, Adomnan doesn’t appear to be very creative in the style of narration, given that almost all the shorter passages are merely a mass of repetition in terms of format. Very often  a passage would begin with alio in tempore, followed by a brief description of the obstacle encountered by Columba, a clergy, or a lay person. Then Columba would pray to the Lord, who subsequently grants him supernatural power to overcome the obstacle. Finally, all the amazed witnesses will glorify God and Columba. At times, Adomnan would end the passage by giving the list of witnesses. The longer passages, meanwhile, are unexpectedly of superb artistic quality. This is especially true for the last passage of book three, with the scene of Columba’s horse dropping tears as the life of its master comes to an end[32] often dubbed as one of the most touching scenes in medieval literature.

Speaking of witnesses, another unusual element in VC is his concern with the veracity of his accounts. Since VC was written nearly a hundred years after the death of Columba, he could not possibly have any direct knowledge of Columba’s life. Nonetheless, he apparently spent a considerable amount of time to gather as much second-hand information as he could, and he tried his best to convince his readers that all the stories are true. In many instances he supplies us with the name of the witness(es) of a particular miracle. Twice he writes that he has more than a hundred witnesses.[33] Once he writes that he had at his disposal both written and oral sources.[34] At times, however, he is no doubt over-concerned on this issue. One may wonder why he would have bothered to state references like sicuti nobis ab expertís traditum est (as has been told us by men that knew of it)[35] and ut nobis traditum est (as we are told)[36], which have no particular meaning.

Most important, many events that have no doubt caused indelible marks on his life like his exile from Ireland, his founding of the Iona monastery, as well as his conversion of the Picts are entirely omitted. Readers can only expect to obtain the barest essential facts his youth[37] and his decision to leave Ireland.[38] To sum up, given all the above characteristics of this work, VC doesn’t look like a modern biography at all.

First Purpose of the Miracles

The most surprising element in VC, however, is likely to be the way Adomnan stuffs his work with miracles. For modern readers, the abundance of holy miracle, fulfilled prophecy and divine vision that fill Adomnan’s pages might seem to be merely superstitions inspired by faith, just as a 19th-century scholar who once dismissed it as “a miserable production, full of absurdities and anachronism.”[39] These are precisely the kind of prejudices that one must avoid when one attempts to explain Adomnan’s motifs to include these ‘absurdities’ in his work.

The first explanation, which is also the more convincing one, is that Columba indeed used magic or at least the name of magic to convert the Picts.[40] The Picts before conversion were nature-worshippers, and their pagan gods were the various local powers of nature endowed with personalities which had to be conciliated by their pagan priests. These priests, sometimes known as druids, are proficient in the ‘science’ of their time. They claim that with their magic formulae and incantations, they can control the elements, and they can see into the future. Naturally, this unique ability that the people and the king believed these pagan priests possess allows them to be munificently rewarded and at times even gain prestigious status in the society. To sum up, the druids that Columba had to contend with were not only magicians, diviners and medicine-men, but were the learned men of the land, and the instructors and advisors of the chief. They were simply supernatural beings.

With such high regards on the druids in general, the Christian priests cannot possibly hope to convert the Picts by completely denying their old faith. Rather, the tactic that the early missionaries and certainly Columba used to combat the druids was not to destroy druidism, but instead to adapt Christianity to the Celtic society. This method is almost the duplicate of the stratagem that Pope Gregory used in 601. In his famous letter to Abbot Metillus, Gregory recommends not the destruction but the adaptation of pagan shrines and celebrations, for “it is doubtless impossible to cut out everything at once from their stubborn minds.”[41]

One way that the Christians adapted Christianity is by showing to the Picts that not only does Christianity also manipulate the elements through God, but that the Christian ‘magic’ is superior to the druid’s. Naturally, Columba encountered fierce opposition from the druids whose position he was assailing. For this matter, Adomnan’s VC provides us with several passages about contests between Columba and druids. For example, when Columba was still in the country of the Picts, he learnt one day that he was near one of the famous wells cursed with devilish art by a malignant evil which the people worshipped as the dwelling-place of a deity. He at once went boldly to the well. The druid magicians who hope to see Columba suffering were utterly surprised when they saw Columba blessed the well and turned it into a healing well.[42]

This passage has several important connotations. First, as already mentioned above, Columba didn’t tell the Picts to stop worshipping in this water element with their traditional pagan methods, but instead encouraged them to do so after turning it into a Christian shrine. Second, in this passage, Columba accomplished something that the druids couldn’t do, namely to completely contain a supernatural power instead of just conciliating with it. Third, this is a typical instance of Columba’s method of discrediting druidism as a whole, where he made the Picts to regard the elements and the natural power as friends, instead of enemies according to druid priests’ sayings. Fourth, Columba’s stratagem here is simply to step into the shoes of the druids from which the latter has been dislodged, thereby allowing Christianity to quickly gain the same level of status as druidism, without having to begin from ground zero.

To sum up, Columba was attempting to outdo the druids on their own ground. The sort of miracle demanded of him must be superior to the sort of miracle which the druids, in the estimation of the people, could alone perform. Hence, the point was to convince rulers and people that anything possible to a druid by means of his magic science could be done and outdone by the man who believed in Christ and acted in His name.

 There is one further issue that readers should keep in mind when going through the miracles in the VC. Hagiographers never intend to deal with real facts in their works, but instead they would only include elements that would contribute to the holiness of the subject. As the author of Martyrdom of St-Fortunata once admitted, his method to write his hagiography is “to set down the Passion of the holy martyr Fortunata in my own words, cutting away what was superfluous, adding anything necessary, amending what was corrupt, correcting what was extravagant and rearranging what was disorderly.”[43] Accordingly, one can expect Adomnan to have slightly modified the stories that he had heard from his sources so as to render Columba’s victory over druidism as clean as possible. And of course, unsuccessful miracles would not be recorded.

Second Purpose of Miracles

Before presenting the second explanation to the ubiquity of miracles in VC, it is worthwhile to see what Adomnan said concerning his motifs of writing this sacred biography. In the first preface, Adomnan wrote that “[w]ishing to respond to the importunity of the brothers, with Christ’s favour I shall describe the life of our blessed patron.”[44] However, this is probably just a hagiographical convention because Sulpicius Serverus begins his Life on Martin with a similar statement.[45] In fact, when Adomnan makes excuses for the Irish tongue in his Latin[46], he is clearly implying that his target audience is not limited to Ionian monks.

This leads to an interesting question: if VC was not written only for monks in Iona, then who were the other audiences that Adomnan was addressing to? One possible explanation is that VC was Adomnan’s attempt to restore the prestige of Iona that was in decline due to Iona’s reluctance to follow the new mainstream method to observe Easter, due to the primatial claims of Armagh, and due to Northumbrian attacks on Columba. Hence VC was in part written to these foreign aggressors.

            Much of our knowledge about the Easter controversy comes from Bede.[47] Since 633, the southern Irish began to observe Easter with the Roman way. [48] However, the monastery of Iona, partly because of her over-confidence and conservatism, was reluctant to follow the mainstream, and began to see her dominant position to be seriously shaken. After decades long of controversy in England, the king of Northumbria finally decided to hold a council in a monastery called Whitby in 664 in which both sides have a chance to openly debate on this issue. Interestingly enough, the Northumbrian Wilfrid who stood on the Roman side, went so far as to say that “for though your fathers (including Columba) were holy men, do you think that a handful of people in one corner of the remotest of islands is to be preferred to the universal church of Christ which is spread through the world?”[49] and that “is he (Columba) to be preferred to the most blessed chief of the apostles (namely St-Peter)?”[50] Partly due to the above arguments from Wilfrid, the King ordered the Iona side to give up their imperfect rules. Iona suffered a major setback in this incident.[51]

            A second consequence of this dispute is that it stimulated the claims put forward by Armagh that it was the see of archbishop of all Irish church. In the Book of the Angel, which may be dated to the 680s, it is claimed that Armagh is the see of an archbishop and that the authority of this archbishop extends over the whole island (which includes Iona). This book says in article 28 that “if any case should arise which is exceedingly difficult […], it is by right to be referred to the see of the archbishop of the Irish”, and in article 29 that “if [the case] cannot be solved in that see […], it is to be remitted to the apostolic see (the Pope in Rome).”[52] This is indeed an astonishing claim. They imply that from now on, all Irish church will be subordinates to the monastery in Armagh, who derives the power from Rome. The protection of the Irish clergy was to be, henceforth, the prerogative of Armagh.

            Facing these fierce attacks, it would be natural for the abbot of Iona, namely Adomnan, to take measures to secure the position of his monastery. One such measure is to demonstrate through a hagiography on Columba that the monastery of Iona was founded by a Saint whose holiness is second to none. The key idea to understand the whole issue is that, as Thomas Heffernan pointed out, hagiographies are “calculated statements not only of what the church and the people understood by sanctity but also of how the hagiographers felt sanctity could best be signified.”[53] With the above assumptions in mind, one can then interpret the miracles in VC from a different perspective.

            Readers who are familiar with the Holy Scriptures should have noticed a lot of similarities between miracles in VC and in the Holy Books. In the Hebrew Bible, for example, God sends Ezekiel the prophet a vision to instruct him about the dangers of consecrated, symbolic vestments. (Ezekiel 44.19) This type of prophetic visions constitutes a third of Columba’s miracles in VC. In the Gospels, Christ, in wedding feast at Canar in Galilee, transformed water into wine. (St-John 2) An extremely similar passage can be found in VC.[54] Furthermore, the occasion where Columba healed various sick people[55] is strikingly similar to St-Mark account on Christ’s miracle in Galilee (St-Mark 1:29), where He healed also a lot of sick. Another parallel is when Saint Columba raised a little boy from death[56], where Christ did something similar by resurrecting Lazarus. (Saint-John 11) The numerous angelic visions connected with Columba as described in Book three, meanwhile, are clearly aimed to show Columba’s close connection with the Heaven. And, needless to say, the fact that Columba sailed to Iona with twelve disciples is no doubt a direct imitation of Christ’s twelve disciples.[57]

All these miracles that make VC look rather like the Gospel of Columba serve one purpose, namely to show his close connection with God. In fact, another interesting feature of most of the miracles described in Book 2 in VC is that Columba always cast a spell, or an incantation according to the Celts, like “In the name of God”. This clearly suggests that, strictly speaking, a miracle was done through a saint, by God. Therefore, one can see these miracles as sanctity as rewarded by God or even as sign of holiness and connection with Heaven.

Accordingly, the fact that there exist so many parallels between VC and the Holy Books clearly indicates that Adomnan includes these miracles in VC partly to demonstrate that Columba’s sanctity is close to the level of Christ. Thereby, it warns Armagh, the Northumbrians and the Roman party that the monastery of Iona and other churches by Columba are founded by a holy man with unparalleled holiness in this world, and that Armagh must not attempt to dominate Iona[58] and that Wilfrid’s malignant attack on Columba is baseless.

Conclusion

In summary, Adomnan’s work provides us with invaluable material concerning Celtic and Irish Christianity in early Middle Ages. It tells us the struggle between druidism and Christianity in the Pictian communities; it tells us Adomnan’s view of sanctity; it tells us the style of Celtic hagiographies.

On a deeper level, this work unveils certain important characteristics of Medieval Europe. Attentive readers must have notice that this hagiography is in fact a biography about the sanctity of Columba, rather than about his personal life. Furthermore, Adomnan seems to be uninterested in relating Columba’s connection with the secular world, but rather his connection with the Heaven. Moreover, Adomnan does not appear to be suspicious of the miracles at all, no matter how absurd they are. Finally, the lack of chronology and the lack of variation in style for the shorter passages suggest that this Irish hagiographer doesn’t share the same concerns as modern writers, namely a logical structure and a natural beauty of the work. Together, they all seem to converge to one point, namely medieval writers are not as interested to the material and secular world and natural beauty as do modern writers, just as he said in his first preface, that “Let them remember that the kingdom of God inheres not in exuberance of rhetoric, but in the blossoming of faith.”[59]

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