St. Columba's labours among the Picts. of Britain and Ireland, beyond the bounds of the Roman empire, had been for the time interrupted; and to the authority of the Church of Rome with regard to such matters of faith and practice, when they again came into contact, the Columban Church, in common with the Irish Church, opposed the custom of their fathers, for which they claimed the sanction of the second general council, held in the year 381. To use the language of Columbanus, the Columban Church 'received nought but the doctrine of the evangelists and apostles;' and, as we learn from Adamnan, the foundation of Columba's preaching, and his great instrument in the conversion of the heathen, was the Word of God.35 Such then was the form in which, in the monastery founded by him in the island of Iona, Columba exhibited the Christian life to the surrounding heathen, and such the spirit in which he proceeded to do battle with the paganism which confronted him. Directly facing him to the east was the great pagan nation of the northern Picts, occupying the whole of Scotland north of the great range of the Mounth, and extending from sea to sea. Immediately before him, separated from Iona by a narrow channel, was the large island of Mull, with its low flat promontory stretching out towards the island; and behind it, on the mainland, extended the western districts of Ardnamurchan, Morven, and Lochaber, separated from the main body of the Pictish kingdom by the western part of the range of Drumalban, that part of it which was situated south of the Mounth forming the eastern boundary of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada. It was probably not long before the influence of the little colony of Christian monks, and that of its founder, was felt in the neighbouring districts occupied by a Pictish population. Columba appears to have been two years on the 35 Adamnan, B. i. c. 27; B. ii. c. 33; B. iii. c. 15. island before he attempted to approach the powerful monarch of the Pictish nation, who was the more direct object of his mission, and in that period he probably won over the greater part of the people of the districts of Ardnamurchan and Lochaber. In Adamnan's narrative he appears three times in the former district, which he appropriately terms that 'stony region;' on one occasion, travelling through it with two of his monks; on another, baptizing a child presented to him by its parents, who must have been already converted; and, on a third, denouncing some Scottish pirates, who had robbed Columban, whose guest he was then, and who is termed his friend.36 In Lochaber he appears twice: once as the guest of a man of humble condition, who was the owner of five heifers, and whom the Saint blessed; and, a second time, when he relieves a very poor peasant who had come to him. These notices seem to indicate that Columba had at an early period made his way as a missionary among the rural population of these districts.37 Converts Brude. It was in the year 565, two years after he landed in A.D. 565. Iona, that he appears to have crossed the great mountain King barrier of Drumalban and made his way to the court of King Brude,38 whose royal palace was situated near the river Ness.39 Adamnan relates that, when the Saint made his first journey to King Brude, the king would not open his gates to him. When Columba observed this, 'he approached the 36 Adamnan, B. i. 8; B. ii. 9, 23. 37 lb. B. ii. cc. 20, 38. 38 This appears to be the best solution of the discrepancy between the statements of Adamnan and Bede. Adamnan and all the Irish authorities place the arrival of Saint Columba in Britain in 563, but Bede distinctly places it in 565. Adamnan states that he lived thirty-four years in the island, while Bede says that he died at the age of seventy-seven, having preached in Britain thirty two years. Bede, however, con- 39 It is usually stated in the local folding doors with his companions, and, having first formed upon them the sign of the cross, he knocked at and laid his hand upon the gate, which instantly flew open of its own accord, the bolts having been driven back with great force. The Saint and his companions then passed through the gate thus speedily opened.'40 Adamnan does not tell us who his companions were, which is unusual with him; but we learn from the Life of St. Comgall that they were, in point of fact, two of the most distinguished saints of the period, -Comgall of Bangor and Cainnech of Achaboe. They both belonged to the race of the Irish Picts; and therefore Columba probably thought that his mission to the king of the Picts of Scotland would be materially aided by their presence. According to this Life, Comgall made the sign of the cross upon the gates of the castle, and they immediately fell broken to the ground. Columba made the sign of the cross on the door of the royal house, with the same effect. was near the river Nesa, but not on it. Dr. Reeves came to the conclusion that it must be identified with the vitrified fort of Craigphadrick, about two miles west of the river. It seems, however, unlikely that in the sixth century the royal palace should have been in a vitrified fort, on the top of a rocky hill nearly 500 feet high; and it is certainly inconsistent with the narrative that S. Columba should have had to ascend such an eminence to reach it. There is, however, about a mile south-west of Inverness, a gravelly ridge called Torvean. Part of this ridge is encircled with ditches and ramparts, as if it formed an ancient hill fort, and at its base, along which the Caledonian Canal has been carried, a massive silver chain was discovered in the year 1808, consisting of thirty-three circular double links, neatly chan nelled round with a prominent astragal, and terminating at either end in two rings larger than the others, which were about two inches in diameter, the whole weighing 104 ounces, and extending to 18 inches in length.-New Stat. Ac., vol. xiv. p. 14. Torvean seems to offer a more natural site if it is not to be sought for on the other side of the river, which may be inferred from the fact, that the only time Adamnan notices Columba going by land instead of sailing down Loch Ness, he went on the north side of the lake, and then he appears to have crossed the river (Adamnan, B. iii. c. 15; B. ii. c. 58); in which case it may have been on the eminence east of Inverness, called the Crown, where tradition places its oldest castle. 40 Adamnan, B. ii. c. 36. Cainnech, however, made the sign over the hand of the king, which held a sword with which he intended to slay them, and the king's hand was instantly withered; and it so remained till he believed in God, and, being made faithful to God, his hand was restored.41 The old Irish Life of Columba, in narrating the same occurrence, says simply that 'the gate of the castle was shut against him, but the iron locks of the town (Baile) opened instantly through the prayers of Columcille;' and we may well suppose that the bolts may have been withdrawn and the anger of the king disarmed through no greater miracle than the impression created by the imposing presence of the three ecclesiastics with their attendants. Adamnan implies this when he says that, 'when the king learned what had occurred, he and his councillors were filled with alarm, and immediately setting out from the palace, advanced to meet, with due respect, the holy man, whom he addressed in the most conciliatory and respectful language. And ever after from that day, as long as he lived, the king held this holy and reverend man in very great honour, as was due.'42 Although Adamnan does not specifically say that the king was then converted, we may infer that it was so, on the authority both of the Life of St. Comgall and of the Pictish Chronicle, which places the event in the eighth year of King Brude, and expressly says that he was in that year baptized by St. Columba.43 The Irish Life adds an incident which is nowhere else recorded, that 'Mailcu, the son of the king, came with his Drui to contend against Columcille, through paganism; but they perished through the words of Columcille, both the king's son and his 41 Vit. S. Comgalli, c. 44. Comgall is said in his life to have visited Britain in the seventh year after the foundation of the monastery of Bangor, and, as it was founded in the year 559, this brings us to the year 565. 42 Adamnan, B. ii. c. 36. In octavo anno regni ejus baptizatus est sancto a Columba.— Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 7. Character of the paganism of the Scots and Picts. Drui with him; and the name of God and Columcille was magnified through it.'44 The indications which we receive from Adamnan and from other sources, as to what the character of the paganism of these northern Picts really was, are extremely slight; but such as they are, we may infer that the pagan system which Columba had to encounter among the heathen Picts in no respect differed from that which characterised the pagan tribes of Ireland, and which St. Patrick found opposed to him when executing his own Christian mission. The popular belief undoubtedly is that the so-called Druidical religion preceded Christianity both in Scotland and in Ireland; but, before examining the grounds of the traditionary belief as to the leading features of this system, it may be well to ascertain what we can really learn from the oldest sources as to its real character. The ancient metrical Life of St. Patrick, ascribed to Fiacc of Sleibhte, says of him He preached threescore years The Cross of Christ to the Tuatha of Feni. On the Tuatha of Erin there was darkness. The Tuatha adored the Side. They believed not the true Godhead And who these Side were we learn from the Book of Armagh, which tells us that on one occasion St. Patrick and his attendants assembled one morning at a well, or fountain, near Crochan or Cruachan, the ancient residence of the kings of Connaught, in the county of Roscommon; and lo! the two daughters of King Laoghaire, Ethne the Fair and The visit of Columcille to Brude, and this incident which follows, is contained in the Advocates' Library мs. only. 45 Whitley Stokes's Gaedelica, 2d edit., p. 131. The word Tuath is left untranslated, as it means both a territory and a tribe, as well as the people generally. |