Life of St Columba 1 part 3/3

but also a certain unaccustomed and incomparable gladness poured into my heart, which suddenly and marvellously consoles me, and gladdens me to such a degree that I can remember no sorrow, no labour. Moreover the burden which, though heavy, I carry on my back, from this place until one comes to the monastery, is, I know not how, so lightened that I do not feel myself burdened.' What more? Thus all those harvest-labourers professed of themselves, one by one, that they had perceived through all things just as one of them had related openly, and each of them together, on bended knees, asked of holy Baithene that he would take care to make known to them the cause and origin of that same wondrous consolation, which he too, just as the rest, perceived, though they did not know it.

To them he consequently gave this answer, saying, 'You know that our elder Columba anxiously thinks about us, and bears it ill that we are coming to him rather slowly, mindful of our labour, and therefore, because he does not come bodily to meet us, his spirit meets our steps, which, consoling us in such a way, gladdens us.' Hearing these words, kneeling down, with great rejoicing, with hands stretched out to heaven, they venerate Christ in the holy and blessed man. But this too we ought not to keep silent, which has been handed down without doubt by certain who were eyewitnesses concerning the voice of the blessed man in psalmody.

That voice, namely, of the venerable man chanting in the church with the brethren, was sometimes heard raised in an incomparable manner over four furlongs, that is, five hundred paces, and sometimes over eight, that is, a thousand paces. Wonderful to relate! Yet in the ears of those who stood with him in the church his voice did not exceed the measure of a human voice in loudness of cry. But nevertheless at that same hour those who stood at a distance of more than a thousand paces so clearly heard that same voice, that they could even distinguish through their several syllables the very verses which he sang: for his voice sounded alike in the ears of those hearing near and far. But this miracle concerning the voice of the blessed man is proved to have happened not always, but rarely;

which nevertheless could in no way have come to pass without the grace of the Divine Spirit. But neither must that be left unspoken which is reported to have happened at one time concerning such an incomparable raising of his voice near the fortress of King Brude. For the Saint himself, with a few brethren, outside the king's fortress, while he was celebrating the evening praises of God according to custom, certain Magi, drawing nearer to them, tried as far as they could to prevent the sound of the divine praise from their mouths being heard among the Gentile peoples.

On learning this the Saint began to chant the forty-fourth psalm, and in a marvellous manner his voice was at that moment raised in the air like some terrible thunder, so that both the king and the people were stricken with intolerable terror. Chapter 30: Concerning a Certain Rich Man who was Called Lugaid the Lame. At another time, when the Saint was tarrying for several days in Scotia, seeing another cleric seated in a chariot, who was joyfully travelling through the Plain of Brega; first inquiring concerning him who he might be, he received this answer concerning him from that man's friends, 'This is Lugaid the Lame, a rich man and honoured among the people.' The Saint, replying accordingly, said, 'I do not see it so;

but a wretched and poor little man, who on the day on which he will die will keep within his enclosure three heifers belonging to his neighbours in one pen, and will order one choice cow of the heifers to be slain for himself, and of its cooked flesh will ask that some portion be given to him, as he lies in the same bed with a harlot. And taking a morsel of that very portion, he will at once be strangled there and die.' All which things, as is handed down by eyewitnesses, were fulfilled according to the Saint's prophetic word. Chapter 31: The Saint's Prophecy Concerning Nemán Son of Gruthrech. For when the Saint was rebuking this man for his evils, making little of the Saint, he mocked him. To him the blessed man, replying, said, 'In the name of the Lord, Nemán, I will speak some true words concerning you.'

'Your enemies will find you lying in the same bedchamber with a harlot, and there you will be slain. Demons too will carry off your soul to the places of punishment.' This same Nemán, after some years, found in one bed with a harlot in the region of Cainle, according to the Saint's word, beheaded by his enemies, perished. Chapter 32: The Holy Man's Prophecy Concerning a Certain Presbyter. At another time the Saint, when he was staying in the aforementioned region of the Scots a little higher up, by chance on a Lord's day came to a certain neighbouring little monastery which in Scottish is called Trevet.

On that same day thereupon, hearing a certain presbyter celebrating the sacred mysteries of the Eucharist, whom the brethren who dwelt there had for that reason chosen to perform the solemnities of the Masses, because they esteemed him very devout, suddenly he uttered this fearful voice from his mouth, 'The clean and the unclean are now seen to be mingled together'—that is, the clean mysteries of the holy oblation ministered by an unclean man, who meanwhile conceals in his own conscience some great misdeed. Those who were present, hearing these things, trembling, were exceedingly amazed. But he concerning whom these words were spoken was compelled before all to confess his sin.

And the fellow-soldiers of Christ, who in the church standing around the Saint had heard him making manifest the hidden things of the heart, with great admiration glorified the divine knowledge in him. Chapter 33: The Holy Man's Prophecy Concerning Erc the Thief, of the Moccu-Druidi, who Dwelt on the Island of Colonsay. At another time the Saint, dwelling on the island of Iona, having summoned to himself two of the brethren, whose names were Lugbe and Silnan, commanding them, said, 'Now cross over to the island of Mull, and in the little plains near the sea seek out Erc the thief;

who, on the past night, coming alone secretly from the island of Colonsay, under his little boat covered with hay, amid heaps of sand, tries to hide himself through the day, that by night he may sail across to a small island where the sea-calves of our jurisdiction are born and breed; so that, killing those by stealth, the greedy and most thievish man, filling his little boat, may make his way back to his own dwelling.' They, hearing these things, obeying, set out, and find the thief hidden in the places marked beforehand by the Saint, and led him to the Saint, just as he had commanded them. Seeing him, the Saint says to him, 'Why do you, transgressing the divine commandment, so often steal the goods of others? Whenever you have need, coming to us you shall receive the necessities you ask for.'

And saying these things he ordered wethers to be slain, and given in place of the seals to the wretched thief, that he might not return empty to his own. And after some time the Saint, foreseeing in the spirit the near death of the thief, sent to Baithene, who was at that time prior dwelling in the Plain of Long, that he should send to that same thief, as final gifts, a certain fat beast and six measures of grain. When these had been transmitted by Baithene, just as the Saint had committed, on that day the wretched thief was found forestalled by sudden death, and the gifts that had been sent were expended at his funeral rites. Chapter 34:

Concerning Cronan the Poet, the Holy Man's Prophecy. At another time, when the Saint was sitting one day beside the Lake of Cei, near the mouth of the river which in Latin is called Bos, with the brethren, a certain Scottish poet came to them; who, when he had departed after some conversation, the brethren said to the Saint, 'Why, when Cronan the poet was departing from us, did you not ask, after the custom of his art, that some song be tunefully sung?' To them the Saint said, 'Why do you too now utter useless words? How could I ask any song of joy from that man, who in a short time will end his life?'—'who has been slaughtered by his enemies, has swiftly come to the very end of his life.' When these things had been said by the Saint, behold, across the river a certain man shouts, saying, 'That poet, who lately returned from you safe, in this very hour has been killed by enemies on the road.'

All then who were present, greatly marvelling, gazing at one another, were astonished. Chapter 35: The Holy Man's Prophecy Concerning Two Chiefs, who Both Perished by Mutual Wounds. At yet another time likewise, the Saint, conversing on the island of Iona, suddenly while reading groaned with the deepest sorrowful groan, with great astonishment. Seeing this, Lugbe Moccu-Blai, who was present, began to inquire of him the cause of his sudden grief.

To him the Saint, greatly saddened, gave this reply: 'Two men of royal lineage in Scotia have now perished, pierced through by mutual wounds between themselves, not far from the monastery which is called Cellrois, in the province of the Mugdorna; and on the eighth day, this week being completed, from across the strait another will shout, who, coming from Hibernia, will relate these things as thus done. But this, O little son, as long as I live, disclose to no one.' On the eighth day thereupon a shout was raised from across the strait. The Saint then, calling to himself the aforementioned Lugbe, silently said to him, 'He who now shouts across the strait is the very one of whom I spoke to you earlier, the aged traveller. Go, and bring him to us.'

When he had been quickly brought, among other things he reported this also, saying: 'Two noble men in the region of the Maugdorni, wounding one another mutually, have died; that is, Colman Canis, son of Ailen, and Ronan, son of Aid son of Colgen, of the race of the Anteriores, near the borders of those places where that monastery is seen which is called Cellrois.' After these words of his narration, the same Lugbeus, a soldier of Christ, began to question the Saint apart, saying: 'I beg you to tell me concerning such things as these, in what manner these prophetic revelations are made known to you: whether by sight, or by hearing, or by some other manner unknown to men.'

To this the Saint said: 'Concerning the matter about which you now inquire — a thing exceedingly subtle — I can in no wise impart to you even the smallest particle of it, unless first, on bended knees, you firmly promise me, by the name of the Most High God, that you will never recount this most hidden mystery to any man for all the days of my life.' He, hearing this, immediately bent his knees, and, with his face prostrate to the ground, according to the Saint's command, fully promised everything. When this promise had at once been completed,

the Saint spoke thus to him as he rose: 'There are some — though indeed very few — to whom divine grace has granted this: that with the bosom of the mind marvellously enlarged, they behold, clearly and most plainly, even the whole orb of the entire earth, together with the encircling ocean and sky, in one and the same moment, as it were beneath a single ray of the sun.' Although the Saint seems to say this of other elect ones — fleeing, to be sure, vainglory — yet that he spoke it of himself, albeit obliquely, no one ought to doubt who reads Paul the Apostle, the vessel of election, relating concerning such visions revealed to himself. For he did not write thus, 'I know that I,' but, 'I know a man,' caught up even to the third heaven.

Although he seems to speak of another, yet no one doubts that he was thus recounting concerning his own person, guarding his humility. Our Columba also followed him in the narration of spiritual visions mentioned above, which the aforesaid man, whom the Saint loved exceedingly, was scarcely able to extort from him, having first sent up great entreaties — as he himself testified in the presence of other holy persons, after the passing of Saint Columba: from whom we have without doubt learned these things which we have related above concerning the Saint. Concerning Bishop Cronan: At another time a certain stranger from the province of the Mumonians came to the Saint as a pilgrim; who concealed himself humbly as much as he could, so that no one might know that he was a bishop.

But nevertheless this could not be hidden from the Saint. For on another, a Sunday, being bidden by the Saint to confect the Body of Christ according to custom, he summons the Saint, that together, as two presbyters, they might break the Lord's bread. The Saint accordingly, approaching the altar, suddenly gazed upon his face, and addressed him thus: 'Christ bless you, brother; break this bread alone, by the episcopal rite: now we know that you are a bishop. Why have you hitherto sought to conceal yourself, so that the veneration due to you should not be rendered by us?' On hearing this word of the Saint, the humble pilgrim, greatly astonished, venerated Christ in the Saint; and those who were present, exceedingly amazed, glorified the Lord.

The Saint's Prophecy concerning the Presbyter Ernan: At yet another time the venerable man sent the presbyter Ernan, an old man, his own maternal uncle, to the office of prior of that monastery which he had founded on the island of Hinba many years before. And so, when the Saint, embracing him as he departed, was blessing him, he uttered this prophecy concerning him, saying: 'This my friend now going forth I do not hope to see again alive in this world.' And so the same Ernan, after not many days, troubled by a certain sickness, wished to be carried back to the Saint: at whose arrival, greatly rejoiced, the Saint began to go to meet him at the harbour. But Ernan himself, though feeble, yet on his own feet, was striving to come to meet the Saint from the harbour, very eager.

But when there was as it were an interval of twenty-four paces between them both, overtaken by sudden death, before the Saint could see his face alive, breathing his last he fell to the ground, lest the Saint's word should in any way be frustrated. Whence in that same place before the door of the hut a cross was set up, and another, where the Saint stood still as he expired, likewise a cross stands fixed even to this day. The Saint's Prophecy concerning the Little Household of a certain Commoner: At another time also a certain commoner came among others to the Saint as he was lodging in a place which in Irish is called Coire Salchain; whom, when the Saint had seen coming to him in the evening, he said: 'Where do you dwell?' He said: 'In the region which borders the shores of the lake Crogreth, there I dwell.'

'That little province which you speak of,' said the Saint, 'barbarian ravagers are now laying waste.' On hearing this, the wretched commoner began to bewail his wife and children. The Saint, seeing him greatly grieving, consoling him said: 'Go, little man, go; your whole little household, fleeing into the mountain, has escaped; but all your little flocks the invaders have driven off with them, and likewise the cruel plunderers have carried off all the furniture of your house along with the booty.' Hearing this, the commoner, returning to his homeland, found everything fulfilled just as it had been foretold by the Saint.

The Saint's Prophecy concerning a certain Commoner named Gore, son of Aidan: At yet another time a certain commoner, the strongest of all the men of his age among the people of Korkureti, asked the holy man by what death he was destined to be overtaken. To him the Saint said: 'You will die neither in war nor at sea: the companion of your journey, from whom you do not suspect it, will be the cause of your death.' 'Perhaps,' said Gore, 'one of my friends accompanying me is plotting to slay me, or my wife, for love of some younger man, to put me to death by sorcery.' The Saint said: 'It will not so happen.' 'Why then,' said Gore, 'will you not now disclose to me my slayer?'

The Saint said: 'For this reason I am unwilling now to declare to you anything more plainly concerning that harmful companion of yours, lest the frequent recollection of him, once recognized, should sadden you too much, until that day comes on which you will prove the truth of this matter.' Why do we delay with words? After the lapse of several years, the same aforementioned Gore, sitting by chance one day under a boat, was scraping a peg from the shaft with his own little knife; then, hearing others nearby warring among themselves, he rose more quickly to separate them from the fray, and, the same knife in that sudden haste being carelessly let fall to the ground, his little knee, striking against it, was grievously wounded. And his companion thus being the cause, an occasion of death arose for him;

which he himself, struck in mind, immediately recognized according to the prophecy of the holy man; and after some months, aggravated by the same pain, he dies. Concerning Another Matter Also, Though a Lesser One, the Saint's Pleasant Foreknowledge and Prophecy, which I think Ought Not to be Passed Over in Silence: At yet another time, when the Saint was dwelling on the island of Iona, calling one of the brothers, he addresses him thus: 'On the third day dawning from this, you ought to wait in the western part of this island, sitting upon the shore of the sea: for from the northern region of Ireland a certain guest-crane, driven by the winds through long circuits of the air, after the ninth hour of the day, very weary and fatigued, will arrive, and, its strength almost consumed, will fall and lie down before you on the beach;

which you shall mercifully take care to lift up, and carry to the nearby house, and there, hospitably received, ministering to it for three days and nights, you shall carefully feed it; and afterwards, restored when the three days are complete, unwilling to sojourn with us any longer, it will return to its former sweet region of Ireland whence it arose, with strength fully recovered; which therefore I so diligently commend to you because it is a native of the region of our fatherhood.' The brother obeys, and on the third day after the ninth hour, as commanded, he awaits the arrival of the foreknown guest, and lifts the fallen one as it comes from the shore, carries the sick one to the lodging, feeds the hungry one.

To him, returned to the monastery in the evening, the Saint, not questioning but narrating, said: 'God bless you, my son, because you have well ministered to the pilgrim guest, which will not tarry in its pilgrimage, but after three days will return to its homeland.' Which thing happened just as the Saint had foretold, and the event also proved it. For having been lodged for three days, in the presence of the host who ministered to it, first raising itself from the ground by flying on high, and having for a little while surveyed its way in the air, the surface of the ocean being traversed, it returned to Ireland in straight course of flight on a calm day.

Concerning the Battle which was Joined in the Fortress of Cethirn after Much Time, and concerning a certain Little Spring near that Same Little Land, the Foreknowledge of the Blessed Man: At another time the blessed man, when after the conference of the kings on the Ridge of Cete — that is, of Aid son of Ainmurech and of Aidan son of Gabran — was returning to the maritime plains, he himself and Abbot Comgell, on a certain clear day of summer time, were resting not far from the aforementioned fortress.

Then accordingly water from a certain nearby little spring, for washing the hands, is brought to the Saints in a bronze vessel. When Saint Columba had received it, he speaks thus to Abbot Comgell sitting beside him: 'That little spring, O Comgell, from which this water poured out has been brought to us, a day will come when it will be fit for no human uses.' 'For what cause,' said Comgell, 'will its spring-water be corrupted?' Then Saint Columba said: 'Because it will be filled with human gore: for my kinsmen friends and your kindred according to the flesh — that is, the descendants of Nellis and the people of the Cruthini — warring in this neighbouring fortress of Cethirn, will join battle.

Whence in the aforementioned spring some little man of my kindred will be slain, with whose blood, together with that of others killed, the place of that same little spring will be filled.' Which truthful prophecy of his was in its own time fulfilled after many years. In which battle, as many peoples know, Domnall son of Aid was exalted as victor, and in that same little spring, according to the prophecy of the holy man, a certain man of his kindred was killed.

Another soldier of Christ told me, Adomnan, by name Finan, who for many years led an anchoretic life beside the monastery of Robur of the Plain blamelessly, relating some things concerning that same battle, joined while he was present, attested that he had seen in the aforesaid spring a headless corpse, and on the same day, returning to the monastery of Saint Comgell which is called in Irish Cambas — the battle having been joined — because he had come from there before, found there two old monks of Saint Comgell:

to whom, when he was relating some things concerning the battle waged in his presence, and concerning the little spring corrupted with human gore, they accordingly said: 'A true prophet is Columba, who all these things which you today relate as fulfilled concerning the battle and concerning the little spring, many years before as things to come, in our hearing, in the presence of Saint Comgell, sitting beside the fortress of Cethirn, had foretold.' Concerning the Discernment of Various Gifts Revealed to the Holy Man by Divine Grace: At that same time Conall, bishop of Culerathin, having collected from the people of the Plain of Eilne almost innumerable gifts, prepared a lodging for the blessed man, after the conference of the aforementioned kings, as he was returning with a great crowd following.

Accordingly to the holy man as he arrived the many gifts of the people, spread out in the courtyard of the monastery, are assigned to be blessed. When, blessing them, he looked upon them, especially pointing out the gift of a certain wealthy man, he said: 'The man whose gift this is, for his mercies to the poor and for his liberality, the mercy of God accompanies.' And likewise he discerns another gift among many others, saying: 'Of this gift of a wise but avaricious man I can in no way taste, unless he first does true penance for the sin of avarice.'

Hearing this word quickly spread abroad in the crowd, Columb son of Aid, conscious of guilt, runs up, and before the Saint, on bended knees, does penance, and promises that henceforth he will renounce avarice, and will pursue liberality with amendment of his ways. And bidden by the Saint to rise, from that hour he was healed of the vice of stinginess. For he was a wise man, just as had been revealed to the Saint in his gift. But that other, the rich and liberal man, Brenden by name, of whose gift it was spoken a little above, hearing himself the Saint's words spoken concerning him, kneeling at the Saint's feet, prays that the Saint would pour out a prayer to the Lord for him:

who, having first been rebuked by him for certain of his sins, bearing penitence, promised that he would henceforth amend himself; and thus each of the two was amended and healed of his own vices. With similar knowledge the Saint at another time also recognized among many gifts the gift of a certain stingy man, named Diormit, collected at Cella Magna of Deathrib at his coming. Let it suffice to have inscribed these things, as it were a few out of very many, concerning the prophetic grace of the blessed man, in the text of this first little book.

I have said but few, for concerning this venerable man it is not to be doubted that those things which could in no way come to the knowledge of men — mysteries hidden within — were far more numerous than those which, like certain small droppings, distilled as it were through certain little chinks of some full vessel with most fermenting new wine. For holy and apostolic men, avoiding vainglory, for the most part hasten as far as they can to conceal certain inward secrets, manifested to them inwardly by God. But God, whether they will or no, divulges some of them, and brings them forth into the midst in whatever way — namely, willing to glorify the Saints who glorify Him, that is, the Lord Himself, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages.

Here is set the end to this first book; now there is begun the following book concerning the miracles of powers, which for the most part prophetic foreknowledge also accompanies.