St. Columba
Born: December 7, 521 CE
Died: June 9, 597 CE
Feast day: June 9
Patron saint of: floods, bookbinders, poets, Ireland, Scotland.
In 521 Eithne, the wife of Fedelmid Mac Fergus of Donegal, bore a son named Crimthann, which means “wolf.” They hoped he would possess the wolf-like cunning desired by their clan. But Crimthann’s spiritual disposition earned him another name, Columba, which means “dove.”
Columba’s parents sent him to be educated at the monastic school of Moville, where he showed strong inclinations toward spiritual contemplation, leading to his ordination as a deacon. Historians fail to record Columba’s calling to the priesthood, but later folk tradition tells of a vision in which an angel instructs Columba, “Arise and renew sound doctrine in Ireland.”
Columba’s dove-like attributes were certainly part of his real nature. He was famous for gentleness toward animals; he once received a vision that a wounded heron would land on the shore—and when, sure enough, it arrived, Columba cared for it tenderly and released it back into the wild.
More about St. Columba:
To embrace your own contradictions, learn from St. Columba
Columba’s dove and wolf natures defy categorization as good-versus-evil.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
