On another occasion also, when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he had to cross the Ness River. When he reached its banks, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who had been seized while swimming and bitten cruelly by a monster that lived in the water, as he learned from those who were burying the man … The blessed man, on hearing this, was not at all afraid…. The monster, far from being satisfied, was only hungry for more prey. Lying at the bottom of the stream, when it felt the water disturbed by those above, the monster suddenly rushed out, giving an awful roar with its mouth wide open….
Observing this, while all the rest, brothers as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, the blessed man raised his holy hand, and invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air. He commanded the ferocious monster…. “Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.”… Then the brothers, seeing that the monster had gone back … were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the pagan barbarians who were present were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to praise the God of the Christians….
On a certain day after the events recorded in the above chapters, a Druid named Broichan, while talking with the saint, said to him: “Tell me, Columba, when are you planning to set sail?” The saint replied, “I intend to begin my voyage after three days, if God permits me, and preserves my life.” Broichan said, “On the contrary, you will not be able to, for I can make the winds unfavorable to your voyage, and cause a great darkness to surround you.” The saint replied, “The almighty power of God rules all things, and in His name and under His guiding providence all our actions are directed.”
What more should I say? That same day the saint, accompanied by a large number of followers, went to Loch Ness as he had determined. Then the Druids began to rejoice, seeing that it had become very dark, and that the wind was very violent and contrary. (We should not be surprised at this: we know that God sometimes allows them, with the aid of evil spirits, to raise storms and agitate the sea.)
Our Columba, therefore, seeing that the sea was violently stirred up, and that the wind was most unfavorable for his voyage, called on Christ the Lord and set out in his small boat; and while the sailors hesitated, he all the more confidently ordered them to raise the sails against the wind. No sooner was this order carried out, while the whole crowd was looking on, than the ship ran against the wind with extraordinary speed. And after a short time, the wind, which until then had been against them, shifted to help them on their voyage, to the intense astonishment of all. And thus throughout the remainder of that day the light breeze continued most favorable, and the ship of the blessed man was carried safely to the port he was seeking.
A Hymn to God the Creator
The astonishing miracles for which Columba was remembered should not cause us to forget his work in spreading art, literacy, and education. Scotland was also devoid of any developed intellectual culture, and the Irish missionaries brought with them the Latin intellectual culture they had learned from Catholic missionaries from the days of St. Patrick. The following is a hymn written by Columba, called “Altus Prosator”: it is “abecedarian,” meaning that, at least in the original Latin, each stanza begins with a different letter of the alphabet.
High Creator, Unbegotten,
Ancient of Eternal days,
Unbegun ere all beginning,
Him, the world’s one source, we praise:
God who is, and God who shall be:
All that was and is before:
Him with Christ the Sole-Begotten,
And the Spirit we adore,
Co-eternal, one in glory.
Evermore and evermore:—
Not Three Gods are They we worship.
But the Three which are the One,
God, in Three most glorious Persons:—
Other saving Faith is none.
* * *
All good angels and archangels,
Powers and Principalities,
Virtues, Thrones, His will created—
Grades and orders of the skies,
That the majesty and goodness
Of the Blessed Trinity
In its ever bounteous largesse
Never might inactive be;
Having thus wherewith to glory.
All the wide world might adore
The high Godhead’s sole-possession
Everywhere and evermore.
* * *
God, the Lord Most High, foreseeing
Nature’s concord full and sweet.
Molded Heaven and Earth and Ocean
To one harmony complete:
Sprang the grasses, fair unfolding.
Copses burgeoned in the sun:
Beamed the sunlight, starlight, moonlight,
Firelight: all of need was done—
Birds for brake, and fish for waters.
Wild or tame kine for the sward—
Last, the highest, first created,
Man, Creation’s crown and lord.
* * *
When together, ethereal wonder,
Shine the Stars, the Angels sing;
To th’ Immensity’s Designer,
Host on host, their anthems ring:
Songs right meet for adoration,
Glorious harmonies they raise;
Since they move not from their courses
Never-ending is their praise.
Noble concert in the highest
Is their offering full and free:—
’Tis of love’s sincerest rapture
Not of natural decree.
* * *
From the Lord the rain’s soft showerings
Ever fall at need below:
Closely stored behind their barriers
Lest their bounty overflow:
Slowly, surely fertilizing,
Never failing at His will.
They as if from breast maternal
O’er the earth their balm distill:
So the rivers in their season.
From the winter to the spring.
To the autumn from the summer
Their inflowings ever bring.
St. Columba’s Legacy: Celtic vs. Roman Christianity
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