File:Columba_at_Bridei's_fort.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Columba
Sign in to saveAlso known as St. Columba, Saint Columba, St Columba, Colmcille, Colum Cille
Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the patron saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Catholic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
OverviewAI-generated
Columba was a male monk and missionary from Gaelic Ireland. Born in County Donegal on December 7, 521, he resided in the same county before moving to Iona, where he died on June 9, 597. He served as an abbot and was a member of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. His religious affiliation was Christianity, and he wrote in Latin. He is recognized as a saint with a feast day on June 9.
His notable work includes the Cathach of St. Columba. Columba participated in the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne. He is buried in Iona. Sources describing him include The Nuttall Encyclopædia, the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, and the Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition.
Synthesized by Vinony from 37 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, Open Library, Last.fm, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Saint.honorific_prefix
- Saint
- Saint.name
- Columba
- Saint.image
- Columba at Bridei's fort.jpg
- Saint.caption
- Saint Columba, Apostle to the Picts
- Saint.titles
- Apostle of the Picts
- Saint.birth_date
- 7 December 521 AD
- Saint.birth_place
- Gartan, Tyrconnell, Gaelic Ireland
- Saint.death_date
- 9 June 597 AD (aged 75)
- Saint.death_place
- Iona, Dál Riata
- Saint.feast_day
- 9 June
- Saint.venerated_in
- Catholic ChurchEastern Orthodox ChurchAnglicanism Lutheranism
- Saint.major_shrine
- Iona, Scotland
- Saint.attributes
- Monk's robes, Celtic tonsure and crosier
- Saint.patronage
- Derry, floods, bookbinders, poets, Ireland and Scotland
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Gaelic Ireland
- Place of birth
- County Donegal
- Place of death
- Iona
- Occupation
- missionary
- Position held
- abbot
- Languages spoken
- Latin
- Religion
- Christianity
- Notable work
- Cathach of St. Columba
- Student of
- Finnian of Clonard
- Field of work
- Christianity
- Conflict
- Battle of Cúl Dreimhne
- Image
- Stained Glass Window in St Margaret's Chapel.jpg
- Residence
- County Donegal
Show 14 more facts
- Commons category
- Saint Columba
- date of birth
- 0521-12-07
- date of death
- 0597-06-09
- canonization status
- saint
- Commons gallery
- Columba
- member of
- Twelve Apostles of Ireland
- place of burial
- Iona
- feast day
- June 9
- writing language
- Latin
- name in native language
- Columba
- nickname
- Apôtre des Scots
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
- different from
- Columbanus
- P12749
- Rue
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
15 sectionsContents
- Early life in Ireland
- Scotland
- Legacy
- Ireland
- Scotland
- Poetry
- Other
- Primary sources
- See also
- References
- Notes
- Citations
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the patron saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Catholic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Columba studied under some of Ireland's most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 AD he and his twelve companions crossed to Dunaverty near Southend, Argyll, in Kintyre before settling in Iona in Scotland, then part of the Ulster kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading Christianity among the pagan Northern Pictish kingdoms. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early-medieval Latin hymns are attributed to him.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Columba” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.