Vita Sancti Columbae: Liber Primus

VIR itaque venerandus qualia virtutum documenta dederit, in hujus libelli primordiis, secundum nostram praemissam superius promissiunculam, breviter sunt demonstranda. Diversorum namque infestationes morborum homines, in nomine Domini Jesu Christ, virtute orationum, perpessos sanavit: daemonumque infestas ipse unus homo, et innumeras contra se belligerantes catervas, oculis corporalibus visas, et incipientes mortiferos super ejus coenobialem coetum inferre morbos, hac nostra de insula retrotrusas primaria, Deo auxiliante, repulit. Bestiarum furiosam rabiem, partim mortificatione, partim fort repulsione, Christo adjuvante compescuit.

The man therefore to be venerated—what sorts of proofs of virtues he gave—at the beginnings of this little book, according to our small promise premised above, must briefly be shown. For he healed men enduring the infestations of diverse diseases, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the virtue of prayers; and the demon-hostilities—he, one man—and countless cohorts warring against himself, seen by bodily eyes, and beginning to bring mortiferous illnesses upon his coenobial company, he, with God aiding, drove back, thrusting them from this our primary island. The furious rabies of beasts, partly by mortification, partly by strong repulsion, with Christ helping, he restrained.

tumores quoque fluctuum, instar montium aliquando in magna tempestate consurgentium, ipso ocius orante, sedati humiliatique sunt; navisque ipsius, in qua et ipse casu navigabat, tunc temporis, facta tranquillitate, portum appulsa est optatum. In regione Pictorum aliquantis diebus manens, inde reversus ut magos confunderet, contra flatus contrarios venti erexit velum, et ita veloci cursu ejus navicula enatans festinabat, ac si secundum habuisset ventum. Aliis quoque temporibus, venti navigantibus contrarii in secundos, ipso orante, conversi sunt.

the swellings too of the waves, at times rising like mountains in a great tempest, as he prayed more swiftly, were calmed and humbled; and his ship, in which he too by chance was sailing at that time, tranquillity having been made, was brought to the desired port. Remaining in the region of the Picts for several days, then returning from there in order to confound the magi, he raised the sail against the contrary blasts of the wind, and so his little ship, swimming along at a rapid course, was hastening, as if it had had a favorable wind. At other times also, winds contrary for those sailing were, as he prayed, converted into favorable ones.

In eadem supra memorata regione lapidem de flumine candidum detulit, quem ad aliquas profuturum benedixit sanitates: qui lapis, contra naturam, in aqua intinctus, quasi pomum supernatavit. Hoc divinum miraculum coram Brudeo rege, et familiaribus ejus, factum est. In eadem itidem provincia, cujusdam plebei credentis mortuum puerum suscitavit, quod est majoris miraculi, vivumque et incolumem patri et matri assignavit.

In the same region above mentioned he brought a white stone from the river, which he blessed as about to be of avail for certain healings: which stone, contrary to nature, when dipped in water, floated on the surface like an apple. This divine miracle was done before King Brude and his familiars. In the same province likewise, he raised the dead boy of a certain believing commoner—which is a greater miracle—and delivered him alive and unharmed to his father and mother.

Alio in tempore idem vir beatus juvenis diaconus, in Hibernia apud Findbarrum sanctum episcopum commanens, cum ad sacrosancta mysteria necessarium defuisset vinum, virtute orationis, aquam puram in verum vertit vinum. Sed et coelestis ingens claritudinis lumen, et in noctis tenebris, et in luce diei, super eum, aliquando quibusdam ex fratribus, diversis et separatis vicibus, apparuit effusum. Sanctorum quoque angelorum dulces et suavissimas frequentationes luminosas habere meruit.

At another time the same blessed man, a young deacon, dwelling in Hibernia with Saint Findbarr the bishop, when the wine necessary for the sacrosanct mysteries had been lacking, by the virtue of prayer turned pure water into true wine. And a light of immense celestial brightness, both in the darkness of night and in the light of day, appeared poured out over him, at times to certain of the brethren, on various and separate occasions. He also merited to have sweet and most delightful luminous visitations of the holy angels.

Quorumdam justorum animas crebro ab angelis ad summa coelorum vehi, Sancto revelante Spiritu, videbat. Sed et reproborum alias ad inferna a daemonibus ferri saepenumero aspiciebat. Plurimorum in carne moratli adhuc conversantium futura plerumque praenuntiabat merita, aliorum laeta, aliorum tristia.

He used to see, frequently, the souls of certain just ones being carried by angels to the summits of the heavens, the Holy Spirit revealing it. But also, at other times, he very often beheld the reprobate being borne by demons to the infernal regions. Of very many who were still living in mortal flesh he for the most part would foretell the future deserts—of some joyful, of others sad.

In bellorumque terrificis fragoribus hoc a Deo virtute orationum impetravit, ut alii reges victi, et alii regnatores efficerentur victores. Hoc tale privilegium non tantum in hac praesenti vita conversanti, sed etiam post ejus de carne transitum, quasi cuidam victoriali et fortissimo propugnatori, a Deo omnium sanctorum condonatum est honorificatore. Hujus talis honorificentiae viro honorabili ab Omnipotente coelitus collatae etiam unum proferemus exemplum, quod Ossualdo regnatori Saxonico, pridie quam contra Catlonem Britonum regem fortissimum praeliaretur, ostensum erat.

And in the terrific crashes of wars he obtained this from God by the virtue of prayers: that some kings should be conquered, and other rulers should be made victors. Such a privilege was granted not only while he was conversant in this present life, but also after his transit from the flesh, as to a certain victorial and most stout propugnator, by God, the honorifier of all the saints. Of such honorificence, bestowed from heaven by the Omnipotent upon the honorable man, we will also bring forth one example, which had been shown to Oswald, the Saxon ruler, on the day before he would do battle against Catlon, the most strong king of the Britons.

nam cum idem Ossualdus rex esset in procinctu belli castra metatus, quadam die in suo papilione supra pulvillum dormiens, sanctum Columbam in visu videt forma corscantem agelica; cujus alta proceritas vertice nubes tangere videbatur. Qui scilicet vir beatus, suum regi proprium revelans nomen, in mdeio castrorum stans, eadem castra, excepta quadam parva extremitate, sui protegebat fulgida veste; et haec confirmatoria contulit verba, eadem scilicet quae Dominus ad Jesue Ben Nun ante transitum Jordanis, mortuo Moyse, prolocutus est, dicens: Confortare et age viriliter; ecce ero tecum etc. Sanctus itaque Columba, haec ad regem in visu loquens, addit: Hac sequenti nocte de castris ad bellum procede; hac enim vice mihi Dominus donavit ut hostes in fugam vertantur tui, et tuus Catlon inimicus in manus tradatur tuas, et post bellum victor revertaris, et feliciter regnes.

for when that same King Ossualdus had measured out his camp in the battle’s array, one day, sleeping in his pavilion upon a little cushion, he sees Saint Columba in a vision, glittering with an angelic form; whose lofty tallness seemed with his crown to touch the clouds. And that blessed man, revealing to the king his own proper name, standing in the middle of the camp, was covering the same camp—save for a certain small extremity—with his shining garment; and he bestowed these confirmatory words, namely the same which the Lord spoke to Jesue Ben Nun before the crossing of the Jordan, Moses being dead, saying: Be strengthened and act manfully; behold, I will be with you, etc. Saint Columba therefore, speaking these things to the king in the vision, adds: On the following night advance from the camp to battle; for on this occasion the Lord has granted to me that your enemies be turned to flight, and that your enemy Catlon be delivered into your hands, and that after the battle you return a victor, and reign happily.

Post haec verba experrectus rex senatui congregato hanc enarrat visionem; qua confortati omnes, totus populus promittit se post reversionem de bello crediturum et baptismum suscepturum: nam usque in id temporis tota illa Saxonia gentilitatis et ignorantiae tenebris obscurata erat, excepto ipso rege Ossualdo, cum duodecim viris, qui cum eo Scotos inter exulante baptizati sunt. Quid plura? eadem subsecuta nocte Ossualdus rex, sicuti in visu edoctus furerat, de castris ad bellum, cum admodum pauciore exercitu, contra millia numerosa progreditur; cui a Domino, sicut ei promissum est, felix et facilis est concessa victoria, et rege trucidato Catlone, victor post bellum reversus, postea totius Britanniae imperator a Deo ordinatus est.

After these words the king, having awakened, to the assembled senate recounts this vision; by which all being strengthened, the whole people promises that after the return from the war it will believe and will receive baptism: for up to that time all that Saxony had been obscured by the shadows of gentility (paganism) and ignorance, except the king himself Oswald, with twelve men, who, while he was exiled among the Scots, were baptized with him. What more? On that same following night King Oswald, just as he had been taught in the vision, goes forth from the camp to the battle, with a much smaller army, against innumerable thousands; to whom from the Lord, as it was promised to him, a happy and easy victory was granted, and with King Catlon slaughtered, returning after the war as victor, afterwards he was ordained by God emperor of all Britain.

Hanc mihi Adamnano narrationem meus decessor, noster abbas Failbeus, indubitanter enarravit, qui se ab ore ipsius Ossualdi regis, Segineo abbati eamdem enuntiantis visionem, audisse protestatus est.

This narration to me, Adamnan, my predecessor, our abbot Failbeus, unhesitatingly recounted, who testified that he had heard it from the mouth of King Oswald himself, as he was announcing the same vision to Abbot Segineus.

Sed et hoc etiam non praetereundum videtur, quod ejusdem beati viri per quaedam Scoticae linguae laudum ipsius carmina, et nominis commemorationem, quidam, quamlibet scelerati laicae conversationis homines et sanguinarii, ea nocte qua eadem decantaverant cantica, de manibus inimicorum qui eamdem eorumdem cantorum domum circumsteterant sint liberati; qui flammas inter et gladios et lanceas incolumes evasere, mirumque in modum pauci ex ipsis, qui easdem sancti viri commemorationes, quasi parvi pendentes, canere noluerant decantationes, in illo aemulorum impetu soli disperierant. Hujus miraculi testes non duo aut tres, juxta legem, sed etiam centeni, et eo amplius, adhiberi potuere. Non tantum in uno, aut loco, aut tempore, hoc idem contigisse comprobatur, sed etiam diversis locis et temporibus in Scotia et in Britannia, simili tamen et modo et causa liberationis, factum fuisse, sine ulla ambiguitate exploratum est.

But this also seems not to be passed over: that by means of certain songs in the Scotic language of his praises, and of the commemoration of his name, certain men—however wicked in the lay conversation of life and blood-stained—on the night on which they had chanted those same canticles, were delivered from the hands of enemies who had surrounded that very house of those same singers; who, amid flames and swords and lances, escaped unharmed; and wondrously, a few of them, who, as if holding them of little account, had been unwilling to sing those same commemorations of the holy man, in that onset of the jealous rivals perished alone. Witnesses of this miracle, not two or three, according to the law, but even by the hundred, and more, could be adduced. It is attested that this same thing came to pass not only in one single case, or place, or time, but also in diverse places and times in Scotia and in Britain; yet in a like both manner and cause of deliverance it was done, and has been ascertained without any ambiguity.

Haec ab expertis uniuscujusque regionis, ubicumque res eadem simili contigit miraculo indubitanter didicimus.

These things we have indubitably learned from the experienced of each and every region, wherever the same matter befell with a similar miracle.

Sed, ut ad propositum redeamus, inter ea miracula quae idem vir Domini, in carne mortali conversans, Deo donante, perfecerat, ab annis juvenilibus coepit etiam prophetiae spiritu pollere, ventura praedicere, praesentibus absentia nuntiare; quia quamvis absens corpore, praesens tamen spiritu, longe acta pervidere poterat. Nam, juxta Pauli vocem, Qui adhaeret Domino unus spiritus est. Unde et idem vir Domini sanctus Columba, sicut et ipse quibusdam paucis fratribus, de re eadem aliquando percunctantibus, non negavit, in aliquantis dialis gratiae speculationibus totum etiam mundum, veluti uno solis radio collectum, sinu mentis mirabiliter laxato, manifestatum perspiciens speculabatur.

But, that we may return to the proposed subject, among those miracles which the same man of the Lord, conversing in mortal flesh, God granting, had accomplished, from youthful years he also began to be endowed with the spirit of prophecy, to pre-dict things to come, to announce things absent to those present; because although absent in body, yet present in spirit, he was able to see-through deeds done far away. For, according to Paul’s voice, He who adheres to the Lord is one spirit. Whence also the same man of the Lord, Saint Columba, as he himself did not deny to certain few brothers at some time inquiring about the same matter, in certain speculations of celestial grace he would contemplate even the whole world, as though gathered into one ray of the sun, the bosom of the mind wondrously widened, beholding it made manifest.

Haec de sancti viri hic ideo enarrata sunt virtutibus, ut avidior lector breviter perscripta, quasi dulciores quasdam praegustet dapes: quae tamen plenius in tribus inferius libris, Domino auxiliante, enarrabuntur. Nunc mihi non indecenter videtur, beati viri, licet praepostero ordine, prophetationes effari, quas de sanctis quibusdam et illustribus viris, diversis prolocutus est temporibus.

These things about the virtues of the holy man have here been narrated for this reason, that the more avid reader, the items briefly written, may, as it were, pre-taste certain sweeter dainties: which, however, will be narrated more fully in the three books below, the Lord aiding. Now it does not seem to me indecorous to utter the prophecies of the blessed man, though in a preposterous order, which he delivered concerning certain holy and illustrious men at diverse times.

Caput 2: De Sancto Finteno, Abbate, Filio Tailchani

Chapter 2: On Saint Finten, Abbot, Son of Tailchan

SANCTUS Fintenus, qui postea per universas Scotorum ecclesias valde noscibilis habitus est, a puerili aetate integritatem carnis et animae, Deo adjuvante, custodiens, studiis dialis sophias deditus, hoc propositum, in annis juventutis conversatus, in corde habuit, ut nostrum sanctum Columbam, Hiberniam deserens, peregrinaturus adiret. Eodem aestuans desiderio, ad quemdam vadit seniorem sibi amicum, in sua gente prudentissimum venerandumque clericum, qui Scotice vocitabatur Columb Crag, ut ab eo, quasi prudente, aliquod audiret consilium. Cui sum suos tales denudaret cogitatus, hoc ab eo responsum accepit: Tuum, ut aestimo, a Deo inspiratum devotumque desiderium quis prohibere potest, ne ad sanctum Columbam transnavigare debeas?

SAINT Fintenus, who afterwards was held as very well-known throughout all the churches of the Scots, from boyish age, by God’s aid, keeping the integrity of flesh and soul, devoted to the studies of celestial sophia, living with this resolve in the years of youth, had it in his heart to go as a pilgrim to our Saint Columba, leaving Ireland. Burning with the same desire, he goes to a certain elder, a friend to him, the most prudent in his people and a venerable cleric, who in the Scottish tongue was called Columb Crag, that from him, as a prudent man, he might hear some counsel. To whom, when he laid bare such thoughts of his, he received this reply from him: Your devoted desire, as I judge, inspired by God—who can forbid it, that you should sail across to Saint Columba?

Eadem hora casu duo adveniunt monachi sancti Columbae, qui de sua interrogati ambulatione, Nuper aieunt, de Britannia remigantes, hodie a Roboreto Calgachi venimus. Sospes anne est, ait Columb Crag, vester Columba sanctus pater? Qui valde illacrymati, cum magno dixerunt maerore, Vere salvus est noster ille patronus, qui his diebus nuper ad Christum commigravit.

At the same hour, by chance, two monks of Saint Columba arrive, who, when asked about their going-about, say, “Lately, rowing from Britain, today we have come from the Oakwood of Calgach.” “Is your holy father Columba safe and sound?” says Columb Crag. They, much in tears, with great sorrow said, “Truly our patron is safe—who in these days lately has migrated to Christ.”

Quibus auditis, Fintenus et Columb et omnes qui ibidem inerant, prostratis in terram vultibus, amare flevere. Fintenus consequenter percunctatur dicens: Quem post se successorem reliquit? Baitheneum, aieunt suum alumnum.

With these things heard, Fintenus and Columb and all who were present there, their faces prostrate to the ground, wept bitterly. Fintenus consequently inquires, saying: Whom did he leave after himself as successor? “Baithene,” they say, “his alumnus.”

Omnibusque clamitantibus, Dignum et debitum; Columba ad Fintenum inquit: Quid ad haec, Fintene, facies? Qui respondens ait: Si Dominus permiserit, ad Baitheneum virum sanctum et sapientem enavigabo et si me susceperit, ipsum abbatem habebo. Tum deinde supra memoratum Columb osculatus, et ei valedicens, navigationem praeparat, et sine morula ulla transnavigans, Iouam devenit insulam.

And with all shouting, “Worthy and due;” Columba says to Fintenus: “What will you do about this, Fintenus?” He, answering, says: “If the Lord permits, I will sail across to Baitheneus, a holy and wise man, and if he receives me, I will have him as abbot.” Then thereafter, having kissed the above-mentioned Columb, and bidding him farewell, he prepares the voyage, and, crossing over without any delay, he arrives at the island Iona.

Et necdum, in id temporis usque, nomen ejus in his locis erat notum. Unde et imprimis quasi quidam ignotus hospes hospitaliter susceptus, alia die nuncium ad Baitheneum mittit, ejus allocutionem facie ad faciem habere volens. Qui, ut erat affabilis, et peregrinis appetibilis, jubet ad se adduci.

And not yet, up to that time, was his name known in these places. Whence also at the first, as a certain unknown guest, he was hospitably received; on another day he sends a messenger to Baitheneus, wishing to have a face-to-face allocution with him. He, as he was affable, and appetible to pilgrims, orders that he be brought to him.

Qui statim adductus, primo, ut conveniebat, flexis genibus in terra se prostravit; jussusque a sancto seniore, surgit et residens interrogatur a Baitheneo, adhuc inscio, de gente et provincia, nomineque et conversatione, et pro qua causa inierit navigationis laborem. Qui, ita interrogatus, omnia per ordinem enarrans, ut susciperetur humiliter expostulat. Cui sanctus senior, his ab hospite auditis, simulque hunc esse virum cognoscens de quo pridem aliquando sanctus Columba prophetice vaticinatus est, Gratias, ait, Deo meo agere debeo quidem in tuo adventu, fili; sed hoc indubitanter scito quod noster monachus non eris.

Who, straightway led in, first, as was fitting, with knees bent, prostrated himself on the ground; and, bidden by the holy elder, he rises, and, sitting, is questioned by Baitheneus, still unaware, concerning his nation and province, and his name and manner of life, and for what cause he had undertaken the labor of sailing. He, thus questioned, relating all in order, humbly entreats that he be received. To whom the holy elder, these things having been heard from the guest, and at the same time recognizing that this was the man about whom some time before holy Columba had prophetically vaticinated, says: I ought indeed to give thanks to my God for your coming, my son; but know this without doubt, that you will not be our monk.

Hoc audiens hospes, valde contristatus, infit: Forsitan ego indignus tuus non mereor fieri monachus. Senior consequenter inquit: Non quod, ut dicis, indignus esses hoc dixi; sed quamvis maluissem te apud me retinere, mandatum tamen sancti Columbae mei decessoris profanare non possum; per quem Spiritus Sanctus de te prophetavit. Alia namque die mihi soli seorsim, sic prophetico profatus ore, inter caetera, dixit: Haec mea, O Baithenee, intentius debes audire verba; statim namque post meum de hoc ad Christum saeculo expectatum et valde desideratum transitum, quidam de Scotia frater, qui nunc, bene juvenilem bonis moribus regens aetatem, sacrae lectionis studiis satis imbuitur, nomine Fintenus, gente Mocumoie, cujus pater Tailchanus vocitatur, ad te, inquam, perveniens, humiliter expostulabit ut ipsum suscipiens inter caeteros adnumeres monachos.

Hearing this, the guest, very saddened, says: Perhaps I, unworthy, do not deserve to become your monk. The elder consequently says: Not that, as you say, you would be unworthy, did I say this; but although I would have preferred to keep you with me, nevertheless I cannot profane the mandate of Saint Columba, my predecessor; through whom the Holy Spirit prophesied about you. For on another day, apart, to me alone, thus with a prophetic mouth speaking, among other things, he said: These my words, O Baitheneus, you must hear more intently; for immediately after my passage from this age to Christ, looked for and greatly desired, a certain brother from Ireland, who now, rightly governing his youthful age with good morals, is sufficiently imbued with the studies of sacred reading, by name Fintenus, of the people Mocumoie, whose father is called Tailchanus, coming to you, I say, will humbly entreat that you, receiving him, number him among the other monks.

Sed hoc ei in Dei praescientia praedestinatum non est ut ipse alicujus abbatis monachus fieret; sed ut monachorum abbas, et animarum dux ad coeleste regnum, olim electus a Deo est. Noles itaque hunc memoratum virum in his nostris apud te retinere insulis, ne et Dei voluntati contraire videaris: sed, haec ei intimans verba, ad Scotiam in pace remittas, ut in Laginensium vicinis mari finibus monasterium construat, et ibidem Christi ovinum pascens gregem, innumeras ad patriam animas coelestem perducat. Haec audiens sanctus junior, Christo, lacrymas fundens, agit gratias, inquiens: Secundum sancti Columbae propheticam fiat mihi et mirabilem praescientam.

But this has not been predestined for him in the prescience of God, that he should himself become the monk of some abbot; rather that he should be an abbot of monks, and a leader of souls to the celestial kingdom, he was long ago elected by God. Therefore you will not wish to retain this aforementioned man in these our islands with you, lest you also seem to be contravening the will of God; but, intimating these words to him, send him back to Scotia in peace, that he may build a monastery on the sea-neighboring borders of the Laginenses, and there, feeding Christ’s ovine flock, may lead innumerable souls to the heavenly fatherland. Hearing these things, the holy junior, shedding tears to Christ, gives thanks, saying: Let it be done to me according to the prophetic and wondrous prescience of Saint Columba.

Iisdemque diebus verbis sanctorum obtemperans, et a Baitheneo accipiens benedictionem, in pace ad Scotiam transnavigat.

And in those same days, obeying the words of the saints and receiving a benediction from Baitheneus, he sailed across in peace to Ireland.

Haec mihi quodam narrante religioso sene presbytero, Christi milite, Oisseneo nomine, Ernani filio, gente Mocu Neth Corb, indubitanter didici: qui se eadem supra memorata verba ejusdem ab ore sancti Finteni, filii Tailchani, audisse testatus est, ipsius monachus.

These things I learned indubitably from a certain religious aged presbyter, a soldier of Christ, named Oissene, son of Ernan, of the people Mocu Neth Corb: who testified that he, being his monk, had heard those same above-mentioned words from the mouth of the same Saint Finten, son of Tailchan.

Caput 3: De Erneneo, filio Craseni, prophetia ejus

Chapter 3: Concerning Erneneus, son of Crasenus, his prophecy

ALIO in tempore vir beatus, in mediterranea Hiberniae parte monasterium, quod Scotice dicitur Dair-mag, divino fundans nutu, per aliquot demoratus menses, libuit animo visitare fratres qui in Clonoensi sancti cerani coenobio commanebant. Auditoque ejus accessu, universi undeque ab agellulis monasterio vicinis cum his qui ibidem inventi sunt congregati, cum omni alacritate suum consequentes abbatem Alitherum, sancto Columbae, quasi angelo Domini, obviam, egressi vallum monasterii, unanimes pergunt; humiliatisque in terram vultibus eo viso, cum omni reverentia exosculatus ab eis est; hymnisque et laudibus resonantes, honorifice ad ecclesiam perducunt; quamdamque de lignis pyramidem erga sanctum deambulantem constringentes, a quatuor viris aeque ambulantibus supportari fecerunt: ne videlicet sanctus senior Columba ejusdem fratrum multitudinis constipatione molestaretur. Eadem hora quidam valde despectus vultu et habitu, puer familiaris, et necdum senioribus placens, retro, in quantum valuit se occultans, accessit, ut videlicet vel illius amphibali fimbriam, quo vir beatus induebatur, occulte, et si fieri possit ipso nesciente et non sentiente, tangeret.

At another time the blessed man, in the midland part of Hibernia founding by a divine nod a monastery, which in the Scotic tongue is called Dair-mag, having lingered for some months, it pleased his mind to visit the brothers who were abiding in the Clonose coenobium of Saint Ciaran. And when his approach was heard, all on every side from the little fields near the monastery, together with those who were found there, gathered, and, with all alacrity following their abbot Alitherus, they go out, to meet Saint Columba, as if an angel of the Lord, having gone forth beyond the rampart of the monastery, with faces humbled to the ground when he was seen, he was kissed by them with all reverence; and, resounding with hymns and praises, they lead him with honor to the church; and, binding about the walking saint a certain pyramid of wood, they caused it to be supported by four men walking evenly, lest the holy elder Columba be annoyed by the crowding of the multitude of the brethren. At that same hour a certain boy-servant, very despised in face and attire, and not yet pleasing to the elders, came up from behind, hiding himself as far as he could, so that he might even secretly touch the fringe of that amphibalus with which the blessed man was clothed, and, if it could be done, with the man himself not knowing or feeling it.

Sed hoc tamen Sanctum non latuit, nam quod corpoalibus oculis retro se actum intueri non potuit, spiritalibus perspexit. Unde subito restitit, et post se extendens manum, cervicem pueri tenet, ipsumque trahens ante faciem suam statuit. Omnibusque qui ibidem circumstabant dicentibus, Dimitte, dimitte, quare hunc infelicem et injuriosum retines puerum?

Yet this did not lie hidden from the Saint; for what he could not behold with corporeal eyes, as it was happening behind him, he perceived with spiritual ones. Wherefore he suddenly halted, and stretching his hand behind himself, he grasps the boy’s neck, and, dragging him, set him before his face. And when all who were standing around there were saying, “Let go, let go; why do you hold this unhappy and injurious boy?”

Sanctus e contra haec puro pectore verba depromit prophetica, Sinite, fratres, sinite modo. Ad puerum vero valde tremefactum dicit, O fili aperi os, et porrige linguam. Jussus tum puer, cum ingenti tremore aperiens os, linguam porrexit; quam Sanctus, sanctam extendens manum, diligenter benedicens, ita prophetice profatur, dicens, Hic puer quamvis vobis nunc despicabilis et valde vilis videatur, nemo tamen ipsum ob id despiciat.

The Saint, on the contrary, brings forth these prophetic words from a pure breast: “Allow, brothers, allow for the moment.” But to the boy, very much trembling, he says, “O son, open your mouth, and extend your tongue.” The boy, ordered, with immense trembling opening his mouth, stretched forth his tongue; which the Saint, extending his holy hand, diligently blessing, thus prophetically utters, saying, “This boy, although he now may seem to you despicable and very base, nevertheless let no one despise him on that account.”

Ab hac enim hora non solum vobis non displicebit, sed valde placebit; bonisque moribus, et animae virtutibus paulatim de die in diem crescet: sapintia quoque et prudentia magis ac magis in eo ab hac die adaugebitur, et in hac vestra congregatione grandis est futurus profectus; lingua quoque ejus salubri et doctrina et eloquentia a Deo donbitur. Hic erat Erneneus, filius Craseni, postea per omnes Scotiae ecclesias famosus et valde notissimus; qui haec omnia suprascripta verba Segineo abbati de se prophetata enarraverat, meo decessore Failbeo intentius audiente, qui et ipse cum Segineo praesens inerat; cujus revelatione et ego ipse cognovi haec eadem quae enarravi. Sed et multa alia iisdem diebus quibus in Clonoensi coenobio Sanctus hospiabatur, revelante prophetavit Sancto Spiritu; hoc est, de illa, quae post dies multos ob diversitatem Paschalis festi orta est inter Scotiae ecclesias, discordia: et de quibusdam angelicis frequentationibus sibi manifestatis, quibus quaedam intra ejusdem coenobii septa ab angelis tunc temporis frequentabantur loca.

From this hour he will not only not be displeasing to you, but will be very pleasing; and in good morals and the virtues of the soul he will little by little grow from day to day: wisdom also and prudence will be increased more and more in him from this day, and in this your congregation great progress is to be his; his tongue too will be gifted by God with wholesome teaching and eloquence. This was Erneneus, son of Crasenus, afterward through all the churches of Scotia famous and very well-known; who had related all these above-written words, prophesied about himself, to Abbot Segineus, my predecessor Failbe listening very intently, who also was present together with Segineus; by whose revelation I myself too learned these same things which I have narrated. But also many other things in those same days in which the Saint was being hosted in the Clonoensian coenobium, with the Holy Spirit revealing he prophesied; that is, concerning that discord which after many days arose among the churches of Scotia on account of the diversity of the Paschal feast; and concerning certain angelic visitations manifested to him, whereby certain places within the enclosures of that same coenobium were at that time frequented by angels.

Caput 4: De Adventu Sancti Cainnechi, Abbatis, De Quo Sanctus Columba Prophetaliter Praenuntiavit

Chapter 4: On the Advent of Saint Cainnech, Abbot, About Whom Saint Columba Prophetically Foretold

ALIO in tempore cum in Ioua insula, die fragosae tempestatis et intolerabilis undarum magnitudinis, sedens in domo Sanctus et fratribus praecipiens diceret, Praeparate ocius hospitium, aquamque ad lavandos hospitum pedes exhaurite; quidam ex ipsis frater consequenter, Quis, aie, hac die valde ventosa et nimis periculosa, licet breve, fretum prospere transnavigare potest? Quo audito Sanctus sic profatur: Cuidam sancto et electo homini, qui ad nos ante vesperam perveniet, Omnipotens tranquillitatem, quamlibet in tempestate, donavit. Et ecce, eadem die aliquamdiu a fratribus expectata navis in qua sanctus inerat Cainnechus juxta Sancti prphetationem pervenit.

At another time, when in the island of Iona, on a day of a broken-surf tempest and an intolerable greatness of waves, the Saint, sitting in the house and giving orders to the brothers, said, Prepare swiftly the guest-lodging, and draw water to wash the guests’ feet; whereupon a certain brother of them said in turn, Who, say, on this very windy day and too dangerous, the strait, though short, can cross over prosperously? On hearing this the Saint thus speaks forth: To a certain holy and elect man, who will reach us before evening, the Almighty has granted calm, however great the storm. And behold, on the same day the boat, for some time expected by the brothers, in which Saint Cainnech was, arrived according to the Saint’s prophetic prediction.

Cui Sanctus cum fratribus obviam venit, et ab eo honorifice et hospitaliter susceptus est. Illi vero nautae qui cum cainnecho inerant, interrogati a fratribus de qualitate navigationis, sic retulerunt sicuti sanctus Columba prius de tempestate et tranquillitate pariter, Deo donante, in eodem mari, et iisdem horis, mirabili divisione praedixerat; et tempestatem eminus visam non sensisse professi sunt.

To whom the Saint went to meet with the brothers, and by him he was received with honor and hospitality. But those sailors who were with Cainnech, when asked by the brothers about the quality of the voyage, reported thus just as Saint Columba had previously foretold concerning both the tempest and the tranquillity alike, God granting, in the same sea and in the same hours, by a marvelous division; and they professed that they had not felt the tempest, though seen from afar.

Caput 5: De Periculo Sancti Colmani episcopi, Mocusilni, In Mari Juxta Insulam Quae Vocitatur Rechru

Chapter 5: On the Peril of Saint Colman, bishop, of Mocusilni, on the sea near the island which is called Rechru

ALIA itidem die sanctus Columba, in sua commanens matrice ecclesia, repente in hanc subridens erupit vocem, dicens: Columbanus, fillius Beognai, ad nos transnavigare incipiens, nunc in undosis Charybdis Brecani aestibus valde periclitatur; ambasque ad coelum, in prora sedens, palmas elevat; turbatum quoque et tam formidabile pelagus benedicit: quem tamen Dominus sic terret, non ut navis naufragio, in qua ipse residet, undis obruatur; sed potius ad orandum intentius suscitetur, ut ad nos, Deo propitio, post transvadatum perveniat periculum.

On another day likewise Saint Columba, remaining in his own mother-church, suddenly, smiling, burst forth with this utterance, saying: Columbanus, the son of Beognai, beginning to sail across to us, is now in great peril amid the wavy Charybdis, the surges of Brecan; and, sitting in the prow, he lifts both his palms to heaven; he also blesses the troubled and so formidable sea: yet the Lord thus frightens him, not so that the ship in which he himself is seated be overwhelmed by the waves in a shipwreck; but rather that he may be stirred up to pray more intently, so that to us, God being propitious, after the peril has been crossed, he may arrive.

Caput 6: De Cormaco

Chapter 6: About Cormac

ALIO quoque in tempore de Cormaco, nepote Lethani, viro utique sancto, qui tribus non minus vicibus eremum in oceano laboriose quaesivit, nec tamen invenit, sanctus Columba ita prophetizans ait: Hodie iterum Cormacus, desertum reperire cupins, enavigare incipit ab illa regione quae, ultra Modam fluvium sita, Eirros Domno dicitur; nec tamen etiam hac vice quod quaerit inveniet; et non ob aliam ejus culpam nisi quod alicujus religiosi abbatis monachum, ipso non permittente discessorem secum non recte comitari, navigio susceperit.

At another time also, concerning Cormac, grandson of Lethan, a man indeed holy, who on not fewer than three occasions laboriously sought a desert in the ocean, yet did not find it, Saint Columba, prophesying thus, said: Today again Cormac, desiring to find the desert, begins to sail out from that region which, situated beyond the river Moda, is called Eirros Domno; and yet not even on this occasion will he find what he seeks; and not on account of any other fault of his except that he has taken aboard into the vessel the monk of some religious abbot, a deserter, to accompany him not rightly, the abbot himself not permitting it.

Caput 7: De Bellorum Fragoribus Longe Commissorum Beati Prophetia Viri

Chapter 7: On The Blessed Man’s Prophecy Of The Clashes Of Wars Engaged Far Away

POST bellum Cule Drebene, sicut nobis traditum est, duobus transactis annis, quo tempore vir beatus de Scotia peregrinaturus primitus enavigavit, quadam die, hoc est, eadem hora qua in Scotia commissum est bellum quod Scotice dicitur Ondemone, idem homo Dei coram Conallo rege, filio Comgill, in Brittannia conversatus, per omnia enarravit, tam de bello commisso, quam etiam de illis regibus quibus Dominus de inimicis victoriam condonavit: quorum propria vocabula Ainmorius filius Setni, et duo filii Maic Erce, Domnallus et Forcus. Sed et de rege Cruithniorum, qui Echodius Laib vocitabatur, quemadmodum victus, currui insidens evaserit, similiter Sanctus prophetizavit.

After the battle of Cule Drebene, as it has been handed down to us, when two years had elapsed—at which time the blessed man first sailed out from Scotia to go on pilgrimage—on a certain day, that is, at the very hour at which in Scotia the battle was joined which in the Scottish tongue is called Ondemone, this same man of God, staying in Britain before King Conall, son of Comgell, recounted everything in full, both about the battle that had been joined, and also about those kings to whom the Lord granted victory over their enemies: whose proper names are Ainmorius son of Setne, and the two sons of Maic Erce, Domnall and Forcus. But also about the king of the Cruithni (Picts), who was called Echodius Laib, how, though defeated, he escaped while sitting in his chariot, likewise did the Saint prophesy.

De Bello Miathorum

On the War of the Miathi

ALIO in tempore, hoc est post multos a supra memorata bello annorum transcursus, cum esset vir sanctus in Ioua insula, subito ad suum dicit ministratorem Diormitium, Cloccam pulsa. Cujus sonitu fratres incitati ad ecclesiam, ipso sancto praesule praeeunte, ocius currunt. Ad quos ibidem flexis genibus infit: Nunc intente pro hoc populo et Aidano rege Dominum oremus; hac enim hora ineunt bellum.

At another time, that is, after many years had passed since the above‑mentioned war, when the holy man was on the island of Iona, suddenly he says to his minister Diormit, “Strike the bell.” At the sound of which the brothers, stirred, run swiftly to the church, the holy prelate himself going before. And to them there, with knees bent, he begins: “Now let us pray intently to the Lord for this people and for King Aidan; for at this hour they are entering battle.”

Et post modicum intervallum egressus oratorium, respiciens in coelum inquit, Nunc barbari in fugam vertuntur; Aidanoque, quamlibet infelix, tamen concessa victoria est. Sed et de numero de exercitu Aidani interfectorum, trecentorum et trium virorum, vir beatus prophetice enarravit.

And after a little interval, having gone out of the oratory, looking up to heaven he said, Now the barbarians are being turned to flight; and to Aidan, however unfortunate, yet victory has been granted. And concerning the number of those slain from Aidan’s army, three hundred and three men, the blessed man declared prophetically.

Caput 8: De Filiis Aidani Regis Sancti Columbae Prophetia

Chapter 8: On the Sons of King Aidan, Saint Columba’s Prophecy

ALIO in tempore ante supra dictum bellum Sanctus Aidanum regem interrogat de regni successore. Illo se respondente nescire quis esset de tribus filiis suis regnaturus, Arturius, an Echodius Find, an Domingartus, Sanctus consequenter hoc profatur modo: Nullus ex his tribus erit regnator; nam in bellis cadent ab inimics trucidandi: sed nunc si alios juniores habes ad me veniant, et quem ex eis elegerit Dominus regem, subito super meum irruet gremium. Quibus accitis, secundum verbum Sancti Echodius Buide adveniens in sinu ejus recubuit.

At another time, before the aforesaid war, the Saint asks King Aidan about the successor of the kingdom. When he replied that he did not know who out of his three sons would be about to reign—Arturius, or Echodius Find, or Domingartus—the Saint accordingly declares in this manner: None of these three will be ruler; for in wars they will fall, to be slaughtered by enemies. But now, if you have others, younger ones, let them come to me; and whichever of them the Lord shall have chosen as king will suddenly rush upon my lap. When they had been called in, according to the word of the Saint, Echodius Buide, coming, reclined in his bosom.

Statimque Sanctus eum osculatus benedixit, et ad patrem ait: Hic est sperstes, et rex post te regnaturus, et filii ejus post eum regnabunt. Sic omnia post, suis temporibus, plene adimpleta sunt. Nam Arturius et Echodius Find, non longo post temporis intervallo, Miatorum superius memorato in bello, trucidati sunt.

And immediately the Saint, having kissed him, blessed him, and said to the father: “This is the survivor, and a king to reign after you, and his sons will reign after him.” Thus afterwards all things, in their times, were fully fulfilled. For Arturius and Echodius Find, not long thereafter, in the battle of the Miathi above-mentioned, were slaughtered.

Domingartus vero in Saxonia bellica in strage interfectus est: Echodius autem Buide post patrem in regnum successit.

Domingartus, for his part, in the Saxon war was slain in the slaughter: but Echodius Buide succeeded to the kingdom after his father.

De Domnallo Filio Aido

On Domnall, Son of Aed

DOMNALLUS filius Aido, adhuc puer, ad sanctum Columbam in Dorso Cete per nutritores adductus est: quem intuens percuctatur inquiens, Cujus est filius hic quem adduxistis? Illis respondentibus, Hic est Domnallus filius aido, qui ad te ideo perductus est, ut tua redeat benedictione ditatus. Quem cum Sanctus benedixisset, continuo ait, Hic post super omnes suos fratres sperstes erit, et rex valde famosus; nec unquam in manus inimicorum tradetur, sed morte placida, in senectute, et intra domum suam, coram amicorum familiarium turba, super suum morietur lectum.

DOMNALLUS, son of Aido, still a boy, was brought by his fosterers to Saint Columba on the Dorsum Cete; and gazing on him he inquires, saying, Whose son is this whom you have brought? When they answered, This is Domnallus, son of Aido, who has been led to you for this reason, that he may return enriched by your blessing. When the Saint had blessed him, he immediately said, He will outlive all his brothers, and be a very famous king; nor shall he ever be handed over into the hands of enemies, but by a peaceful death, in old age, and within his own house, before a crowd of familiar friends, upon his own bed he will die.

Quae omnia secundum beati vaticinium viri de eo vere adimpleta sunt.

All which, according to the vaticination of the blessed man, were truly fulfilled concerning him.

De Scandlano Filio Colmani

On Scandlan, Son of Colman

EODEM tempore Sanctus, et in eodem loco, ad Scandlanum, filium Colmani, apud Aidum regem in vinculis retentum, visitare eum cupiens, pergit; ipsumque cum benedixisset, confortans ait: Fili, nolis contristari, sed potius laetare et confortare: Aidus enim rex, apud quem vinculatus es, de hoc mundo te praecedet; et, post aliqua exilii tempora, triginta annis in gente tua rex regnaturus es. Iterumque de regno effugaberis, et per aliquot exulabis dies; post quos, a populo reinvitatus, per tria regnabis brevia tempora. Quae cuncta juxta vaticinationem Sancti plene expleta sunt. Nam post triginta annos de regno expulsus, per aliquod exulavit spatium temporis: sed post a populo reinvitatus, non, ut putabat, tribus annis, sed ternis regnavit mensibus; post quos continuo obiit.

At the same time the Saint, and in the same place, goes to Scandlanus, son of Colman, who was being held in chains by King Aidus, wishing to visit him; and when he had blessed him, strengthening him he said: Son, do not be saddened, but rather rejoice and be comforted: for King Aidus, by whom you are bound, will precede you from this world; and, after some periods of exile, for 30 years among your own people you will reign as king. And again you will be driven out from the realm, and you will live in exile for several days; after which, reinvited by the people, you will reign for three brief terms. All which things were fully fulfilled according to the vaticination of the Saint. For after 30 years, expelled from the kingdom, he spent some span of time in exile; but afterwards, reinvited by the people, not, as he supposed, for three years, but for three months he reigned; after which he immediately died.

De Duobus Aliis Regnatoribus, Qui Duo Nepotes Muiredachi Vocitabantur, Baitanus Filius Maic Erce et Echodius Filius Domnail, Beati Prophetatio Viri

On Two Other Rulers, Who Were Commonly Called the Two Grandsons of Muiredach, Baitan Son of Maic Erce and Echodius Son of Domnail, The Blessed Man’s Prophecy

ALIO in tempore, per asperam et saxosam regionem iter faciens, quae dicitur Artdamuirchol, et suos audiens comites Laisranum utique, filium Feradachi, et, Diormitium ministratorem, de duobus supra memoratis regibus in via sermocinari, haec ad eos verba depromit: O filioli quare inaniter de his sic confabulamini? nam illi ambo reges, de quibus nunc sermocinamini, nuper ab inimicis decapitati disperierunt. In hac quoque die aliqui de Scotia adventantes nautae haec eadem vobis de illis indicabunt regibus.

AT ANOTHER time, making a journey through a rough and stony region, which is called Artdamuirchol, and hearing his companions Laisran, indeed, son of Feradach, and Diormit the ministrator, discourse on the way about the two above-mentioned kings, he draws forth these words to them: “O little sons, why do you thus confabulate vainly about these matters? For those two kings, about whom you are now conversing, have lately perished, beheaded by enemies. On this very day, some sailors arriving from Scotia will announce to you these same things about those kings.”

Quod venerabilis viri vaticinium eadem die de Hibernia navigatores, ad locum qui dicitur Muirbolc Paradisi pervenientes, supra scriptis ejus binis comitibus, et in eadem navi cum Sancto navigantibus, de iisdem interfectis regibus expletum retulerunt.

That the vaticinium of the venerable man, on the same day, was reported as fulfilled by navigators from Ireland—arriving at the place which is called Muirbolc Paradisi—to his two above-written companions, who were voyaging in the same ship with the Saint, concerning those same slain kings.

De Oingusio Filio Aido Commani Sancti Prophetia Viri

Concerning Oengus, Son of Aed Comman: The Holy Man’s Prophecy

HIC namque de patria cum aliis duobus fratribus effugatus, ad Sanctum in Britannia peregrinantem exul venit; cuique benedicens, haec de eo prophetizans sancto promit de pectore verba: Hic juvenis, defunctis ejus ceteris fratribus superstes remanens, multo est regnaturus in patria tempore; et inimici ejus coram ipso cadent; nec tamen ipse unquam in manus tradetur inimicorum; sed morte placida, senex, inter amicos morietur. Quae omnia juxta Sancti verbum plene sunt adimpleta. Hic est Oingusius cujus cognomentum Bronbachal.

For this man, having been driven out from his fatherland with two other brothers, came as an exile to the Saint, who was peregrinating in Britain; and blessing him, prophesying these things about him, he brings forth from his holy breast these words: "This youth, surviving after his other brothers have died, is going to reign in his fatherland for a long time; and his enemies will fall before him; nor, however, will he ever be delivered into the hands of enemies; but, by a placid death, an old man, he will die among friends." All which things, according to the Saint’s word, have been fully fulfilled. This is Oingusius, whose cognomen is Bronbachal.

Prophetia Beati Viri De Filio Dermiti Regis Qui Aidus Slane Lingua Nominatus Est Scotica

Prophecy Of The Blessed Man Concerning The Son Of King Dermit, Who In The Scottish Tongue Is Named Aed Slane

ALIO in tempore, cum vir beatus in Scotia per aliquot demoraretur dies, ad supradictum Aidum, ad se venientem, sic prophetice locutus ait, Praecavere debes, fili, ne tibi a Deo totius Hiberniae regni praerogativam monarchiae praedestinatam, parricidali faciente peccato, amittas: nam si quandoque illud commiseris, non toto patris regno, sed ejus aliqua parte in gente tua, brevi frueris tempore. Quae verba Sancti sic sunt expleta secundum ejus vaticinationem. Nam post Suibneum filium Columbani dolo ab eo interfectum, non plus, ut fertur, quam quatuor annis et tribus mensibus regni concessa potitus est parte.

At another time, when the blessed man tarried in Scotland for several days, to the above-said Aidus, coming to him, he thus spoke prophetically and said: You must beware, son, lest you lose for yourself, by a parricidal sin bringing it about, the prerogative of monarchy of the kingdom of all Hibernia predestined by God; for if at any time you should commit that, you will enjoy, not the whole kingdom of your father, but some part of it among your people, for a brief time. Which words of the Saint were thus fulfilled according to his vaticination. For, after Suibneus, the son of Columbanus, had by his treachery been slain, he possessed, as it is said, not more than 4 years and 3 months of the portion of the kingdom that had been granted.

De Rege Rederco Filio Tothail, Qui In Petra Cloithe Regnabit, Beati Viri Prophetia

On King Rederch, Son Of Tothail, Who Will Reign On The Rock Of Clyde, The Prophecy Of The Blessed Man

ALIO idem in tempore hic, ut erat sancti viri amicus, aliquam ad eum occultam per Lugbeum Mocumin legationem misit, scire volens si ab inimicis esset trucidandus, an non. At vero Lugbeus, a Sancto interrogatus de eaodem rege, et regno, et populo, et respondens, quasi misertus, dicit, quid de illo inquiris misero, qui qua hora ab inimicis occidatur, nullo modo scire potest? Sanctus tum deinde profatur, Nunquam in manus tradetur inimicorum, sed in sua, super plumatiunculam, morietur domo.

At another time, this same man, as he was a friend of the holy man, sent to him some secret legation through Lugbeus Mocumin, wishing to know whether he was to be slaughtered by enemies or not. But Lugbeus, interrogated by the Saint about the same king and the kingdom and the people, and responding, as if in pity, says, why do you inquire about that wretch, who can in no way know at what hour he will be slain by enemies? The Saint then thereafter pronounces: He will never be handed over into the hands of enemies, but in his own house, upon a little feather-bed, he will die.

Quod Sancti de rege Roderco vaticinium plene adimpletum est: nam juxta verbum ejus in domo sua morte placida obiit.

That the Saint’s vaticination concerning King Roderco was fully fulfilled: for, according to his word, he died a placid death in his own house.

Caput 9: De Duobus Pueris, Quorum Unus, Juxta Verbum Sancti, In Fine Hebdomadis Obiit, Prophetia Sancti

Chapter 9: On Two Boys, One of Whom, According to the Saint’s Word, Died at the End of the Week, the Saint’s Prophecy

ALIO in tempore duo quidam plebei ad Sanctum in Ioua commorantem insula deveniunt; quorum unus, Meldanus nomine, de filio suo qui praesens erat Sanctum interrogat, quid ei esset futurum. Cui Sanctus sic profatur: Nonne sabbati dies hodierna est? filius tuus sexta feria, in fine morietur septimanae, octavaque die, hoc est, sabbato, hic sepelietur.

AT ANOTHER time two certain plebeians come to the Saint dwelling in the island of Iona; of whom one, by name Meldanus, asks the Saint about his son who was present, what would be in store for him. To whom the Saint thus speaks forth: Is not today the day of the Sabbath? your son, on the sixth feria (Friday), at the end of the week, will die; and on the eighth day, that is, on the Sabbath, he will be buried here.

Alter proinde plebeus, nomine Glasdercus, et ipse de filio quem ibidem secum habuit nihilominus interrogans, talem Sancti audit responsionem: Filius tuus Ernanus suos videbit nepotes et in hac insula senex sepelietur. Quae omnia, secundum verbum Sancti, de pueris ambobus, suis plene temporibus sunt expleta.

Accordingly the other plebeian, named Glasdercus, likewise asking about the son whom he had there with him, hears such a response from the Saint: Your son Ernan will see his grandsons, and in this island, as an old man, he will be buried. All which things, according to the word of the Saint, concerning both boys, were fully accomplished in their proper times.

Caput 10: De Colcio, Aido Draigniche Filio, A Nepotibus Fechureg Orto; Et De Quodam Occulto Matris Ejus Peccato, Prophetia Sancti

Chapter 10: On Colcio, Son of Aed of Draigniche, Sprung from the Descendants of Fechureg; And on a Certain Hidden Sin of His Mother, the Saint’s Prophecy

ALIO in tempore, supramemoratum Colgium, apud se in Ioua commorantem insula, Sanctus de sua interrogat genitrice, si esset religiosa, an non. Cui ipse inquiens ait, Bene moratam, et bonae famae, meam novi matrem. Sanctus tum sic prophetice profatur, Mox, Deo volente, ad Scotiam profectus, matrem diligentius de quodam suo pergrandi peccato interroga occulto, quod nulli hominum confiteri vult.

At another time, the above-mentioned Colgius, staying with him in the island of Iona, is asked by the Saint about his mother, whether she was religious or not. To whom he, speaking, says, I know my mother to be well-mannered and of good repute. Then the Saint speaks forth prophetically thus, Soon, God willing, having set out to Ireland, question your mother more diligently about a certain very great hidden sin of hers, which she is unwilling to confess to anyone among men.

qui, haec audiens, obsecutus, ad Hiberniam emigravit. Proinde mater, ab eo studiose interrogata, quamlibet primule infitiens, tamen suum confessa est peccatum, et juxta Sancti judicationem, poenitudinem agens, sanata, de se quod Sancto manifestatum est valde mirata est.

who, hearing these things, having complied, migrated to Ireland. Accordingly the mother, diligently interrogated by him, although at first denying, nevertheless confessed her sin; and, according to the Saint’s judication, doing penitence, being healed, she marveled greatly at that which concerning herself had been made manifest to the Saint.

Caput 11:

Chapter 11:

COLGIUS vero, ad Sanctum reversus, per aliquot dies apud eum commoratus, de fine sui interrogans temporis, hoc a Sancto audit responsum: In tua, quam amas, patria primarius alicujus ecclesiae per multos eris annos; et si forte aliquando tuum videris pincernam in coena amicorum ludentem, hauritoriumque in gyro per collum torquentem, scito te mox in brevi moriturum. Quid plura? Haec eadem beati viri prophetatio sic per omnia est adimpleta, quemadmodum de Colgio eodem est prophetata.

COLGIUS, however, having returned to the Saint, and having stayed with him for several days, asking about the end of his time, hears this answer from the Saint: In your fatherland, which you love, you will be the principal of a certain church for many years; and if perchance at some time you should see your cupbearer at a supper of friends playing, and twisting a drinking vessel in a circle about his neck, know that you will soon, in a short time, die. What more? This same prophecy of the blessed man was thus in all respects fulfilled, just as it was prophesied concerning that same Colgius.

Caput 12: De Laisrano Hortulano, Homine Sancto

Chapter 12: On Laisran the Gardener, a Holy Man

VIR beatus quemdam de suis monachum nomine Trenanum, gente Mocuruntir, legatum ad Scotiam exire quadam praecipit die. Qui, hominis Dei obsecutus jussioni, navigationem parat festinus; unumque sibi deesse navigatorem coram Sancto queritur. Sanctus haec consequenter, eidem respondens, sacro promit de pectore verba, dicens, Nautam, quem tibi non adhuc suppetisse dicis, nunc invenire non possum.

The blessed man ordered a certain one of his monks, by name Trenanus, of the people Mocuruntir, to set out as a legate to Scotia on a certain day. He, obedient to the command of the man of God, prepares the navigation in haste; and he complains before the Saint that one navigator is lacking to him. The Saint thereupon, responding to him, draws forth sacred words from his breast, saying, The sailor, whom you say has not yet been at hand for you, I cannot find now.

Vade in pace: usquequo ad Hiberniam pervenias prosperos et secundos habebis flatus. Quemdamque obvium videbis hominem eminus occursurum, qui primus prae ceteris navis proram tuae tenebit in Scotia, hic erit comes tui itineris per aliquot in Hibernia dies; teque inde revertentem ad nos usque comitabitur, vir a Deo electus, qui in hoc meo monasterio per omne reliquum tempus bene conversabitur. Quid plura?

Go in peace: until you come to Ireland you will have prosperous and favorable winds. And you will see a certain man meeting you, approaching from afar, who first before the others will take hold of the prow of your ship in Scotland; this man will be the companion of your journey for several days in Ireland; and he will accompany you thence, as you return, all the way to us—a man chosen by God, who in this my monastery will conduct himself well for all the remaining time. What more?

Trenanus, accipiens a Sancto benedictionem, plenis velis per omnia transmeavit maria: et, ecce, appropinquanti ad portum naviculae Laisranus Mocumoie, citior ceteris, occurrit tenetque proram. Nautae recognoscunt ipsum esse de quo Sanctus praedixerat.

Trenanus, receiving a blessing from the Saint, with full sails traversed all the seas; and, behold, as he was approaching the harbor, Laisranus Mocumoie, in a little boat, quicker than the rest, runs up and takes hold of the prow. The sailors recognize him to be the one about whom the Saint had foretold.

Caput 13: De Ceto Magno Quomodo Sanctus Praesciens Dixerat

Chapter 13: On the Great Whale How the Saint Prescient Had Said

QUADAM die, cum vir venrabilis in Ioua demoraretur insula, quidam frater, Berachus nomine, ad Ethicam proponens insulam navigare, ad Sanctum mane accedens, ab eo benedici postulat. Quem Sanctus intuitus, inquit, O fili hodie intentius praecaveto ne Ethicam cursu ad terram directo per latius coneris transmeare pelagus; sed potius, circumiens, minores secus naviges insulas; ne videlicet, aliquo monstruoso perterritus prodigio, vix inde possis evadere. Qui, a Sancto accepta benedictione, secessit, et navem conscendens, Sancti verbum quasi parvipendens, transgreditur; majora proinde Ethici transmeans spatia pelagi, ipse et qui ibi inerant nautae vident, et ecce cetus mirae et immensae magnitudinis, se instar montis erigens, ora aperuit patula nimis dentosa, supernatans.

On a certain day, when the venerable man was lingering in the island Iona, a certain brother, by the name Berachus, proposing to sail to the island Ethica, approaching the Saint in the morning, asks to be blessed by him. Whom the Saint, having looked upon, says, O son, today beware more intently lest you try to cross the sea to Ethica with your course directed straight to land; but rather, going around, sail along beside the smaller islands; lest, namely, terrified by some monstrous prodigy, you could hardly escape from there. He, having received the blessing from the Saint, withdrew, and boarding the ship, oversteps the Saint’s word as if making light of it; accordingly, traversing greater stretches of the Ethican sea, he himself and the sailors who were there see—and behold, a whale of wondrous and immense magnitude, raising itself like a mountain, opened its jaws, gaping and exceedingly toothy, swimming on the surface.

Tum proinde remiges, deposito velo, valde perterriti, retro reversi, illam obortam ex belluino motu fluctuationem vix evadere potuerunt, Sanctique verbum recognoscentes propheticum, admirabantur. Eadem quoque die Sanctus Baitheneo, ad supra memoratam insulam navigaturo, mane de eodem intimavit ceto, inquiens, Hac praeterita nocte media, cetus magnus de profundo maris se sublevavit, et inter Iouam et Ethicam insulam se hodie in superficiem eriget aequoris. Cui Baitheneus respondens infit, Ego et illa bellua sub Dei potestate sumus.

Then accordingly the oarsmen, the sail set down, exceedingly terrified, turning back, could scarcely escape that fluctuation arisen from the belluine motion, and, recognizing the Saint’s prophetic word, they marveled. The same day also the Saint intimated in the morning to Baitheneus, who was about to sail to the above-mentioned island, about the same cetacean, saying, “This last midnight a great whale lifted itself from the depth of the sea, and today between Ioua and the island Ethica it will raise itself upon the surface of the sea-plain.” To which Baitheneus, answering, says, “I and that beast are under God’s power.”

Sanctus, Vade, ait, in pace, fides tua in Christo te ab hoc defendet periculo. Baitheneus tum deinde, a Sancto benedictione accepta, a portu enavigat: transcursisque non parvis ponti spatiis, ipse et socii cetum aspiciunt; perterritisque omnibus, ipse solus aequor et cetum, ambabus manibus elevatis, benedicit intrepidus. Eodemque momento bellua magna, se sub fluctus immergens, nusquam deinceps eis apparuit.

Saint: “Go,” said he, “in peace; your faith in Christ will defend you from this peril.” Then Baitheneus, having received a blessing from the Saint, puts out from the port; and, no small stretches of the deep having been traversed, he and his companions behold the whale; and, all being very frightened, he alone, with both hands raised, blesses the sea and the whale, undaunted. And at that same moment the great beast, plunging itself beneath the billows, thereafter appeared to them nowhere.

Caput 14: De Quodam Baitano, Qui Cum Ceteris Desertum Maximum Appetens Enavigverat, Sancti Prophetia Viri

Chapter 14: Of A Certain Baitanus, Who With The Others, Seeking The Greatest Desert, Had Sailed Out, The Prophecy Of The Holy Man

ALIO in tempore quidam Baitanus, gente Nepos Niath Taloirc, benedici a Sancto petivit, cum ceteris in mari eremum quaesiturus. Cui valedicens Sanctus hoc de ipso propheticum protulit verbum, Hic homo, qui ad quaerendum in oceano desertum pergit, non in deserto conditus jacebit; sed illo in loco sepelietur ubi oves femina trans sepulcrum ejus minabit. Idem itaque Baitanus, post longos per ventosa circuitus aequora, eremo non reperta, ad patriam reversus, multis ibidem annis cujusdam cellulae dominus permansit, quae Scotice Lathreginden dicitur.

At another time a certain Baitanus, of the kin Nepos Niath Taloirc, asked to be blessed by the Saint, being about to seek the desert on the sea with the others. Bidding him farewell, the Saint uttered this prophetic word about him: This man, who goes to seek the desert in the ocean, will not lie interred in a desert; but he will be buried in that place where a woman will drive sheep across his tomb. And so the same Baitanus, after long circuits over the windy waters, the desert not having been found, returned to his homeland, and there for many years remained master of a certain little cell, which in Scots is called Lathreginden.

Iisdemque diebus accidit, quibus, post aliqua mortuus tempora, sepultus est in Roboreto Calgachi, ut propter hostilitatis incursum vicina ad ejusdem loci ecclesiam plebecula cum mulieribus et parvulis confugeret. Unde contigit ut quadam die mulier deprehenderetur aliqua, quae suas per ejusdem viri sepulcrum nuper sepulti oviculas minabat. Et unus ex his qui viderant sanctus sacerdos dixit, Nunc prophetia sancti Columbae expleta est, multis prius divulgata nnis.

And in those same days it happened that, after some time, he died and was buried in the Roboretum of Calgach; and because of a hostile incursion the neighboring plebeian folk, with women and little ones, fled for refuge to the church of that same place. Whence it befell that on a certain day a certain woman was discovered, who was driving her little ewes across the tomb of that same man lately buried. And one of those who had seen it, a holy priest, said, Now the prophecy of Saint Columba has been fulfilled, divulged many years before.

Qui utique supra memoratus presbyter mihi haec de Baitano enarrans retulit, Mailodranus nomine, Christi miles, gente Mocurin.

The above-mentioned presbyter indeed, relating these things to me about Baitanus, reported them—Mailodranus by name, a soldier of Christ, of the gens Mocurin.

Caput 15: De Nemano Quodam Ficto Poenitente Sancti Prophetatio Viri

CHAPTER 15: The Holy Man’s Prophecy Concerning A Certain Neman, A Feigned Penitent

ALIO in tempore Sanctus ad Hinbinam insulam pervenit, eademque die ut etiam poenitentibus aliqua praecipit cibi consolatio indulgeretur. Erat autem ibi inter poenitentes quidam Nemanus, filius Cathir, qui, a Sancto jussus, renuit oblatam accipere consolatiunculam. Quem Sanctus his compellat verbis, O Nemane, a me et Baitheneo indultam non recipis aliquam refectionis indulgentiam?

At another time the Saint came to the island of Hinbina, and on that same day he also ordered that some consolation of food be indulged to the penitents. Now there was there among the penitents a certain Nemanus, son of Cathir, who, when ordered by the Saint, refused to receive the little consolation that had been offered. Whom the Saint addresses with these words: O Nemanus, do you not receive from me and Baithene some indulgence of refection that has been granted?

Erit tempus quo cum fracibus furtive carnem in sylva manducabis equae. Hic idem itaque, postea ad saeculum reversus, in saltu cum furibus talem comedens carnem, juxta verbum Sancti de craticula sumptam lignea, inventus est.

There will be a time when, with rogues, you will furtively eat in the forest the flesh of a mare. This same man, therefore, afterwards having returned to the world, in a woodland, while eating such flesh with thieves—taken from a wooden griddle—was found, according to the Saint’s word.

Caput 16: De Infelici Quodam Qui Cum Sua Dormivit Genitrice

Chapter 16: On a Certain Unhappy Man Who Slept with His Own Mother

ALIO in tempore fratres intempesta nocte sucitat Sanctus, ad quos in ecclesia congregatos dicit, Nunc Dominum intentius precemur; nam hac in hora aliquod inauditum in mundo peccatum perpetratum est, pro quo valde timenda judicialis est vindicta. De quo peccato crastino die, aliquibus paucis percunctantibus, intimavit inquiens, Post paucos menses cum Lugaido nesciente infelix ille homuncio ad Iouam perveniet insulam. Alia itaque die Sanctus ad Diormitium, interjectis quibusdam mensibus, praecipiens profatur, Surge citius, ecce Lugaidus appropinquat, dicque ei ut miserum quem secum in navi habet in Maleam propellat insulam, ne hujus insulae cespitem calcet.

ANOTHER time the Saint rouses the brothers at the dead of night, and to those gathered in the church he says, Now let us pray to the Lord more intently; for at this hour some unheard-of sin in the world has been perpetrated, for which judicial vengeance is greatly to be feared. About which sin on the next day, when a few asked, he disclosed, saying, After a few months, unknown to Lugaid, that unhappy little homunculus will reach the island of Iona. Therefore on another day the Saint, to Diormitius, with certain months interposed, speaking by way of command, says, Rise more quickly; behold, Lugaid is approaching, and tell him to drive the wretch whom he has with him in the ship to the island Malea, lest he tread the sod of this island.

Qui, praecepto Sancti obsecutus, ad mare pergit. Lugaidoque adventanti omnia Sancti prosequitur de infelicis viro verba. Quibus auditis ille infelix juravit nunquam se cibum cum aliis accepturum nisi prius sanctum videret Columbam, eumque alloqueretur.

He, obedient to the Saint’s precept, goes to the sea. And to Lugaid as he arrived he set forth all the Saint’s words about the unhappy man. Having heard these things, that wretch swore that he would never accept food with others unless he should first see Saint Columba and address him.

Quae infelicis verba Diormitius, ad Sanctum reversus, retulit. Quibus compertis Sanctus ad portum perrexit, Baitheneoque, prolatis sacrae Scripturae testimoniis, suggerenti ut miseri poenitudo susciperetur, Sanctus consequenter inquit, O Baithenee, hic homo fratricidium in modum perpetravit Cain, et cum sua matre moechatus est. Tum deinde miser in litore flexis genibus leges poenitentiae expleturum se promisit, juxta Sancti judicationem.

Diormitius, having returned to the Saint, reported these words of the unhappy man. With these things ascertained, the Saint went to the harbor; and to Baitheneus, who, having brought forward testimonies of Holy Scripture, was suggesting that the repentance of the wretch be received, the Saint accordingly said, “O Baitheneus, this man has perpetrated fratricide after the manner of Cain, and has committed adultery with his own mother.” Then thereafter the wretch, on the shore, on bended knees, promised that he would fulfill the laws of penance, according to the Saint’s judgment.

Cui Sanctus ait, Si duodecim annis inter Brittones cum fletu et lacrymis poenitentiam egeris, nec ad Scotiam usque ad mortem reversus fueris, forsan Deus peccato ignoscat tuo. Haec dicens Sanctus, ad suos conversus, dicit, Hic homo filius est perditionis, qui quam promisit poenitentiam non explebit; sed mox ad Scotiam revertetur, ibique in brevi ab inimicis interficiendus peribit. Quae omnia secundum Sancti prophetiam ita contigerunt: nam miser iisdem diebus ad Hiberniam reversus, in regione quae vocitatur Lea, in manus incidens inimicorum trucidatus est.

To whom the Saint said, If for twelve years among the Britons you shall have done penance with weeping and tears, and shall not have returned to Scotland until death, perhaps God may forgive your sin. Saying these things, the Saint, turned to his own, says, This man is a son of perdition, who will not fulfill the penance he has promised; but soon he will return to Scotland, and there shortly, to be slain by enemies, he will perish. All which things happened according to the Saint’s prophecy: for the wretch, in those same days having returned to Ireland, in the region which is called Lea, falling into the hands of enemies, was slaughtered.

Hic de Nepotibus Turtrei erat.

This man was of the descendants (Nepotes) of Turtreus.

Caput 17: De I Vocali Litera

Chapter 17: On the Vowel Letter I

QUADAM die Baitheneus, ad Sanctum accedens, ait, Necesse habeo ut aliquis de fratribus mecum Psalterium quod scripsi percurrens emendet. Quo audito, Sanctus sic profatur, Cur hanc super nos infers sine causa molestiam? nam in tuo hoc, de quo dicis, Psalterio nec una superflua reperietur litera, nec alia deesse, excepta I vocali, quae sola deest.

On a certain day Baitheneus, approaching the Saint, says, I have need that some one of the brothers, running through with me the Psalter which I wrote, should emend it. On hearing this, the Saint thus speaks forth, Why do you bring upon us this trouble without cause? for in this Psalter of yours, of which you speak, not even one superfluous letter will be found, nor another be lacking, except the vowel I, which alone is missing.

Et sic, toto perlecto Psalterio, sicuti Sanctus praedixerat repertum exploratum est.

And so, with the Psalter read through in its entirety, it was found upon examination just as the Saint had foretold.

Caput 18: De Libro In Aquarium Vas Sanctus Sicuti Praedixerat Cadente

CHAPTER 18: On the Book Falling Into a Water-Vessel, Just as the Saint Had Predicted

QUADAM itidem die, ad focum in monasterio sedens, videt Lugbeum, gente Mocumin, eminus librum legentem, cui repente ait, Praecave, fili, praecave, aestimo enim quod quem lectitas liber in aquae plenum sit casurus vasculum. Quod mox ita contigit: nam ille supra memoratus juvenis, post aliquod breve intervallum, ad aliquam consurgens in monasterio ministrationem, verbi oblitus beati viri, libellus, quem sub ascella negligentius inclusit, subito in hydriam aqua repletam cecidit.

ON A CERTAIN day likewise, sitting by the hearth in the monastery, he sees Lugbeus, of the gens Mocumin, at a distance reading a book, to whom he suddenly says, “Beware, son, beware; for I reckon that the book which you are reading is going to fall into a little vessel full of water.” Which soon so happened: for that aforementioned youth, after some brief interval, rising for some ministration in the monastery, forgetful of the word of the blessed man, the little book, which he had rather carelessly tucked under his armpit, suddenly fell into a hydria filled with water.

Caput 19: De Corniculo Atramenti Inaniter Defuso

CHAPTER 19: ON THE INKHORN OF INK POURED OUT IN VAIN

ALIA inter haec die ultra fretum Iouae insulae clamatum est: quem Sanctus sedens in tuguriolo tabulis suffulto audens clamorem dicit, Homo qui ultra clamitat fretum non est subtilis sensus, nam hodie mei corniculum atramenti inclinans effundet. Quod verbum ejus ministrator Diormitius audiens, paulisper ante januam stans, gravem expectabat superventurum hospitem, ut corniculum defenderet. Sed alia mox faciente causa, inde recessit; et post ejus recessum hospes molestus supervenit, Sanctumque osculandum appetens, ora vestimenti inclinatum effudit atramenti corniculum.

On another day, among these things, a shout was raised across the strait of the island of Iona: which shout the Saint, sitting in a little hut propped with boards, hearing the clamor, says, The man who is shouting across the strait is not of subtle sense, for today, leaning down, he will pour out my little horn of ink. His ministrant Diormitius, hearing this word, stood for a short while before the door, expecting a troublesome guest about to arrive, so that he might defend the little horn. But, another cause soon arising, he withdrew from there; and after his withdrawal a vexatious guest came upon them, and, seeking to kiss the Saint, with the hem of his garment, as he bent down, he spilled the inkhorn.

Caput 20: De Alicujus Adventu Hospitis Quem Sanctus Praenuntiabit

CHAPTER 20: On the Advent of a Certain Guest, Whom the Saint Will Pre-announce

ALIO itidem tempore Sanctus die teritae feriae fratribus sic profatus est, Crastina quarta feria jejunare proponimus, sed tamen, superveniente quodam molesto hospite, consuetudinarium solvetur jejunium. Quod ita ut Sancto praeostensum est accidit: nam mane eadem quarta feria, alius ultra fretum clamitabat proselytus, Aidanus nomine, filius Fergnoi, qui, ut fertur, duodecim annis Brendeno ministravit Mocualti; vir valde religiosus, qui, ut advenit, ejusdem diei, juxta verbum Sancti, jejunationem solvit.

At another time likewise the Saint on the day of the third feria thus spoke to the brothers: Tomorrow, on the fourth feria, we propose to fast; but nevertheless, with a certain troublesome guest arriving, the customary fast will be broken. Which thus happened as it had been pre-shown to the Saint: for in the morning of the same fourth feria, another proselyte was shouting beyond the strait, Aidanus by name, son of Fergno, who, as it is said, served Brendenus Mocualti for 12 years; a man very religious, who, when he arrived, on the same day, according to the Saint’s word, broke the fast.

Caput 21: De Aliquo viro Qui Ultra Supradictum Clamitabat Fretum

Chapter 21: Concerning Some man Who Beyond the Aforesaid Strait Was Shouting

QUADAM quoque die, quemdam ultra fretum audiens clamitantem, Sanctus hoc profatur modo: Valde miserandus est ille clamitans homo, qui, aliqua ad carnalia mdicamenta petiturus pertinentia, ad nos venit: cui opportunius erat veram de peccatis hodie poenitudinem gerere; nam in hujus fine hebdomadis morietur. Quod verbum qui inerant praesentes advenienti misero intimavere. Sed ille parvipendens, acceptis quae poposcerat, citius recessit; et, secundum Sancti propheticum verbum, ante finem ejusdem septimanae mortuus est.

On a certain day also, hearing someone beyond the strait crying out, the Saint speaks in this manner: “Very much to be pitied is that man crying out, who, intending to seek certain carnal medicaments pertaining to the flesh, comes to us; for it were more opportune for him today to bear true penitence for sins; for at the end of this week he will die.” Those who were present intimated this word to the wretched newcomer. But he, making light of it, having received what he had demanded, quickly departed; and, according to the prophetic word of the Saint, before the end of that same week he died.

Caput 22: De Romani Juris Civitate Igni Sulfureo Coelitus Prolapso Combusta Sancti Viri Prophetia

CHAPTER 22: On A City Under Roman Law Burned By Sulphurous Fire Fallen From Heaven The Holy Man’s Prophecy

ALIO itidem in tempore, Lugbeus gente Mocumin, cujus supra mentionem fecimus, quadam ad Sanctum die post frugum veniens triturationem, nullo modo ejus faciem intueri potuit, miro superfusam rubore; valdeque pertimescens cito aufugit. Quem Sanctus complosis paulum manibus revocat. Qui reversus, a Sancto statim interrogatus cur ocius aufugisset, hoc dedit responsum, Ideo fuig quia nimis pertimui.

At another time likewise, Lugbeus of the gens Mocumin, of whom we have made mention above, on a certain day coming to the Saint after the threshing of the crops, was in no way able to look upon his face, overspread with a wondrous redness; and being very much afraid, he quickly fled. The Saint, having clapped his hands a little, calls him back. He, having returned, being immediately asked by the Saint why he had fled more quickly, gave this answer, For that reason I fled because I was too afraid.

Et post aliquod modicum intervallum, fiducialius agens, audet Sanctum interrogare, inquiens, Numquid hac in hora tibi aliqua formidabilis ostensa visio est? Cui Sanctus talem dedit responsionem: Tam terrifica ultio nunc in remota orbis parte peracta est. Qualis, ait juvenis, vindicta, et in qua regione facta?

And after some small interval, acting more confidently, he dares to ask the Saint, saying, “Whether perchance at this hour some formidable vision has been shown to you?” To whom the Saint gave such a response: “So terrifying a vengeance has now been accomplished in a remote part of the world.” “Of what kind,” says the young man, “is the vengeance, and in what region was it done?”

Sanctus tum sic profatur: Sulfurea de coelo flamma super Romani juris civitatem, intra Italiae terminos sitam, hac hora effusa est; triaque ferme millia virorum, excepto matrum puerorumque numero disperierunt. Et antequam praesens finiatur annus, Gallici nautae, de Galliarum provinciis adventantes, haec eadem tibi enarrabunt. Quae verba post aliquot menses veridica fuisse sunt comprobata.

The Saint then speaks forth thus: A sulphureous flame from heaven has been poured out at this hour upon a city of Roman law, situated within the boundaries of Italy; and almost three thousand men, the number of mothers and children excepted, have perished. And before the present year is finished, Gallic sailors, coming from the provinces of the Gauls, will recount these same things to you. Which words, after some months, were verified as true.

Nam idem Lugbeus, simul cum sancto viro ad Caput Regionis pergens, nauclerum et nautas adventantis barcae interrogans, sic omnia illa de civitate cum civibus ab eis audit enarrata, quemadmodum a praedicabili viro sunt praedicta.

For the same Lugbeus, together with the holy man proceeding to Caput Regionis, questioning the shipmaster and the sailors of an approaching barque, thus hears all those things about the city with its citizens narrated by them, just as they had been foretold by the praiseworthy man.

Caput 23: De Laisrano Filio Feradachi Beati Visio Viri

Chapter 23: On Laisran, Son of Feradach, the Vision of the Blessed Man

QUADAM brumali et valde frigida die Sanctus, magno molestatus maerore, flevit. Quem suus ministrator Diormitius, de causa interrogans maestitiae, hoc ab eo responsum accepit, Non immerito, O filiole, ego hac in hora contristor, meos videns monachos, quos Laisranus nunc gravi fatigatos labore in alicujus majoris domus fabrica molestat; quae mihi valde displicet. Mirum dictu!

On a certain brumal and very cold day the Saint, much troubled with grief, wept. His own minister Diormitius, asking the cause of the sadness, received this answer from him: Not without cause, O little son, am I at this hour sorrowing, seeing my monks, whom Laisran now, worn out by heavy labor, vexes in the fabric of some greater house; which greatly displeases me. Strange to tell!

eodem momento horae Laisranus, habitans in monasterio Roboreti Campi, quodammodo coactus, et quasi quadam pyra intrinsecus succensus, jubet monachos a labore cessare, aliquamque cibationum consolationem praeparari; et non solum in eadem die otiari, sed et in ceteris asperae tempestatis diebus requiescere. Quae verba ad fratres consolatoria, a Laisrano dicta, Sanctus in spiritu audiens flere cessavit, et mirabiliter gavisus ipse in Ioua insula commanens, fratribus, qui ad praesens inerant, per omnia enarravit, et Laisranum monachorum benedixit consolatorem.

in that same moment of the hour Laisranus, dwelling in the monastery of Roboreti Campi, being in a certain manner compelled, and as if inwardly kindled by a certain pyre, orders the monks to cease from labor, and that some consolation of meals be prepared; and not only to be at leisure on that same day, but also to rest on the other days of rough weather. Hearing in spirit these consolatory words to the brethren, spoken by Laisranus, the Saint ceased to weep, and, wonderfully rejoicing, he himself remaining in the island of Ioua, related everything in full to the brothers who were present at the time, and he blessed Laisranus, the consoler of the monks.

Caput 24: De Fechno Sapiente Quomodo Poenitens Ad Sanctum Columbam, Ab Eodem Praenunciatus, Venit

Chapter 24: Concerning Fechnus the Wise, how, as a penitent, to Saint Columba, pre-announced by the same, he came

ALIO in tempore Sanctus, in cacumine sedens montis qui nostro huic monasterio eminus supereminet, ad suum ministatorem Diormitium conversus, profatus est, dicens, Miror quare tardius appropinquat quaedam de Scotia navis, quae quemdam advehit sapientem virum, qui in quodam facinore lapsus, lacrymosam gerens poenitudinem, mox adveniet. Post proinde haud grande intervallum ad austrum prospiciens minister, velum navis videt ad portum propinquantis. Quam cum Sancto adventantem demonstraret, cito surgit, inquiens, Eamus proselyto obviam, cujus veram Christus suscipit poenitentiam.

At another time the Saint, sitting on the summit of the mountain which, from afar, overtops this our monastery, turning to his minister Diormit, spoke, saying, I marvel why a certain ship from Scotia is approaching somewhat slowly, which conveys a certain wise man, who, having slipped in a certain crime, bearing tearful penitence, will soon arrive. Afterward, then, not after a great interval, the minister, looking out toward the south, sees the sail of a ship approaching the harbor. When he showed it to the Saint as it drew near, he quickly rises, saying, Let us go to meet the proselyte, whose true penitence Christ receives.

At vero Feachnaus, de navi descendens, Sancto ad portum pervenienti obvius occurrit; cum fletu et lamento, ante pedes ejus ingeniculans flexis genibus, amarissime ingemuit, et coram omnibus qui ibidem inerant peccantias confitetur suas. Sanctus tum, cum eo pariter illacrymatus, ad eum ait, Surge fili, et consolare; dimissa sunt tua quae commisisti peccamina; quia, sicut scriptum est, Cor contritum et humilatum Deus non spernit. Qui surgens, gaudenter a Sancto susceptus, ad Baitheneum tunc temporis in Campo Lunge praepositum commorantem, post aliquot est emissus dies, in pace commigrans.

But indeed Feachnaus, disembarking from the ship, ran to meet the Saint as he arrived at the port; with weeping and lament, kneeling before his feet on bended knees, he groaned most bitterly, and before all who were present there he confesses his sins. The Saint then, having wept with him likewise, said to him, Rise, son, and be consoled; your sins which you have committed are remitted; because, as it is written, A heart contrite and humbled God does not spurn. He, rising, gladly received by the Saint, to Baitheneus—at that time abiding, set over, in the Plain of Lunge—after several days was sent forth, migrating in peace.

Caput 25: De Cailtano Ejus Monacho Sancti Prophetatio Viri

Chapter 25: Concerning Cailtan, his monk, the prophecy of the holy man

ALIO in tempore binos mittens monachos ad suum alium monachum, nomine Cailtanum, qui eodem tempore praepositus erat in cella quae hodieque ejus fratris Diuni vocabulo vocitatur, stagno adhaerens Abae fluminis, haec per eosdem nuncios Sanctus commendat verba: Cito euntes ad Cailtanum properate, dicitoteque ei ut ad me sine ulla veniat morula. Qui verbo Sancti obsecuti exeuntes, et ad cellam Diuni pervenientes, suae legatiunculae qualitatem Cailtano intimaverunt. Qui eadem hora, nullo demoratus modo, Sancti prosecutus legatos, ad eum in Ioua insula commorantem, eorum itineris comes, celeriter pervenit.

At another time, sending two monks to another of his monks, named Cailtan, who at that time was set over the cell which to this day is called by his brother Diun’s name, adjoining a pond of the river Aba, through those same nuncios the Saint commends these words: Go quickly, hasten to Cailtan, and say to him that he is to come to me without any delay. They, complying with the Saint’s word, went out, and on arriving at Diun’s cell made known to Cailtan the nature of their little legation. He, in that same hour, having delayed in no way, following the Saint’s legates, quickly arrived, a companion of their journey, to him sojourning in the island Ioua.

quo viso, Sanctus ad eum taliter locutus, his compellat verbis, O Cailtane, bene fecisti ad me obedienter festinando: requiesce paulisper. Idcirco ad te invitandum misi, amans amicum, ut hic mecum in vera finias obedientia vitae cursum tuae. Nam ante hujus hebdomadis finem ad Dominum in pace transibis.

When this was seen, the Saint spoke to him thus, addressing him with these words: O Cailtan, you have done well by hastening obediently to me; rest for a little while. Therefore I sent to invite you, loving a friend, that here with me, in true obedience, you may finish the course of your life. For before the end of this week you will pass over to the Lord in peace.

Quibus auditis, gratias agens Deo, Sanctumque lacrymans exosculatus, ad hospitium, accepta ab eo benedictione, pergit: eademque subsecuta infirmatus nocte, juxta verbum Sancti in eadem septimana ad Christum Dominum migravit.

When these things were heard, giving thanks to God and, weeping, having kissed the Saint, he proceeds to the guesthouse, the blessing having been received from him; and with the same night following, having fallen ill, according to the word of the Saint he migrated in the same week to Christ the Lord.

Caput 26: De Duobus Pergrinis Fratribus Sancti Provida Prophetatio Viri

Chapter 26: The Provident Prophecy of the Holy Man concerning Two Peregrine Brothers

QUADAM Dominica die ultra saepe memoratum clamatum est fretum. Quem audiens Sanctus clamorem, ad fratres qui ibidem inerant, Ite, ait, cleriter, pergrinosque de longinqua venientes regione ad nos ocius adducite. Qui continuo obsecuti, transfretantes adduxerunt hospites: quos Sanctus exosculatus, consequenter de causa percantatur itineris.

On a certain Lord’s Day, across the oft-remembered strait, a cry was raised. Hearing that cry, the Saint said to the brothers who were present there, “Go,” he says, “quickly, and bring to us with all speed the pilgrims coming from a far-distant region.” They, straightway obeying, crossed the strait and brought the guests; whom the Saint, after kissing, thereupon inquires as to the cause of their journey.

Qui respondentes aiunt, Ut hoc etiam anno apud te peregrinemur, venimus. Quibus Sanctus hanc dedit responsionem: Apud me, ut dicitis, anni unius spatio peregrinari non poteritis, nisi prius monachicum promiseritis votum. quod qui inerant praesentes valde mirati sunt ad hospites eadem hora adventantes dici.

They, responding, say, That we may also this year peregrinate with you, we have come. To whom the Saint gave this answer: With me, as you say, for the space of one year you will not be able to peregrinate, unless first you shall have promised the monastic vow. Which thing those who were there present were greatly amazed to hear said to guests arriving at that same hour.

Ad quae Sancti verba senior respondens frater ait, Hoc in mente propositum licet in hanc horam usque nullatenus habuerimus, tamen tuum sequemur consilium, divinitus, ut credimus, inspiratum. Quid plura? Eodem horae momento oratorium cum Sancto ingressi, devote, flexis genibus, votum monachiale voverunt.

To which words of the Saint a senior brother, responding, said, Although we have by no means had this purpose in mind up to this hour, nevertheless we shall follow your counsel, divinely, as we believe, inspired. What more? At that same moment of the hour, having entered the oratory with the Saint, devoutly, on bended knees, they vowed the monastic vow.

Sanctus tum deinde, ad fratres convesus, ait, Hi duo proselyti vivam Deo sipsos exhibentes hostiam, longaque in brevi Christianae tempora militiae complentes, hoc mox eodem mense ad Christum Dominum in pace transibunt. Quibus auditis ambo fratres, gratias Deo agentes, ad hospitium deducti sunt: interjectisque diebus septem, senior frater coepit infirmari, et, eadem peracta septimana, ad Dominum emigravit. Similiter et alter post septem alios dies infirmatus, ejusdem in fine hebdomadis, ad Dominum feliciter transit.

Then the Saint, turned to the brothers, says, These two proselytes, presenting themselves to God as a living sacrifice, and completing in a short time the long periods of Christian military service, will soon, this same month, pass over to Christ the Lord in peace. On hearing which, both brothers, giving thanks to God, were led to the hospice; and, with seven days interposed, the elder brother began to fall ill, and, the same week having been completed, emigrated to the Lord. Similarly the other also, after another seven days, having fallen ill, at the end of the same week, happily passes over to the Lord.

Et sic secundum Sancti veridicam prophetiam, intra ejusdem mensis terminum, ambo praesentem finiunt vitam.

And thus, according to the Saint’s veridical prophecy, within the limit of that same month, both finish the present life.

Caput 27: De Quodam Artbranano Sancti Prophetia Viri

Chapter 27: On a Certain Artbrananus, the Prophecy of the Holy Man

CUM per aliquot dies in insula demoraretur Scia vir beatus, alicujus loci terrulam mari vicinam baculo percutiens, ad comites sic ait, Mirum dictu, O filioli! hodie in hac hujus loci terrula quidam gentilis senex, naturale per totam bonum custodiens vitam, et baptizabitur, et morietur, et sepelietur. Et ecce, quasi post unius intervallum horae, navicula ad eundem supervenit portum; cujus in prora quidam advectus est decrepitus senex, Geonae primarius cohortis, quem bini juvenes, de navi sublevantes, ante beati conspectum viri deponunt.

WHEN for several days the blessed man was tarrying on the island Scia, striking with his staff a little plot of ground of some place near the sea, he thus said to his companions, “Wonderful to tell, O little sons! today on this little plot of this place a certain gentile old man, keeping a good natural life throughout, will both be baptized, and will die, and will be buried.” And behold, after, as it were, the interval of a single hour, a little boat came over to the same harbor; in whose prow a certain decrepit old man was conveyed, the primarius of the cohort of Geona, whom two youths, lifting him down from the ship, set before the sight of the blessed man.

Qui statim, verbo Dei a Sancto per interpretem recepto, credens, ab eodem baptizatus est, et post expleta baptizationis ministeria, sicuti Sanctus prophetizavit, eodem in loco consequenter obiit, ibidemque socii, congesto lapidum acervo, sepeliunt. Qui hodieque in ora cernitur maritima; fluviusque ejusdem loci in quo idem baptisma acceperat, ex nomine ejus, Dobur Artbranani usque in hodiernum nominatus diem, ab accolis vocitatur.

Who at once, having received the word of God from the Saint through an interpreter, believed, and was baptized by the same; and after the ministries of baptism were completed, just as the Saint prophesied, he thereupon died in the same place, and there his companions, with a heap of stones having been piled up, bury him. Which even today is seen on the sea-shore; and the river of the same place in which he had received the same baptism, from his name, “Dobur Artbranani,” up to the present day is called so by the inhabitants.

Caput 28: De Navicula Transmutata Sancto Praecipiente

Chapter 28: On the Little Ship Transmuted at the Saint's Command

ALIO in tempore trans Britanniae Dorsum iter agens, aliquo in desertis viculo agellis reperto, ibidemque juxta alicujus marginem rivuli stagnum intrantis, Sanctus mansionem faciens, eadem nocte dormientes, semisopore degustato, suscitat comites, dicens, Nunc, nunc, celerius foras exeuntes, nostram quam ultra rivum naviculam posuistis in domum, huc citius advehite, et in vicinore domuncula ponite. Qui continuo obedientes, sicut eis praeceptum est, fecerunt; ipsisque iterum quiescentibus, Sanctus post quoddam intervallum silenter Diormitium pulsat inquiens, Nunc stans extra domum aspice quid in illo agitur viculo ubi prius vestram posuistis naviculam. Qui Sancti praecepto obsecutus domum egreditur, et respiciens videt vicum flamma instante totum concremari.

At another time, journeying across the Back of Britain, having found some little hamlet with small plots in the wilds, and there, beside the margin of a certain rivulet that enters a pond, the Saint making a lodging, on that same night, while they slept, a half-sleep having been tasted, he rouses his companions, saying, Now, now, going out more quickly, bring hither into the house our little boat which you placed beyond the stream, and set it in the neighboring little hut. They, immediately obedient, did as it was prescribed to them; and as they themselves were again at rest, the Saint, after a certain interval, quietly taps Diormitius, saying, Now, standing outside the house, look what is being done in that little village where earlier you placed your little boat. He, complying with the Saint’s precept, goes out of the house, and looking back sees the village, as the flame presses on, being wholly burned up.

Reversusque ad Sanctum quod ibidem agebatur retulit. Sanctus proinde fratribus de quodam narravit aemulo persecutore qui easdem domus eadem incenderat nocte.

And having returned to the Saint, he reported what was being done there. The Saint accordingly told the brothers about a certain emulous persecutor who had set fire to those same houses on that same night.

Caput 29: De Gallano Filio Fachtni Qui Erat In Dioecesi Colgion Filii Cellaig

Chapter 29: On Gallan, son of Fachtnae, who was in the diocese of Colgion, son of Cellach

QUADAM itidem die Sanctus, in suo sedens tuguriolo, Colcio eidem, lectitanti juxta se, prophetizans ait, Nunc unum tenacem primarium de tuae praepositis dioeceseos daemones ad inferna rapiunt. At vero hoc audiens Colcius tempus et horam in tabula describens, post aliquot menses ad patriam reversus, Gallanum filium Fachtni eodem horae momento obiise, ab accolis ejusdem regionis percunctatus, invenit, quo vir beatus eidem a daemonibus raptum enarravit.

On a certain day likewise, the Saint, sitting in his little hut, said in prophecy to that same Colcius, who was reading beside him, Now the demons are snatching down to the infernal regions one stubborn principal man from among the provosts of your diocese. But Colcius, hearing this, writing down the time and the hour on a tablet, after several months, having returned to his homeland, and having inquired from the inhabitants of that same region, found that Gallanus, son of Fachtna, had died at that same moment of the hour, just as the blessed man had related to him, that he had been carried off by demons.

Beati Prophetatio Viri De Findchano Presbytero, Illius Monasterii Fundatore Quod Scotice Artchain Nuncupatur, In Ethica Terra

Prophecy Of The Blessed Man Concerning Findchan The Presbyter, Founder Of That Monastery Which In The Scottish Tongue Is Called Artchain, In The Land Of Ethica

ALIO in tempore supra memoratus presbyter Findchanus, Christi miles, Aidum cognomento Nigrum, regio genere ortum, Cruthinicum gente, de Scotia ad Britanniam sub clericatus habitu secum adduxit, ut in suo apud se monasterio per aliquot peregrinaretur annos. Qui scilicet Aidus Niger valde sanguinarius homo et multorum fuerat trucidator; qui et Diormitium filium Cerbulis, totius Scotiae regnatorem, Deo auctore ordinatum, interfecerat. hic itaque idem Aidus, post aliquantum in peregrinatione transactum tempus, accito episcopo, quamvis non recte, apud supradictum Findchanum presbyter ordinatus est.

At another time the above-mentioned presbyter Findchanus, a soldier of Christ, brought with him Aed by surname the Black, sprung from royal stock, of the Cruthin race, from Scotia to Britannia under the habit of the clerical order, that in his monastery with him he might peregrinate for several years. This Aed the Black, to wit, had been a very blood-stained man and a slaughterer of many; and he had killed Diormit, son of Cerball, ruler of all Scotia, appointed by God. Therefore this same Aed, after some time had been spent in pilgrimage, a bishop having been summoned, although not rightly, was ordained presbyter at the aforesaid Findchan.

Episcopus tamen non est ausus super caput ejus manum imponere, nisi prius idem Findchanus, Aidum carnaliter amans, suam capiti ejus pro confirmatione imponeret dexteram. Quae talis ordinatio cum postea sancto intimaretur viro, aegre tulit: tum proinde hanc de illo Findchano et de Aido ordinato formidabilem profatur sententiam, inquiens, Illa manus dextra quam Findchanus, contra fas, et jus ecclesiasticum, super caput filii perditionis imposuit, mox computrescet, et post magnos dolorum cruciatus ipsum in terram sepelienda praecedet; et ipse post suam humatam manum per multos superstes victurus est annos. Ordinatus vero indebite Aidus, sicuti canis, ad vomitum revertetur suum, et ipse rursum sanguilentus trucidator existet, et ad ultimum lancea jugulatus, de ligno in aquam cadens, submersus morietur.

The bishop, however, did not dare to lay his hand upon his head, unless first that same Findchan, loving Aidus after the flesh, should place his own right hand upon his head for confirmation. When such an ordination was afterwards made known to the holy man, he took it ill; then accordingly he utters this formidable sentence about that Findchan and about Aidus ordained, saying, That right hand which Findchan, against divine law and ecclesiastical law, imposed upon the head of the son of perdition will soon putrefy, and, after great torments of pains, will precede him into the earth to be buried; and he himself, surviving his buried hand, will live for many years. But Aidus, improperly ordained, like a dog will return to his vomit, and he himself will again become a blood-stained trucidator, and at the last, jugulated by a lance, falling from the wood into the water, he will die drowned.

Talem multo prius terminum promeruit vitae, qui totius regem trucidavit Scotiae. Quae beati viri prophetia de utroque adimpleta est; nam presbyteri Findchani dexter per pugnum putrefactus in terram eum praecessit, in illa sepultus insula quae Ommon nuncupatur: ipse vero, juxta verbum Sancti Columbae per multos post vixit annos. Aidus vero Niger, solummodo nomine presbyter, ad sua priora reversus scelera, dolo lancea transfixus, de prora ratis in aquam lapsus staneam, disperiit.

Such an end of life he had long before deserved, who butchered the king of all Scotland. And the prophecy of the blessed man concerning both was fulfilled; for the right hand of the presbyter Findchan, putrefied as far as the fist, preceded him into the earth, buried in that island which is called Ommon: but he himself, according to the word of Saint Columba, lived many years afterward. Aidus Niger, however, a presbyter in name only, having returned to his former crimes, treacherously pierced with a spear, falling from the prow of a raft into standing water, perished.

De Quodam Sancti Solamine Spiritus Monachis in Via Laboriosis Misso

On a Certain Consolation of the Holy Spirit Sent to Monks Laboring on the Way

INTER has praedicabiles prophetici spiritus prophetationes non ab re videtur etiam de quadam spiritali consolatione nostris commemorare literulis, quam aliquando sancti Columbae monachi, spiritu ejus ipsis in via obviante, sentiebant. Alio namque in tempore, fratres, post messionis opera, vespere ad monasterium redeuntes, et ad illum pervenientes locum qui Scotice nuncupatur Cuuleilne, qui utique locus inter occidentalem Iouae insulae campulum et nostrum monasterium medius esse dicitur, mirum quid et inconsuetum singuli sibi sentire videbantur: quod tamen alius alii intimare nullo modo audebat. Et sic per aliquot dies eodem in loco, eademque vespertina sentiebant hora.

Among these praiseworthy prophecyings of the prophetic spirit it does not seem out of place also to commemorate in our little letters a certain spiritual consolation, which at times the monks of Saint Columba, his spirit meeting them on the way, used to feel. For at another time, brothers, after the works of the harvest, returning to the monastery in the evening and coming to that place which in Scottish is called Cuuleilne—which place indeed is said to be midway between the western little plain of the island of Iona and our monastery—each one seemed to himself to feel something wondrous and unaccustomed; yet no one at all dared to intimate it to another. And thus for several days in the same place, and at the same evening hour, they felt the same thing.

Fuit autem iisdem in diebus sanctus Baitheneus inter eos operum dispensator, qui sic ad ipsos alia die est prolocutus, inquiens, Nunc, fratres, confiteri debetis singuli si aliquod in hoc medio loco inter messem et monasterium inconsuetum et inopinatum sentitis miraculum. Unus tum ex eis senior, Juxta tuam, ait, jussionem, quod mihi hoc in loco ostensum est dicam; nam et in his praetereuntibus dieculis, et nunc etiam, quandam miri odoris fragrantiam ac si universorum florum in unum sentio collectorum; quendam quoque quasi ignis ardorem, non poenalem, sed quodammodo suavem: sed et quandam in corde insuetam et incomparabilem infusam laetificationem, quae me subito mirabiliter consolatur, et in tantum laetificat ut nullius maeroris, nullius laboris, meminisse possim. Sed et onus quod meo, quamvis grave, porto in dorso, ab hoc loco usque quo ad monasterium pervniatur, quomodo nescio, in tantum relevatur, ut me oneratum non sentiam.

But in those same days the holy Baitheneus was among them the dispenser of works, who thus on another day spoke forth to them, saying, “Now, brothers, each of you ought to confess if you feel any unusual and unanticipated miracle in this middle place between the reaping and the monastery.” Then one elder from among them said, “According to your injunction, I will tell what has been shown to me in this place; for both in these little days now past, and now also, I perceive a certain fragrance of wondrous odor, as if of all flowers collected into one; and also a certain, as it were, burning of fire, not penal, but in some way suave; and likewise a certain unusual and incomparable laetification poured into my heart, which suddenly wondrously consoles me, and gladdens me to such a degree that I can remember no grief, no labor. And the load which, although heavy, I carry on my back, from this place until the monastery be reached, I know not how, is so lightened that I do not feel myself burdened.”

Quid plura? Sic omnes illi messores operarii de se singillatim profitentur per omnia sensisse, sicuti unus ex eis coram enarraverat, singulique simul flexis genibus a sancto postularunt Baitheneo ut ejusdem miri solaminis causam et originem, quod et ipse, sicut et ceteri sentiebant, illis ignorantibus, intimare procuraret. Quibus consequenter hoc dedit responsum, Scitis, inquiens, quod noster senior Columba de nobis anxiae cogitet, et nos ad se tardius pervenientes aegre ferat nostri memor laboris, et idcirco quia corporaliter obviam nobis non venit, spiritus ejus nostris obviat gressibus, qui taliter nos consolans laetificat.

What more? Thus all those reaping workmen severally profess that they had in every way sensed just as one of them had recounted in their presence; and each at the same time, with knees bent, petitioned the holy Baitheneus to take care to intimate the cause and origin of the same wondrous solace—which he himself, as the others too were sensing, they being ignorant—unto them. To whom in sequence he gave this response: You know, says he, that our elder Columba thinks anxiously about us, and that he, mindful of our labor, bears it ill that we, arriving at him rather late; and therefore, because he does not come bodily to meet us, his spirit meets our steps, and thus consoling us, gladdens us.

Quibus auditis verbis, ingeniculantes, cum ingenti gratulatione, expansis ad coelum manibus, Christum in sancto venerantur et beato viro.

With these words heard, genuflecting, with immense gratulation, with hands outstretched to heaven, they venerate Christ in the holy and blessed man.

Sed et hoc silere non debemus quod ab expertis quibusdam de voce beati psalmodiae viri indubitanter traditum est. Quae scilicet vox venerabilis viri in ecclesia cum fratribus decantantis, aliquando per quatuor stadia, hoc est, quingentos passus, aliquando vero per octo, hoc est, mille passus, incomparabili elvata modo audiebatur. Mirum dictu!

But we ought not to be silent about this too, which has been indubitably handed down by certain experienced men concerning the voice of the blessed man of psalmody. The voice, namely, of the venerable man singing in the church with the brothers was sometimes heard, lifted in an incomparable manner, for four stadia, that is, five hundred paces, and at other times indeed for eight, that is, one thousand paces. Marvelous to say!

nec in auribus eorum qui secum in ecclesia stabant vox ejus modum humanae vocis in clamoris granditate excedebat. Sed tamen eadem hora qui ultra mille passuum longinquitatem stabant, sic clare eandem audiebant vocem, ut illos quos canebat versiculos etiam per singulas possent distinguere syllabas: similiter enim ejus vox in auribus prope et longe audientium personabat. Sed hoc de voce miraculum beati viri non semper, sed raro, accidisse comprobatur; quod tamen sine Divini Spiritus gratia nullo modo fieri potuisset.

nor, in the ears of those who stood with him in the church, did his voice exceed the measure of a human voice in the greatness of the clamor. But yet at the same hour those who stood beyond the distance of 1000 paces heard the same voice so clearly that they were able to distinguish even the syllables one by one of the versicles he was singing; for in like manner his voice resounded in the ears of hearers both near and far. But this miracle concerning the voice of the blessed man is attested to have occurred not always, but rarely; which nevertheless could in no way have been brought to pass without the grace of the Divine Spirit.

Sed et illud non est tacendum quod aliquando de tali et incomparabili vocis ejus sublevatione juxta Brudei regis munitionem accidisse traditur. Nam ipse Sanctus cum paucis fratribus extra regis munitionem dum vespertinales Dei laudes ex more celebraret, quidam Magi, ad eos propius accedentes, in quantum poterant, prohibere conabantur, ne de ore ipsorum divinae laudis sonus inter Gentiles audiretur populos. Quo comperto Sanctus quadragesimum et quartum psalmum decantare coepit, mirumque in modum ita vox ejus in aere eodem momento instar alicujus formidabilis tonitrui elvata est, ut et rex et populus intolerabili essent pavore perterriti.

But also that is not to be passed over in silence, that at some time such and incomparable a sublevation of his voice is related to have happened near King Brude’s fortification. For the Saint himself, while with a few brethren outside the king’s fortification he was, according to custom, celebrating the evening praises of God, certain Magi, drawing nearer to them, tried, as far as they were able, to prevent the sound of divine praise from being heard from their mouth among Gentile peoples. Learning this, the Saint began to chant the 44th psalm, and in a wondrous manner his voice was in the air at that same moment lifted up in the likeness of some formidable thunder, so that both the king and the people were struck with an intolerable terror.

Caput 30: De Quodam Divite Qui Lugudius Clodus Vocitabatur

Chapter 30: On a Certain Rich Man Who Was Called Lugudius Clodus

ALIO in tempore, cum in Scotia per aliquot Sanctus demoraretur dies, alium currui insidentem videns clericum, qui gaudenter peragrabat Campum Breg; primo interrogans de eo quis esset, hoc ab amicis ejusdem viri de eo accipit responsum, Hic est Lugudius Clodus, homo dives et honoratus in plebe. Sanctus consequenter respondens inquit, Non ita video; sed homuncio miser et pauper, in die qua morietur, tria apud se vicinorum praetersoria in una retentabit maceria, unamque electam de vaccis praetersoriorum occidi jubebit sibi, de cujus cocta carne postulabit aliquam sibi partem dari, cum meretrice in eodem lectulo cubanti. De qua utique particula morsum accipiens, statim ibidem strangulabiter et morietur.

At another time, when the Saint was staying for several days in Scotland, seeing another cleric seated on a chariot, who was gladly traversing the Plain of Breg, first asking about him who he was, he receives this answer from the friends of the same man: This is Lugudius Clodus, a rich man and honored among the common people. The Saint, answering in turn, said: Not so do I see; but a wretched and poor little man, who on the day he will die will detain at his place three of his neighbors’ byres within a single enclosure-wall, and he will order one chosen from the cows of the byres to be killed for himself; from whose cooked flesh he will ask that some portion be given to himself, while lying in the same little bed with a prostitute. From which very piece, taking a bite, immediately then and there he will be strangled and will die.

Quae omnia, sicuti ab expertis traditur, juxta Sancti propheticum adimpleta sunt verbum.

All these things, as it is handed down by eyewitnesses, were fulfilled according to the Saint’s prophetic word.

Caput 31: De Nemano Filio Gruthriche Sancti Prophetia

CHAPTER 31: On Neman, Son of Gruthric, the Saint’s Prophecy

HUNC enim cum Sanctus de malis suis corriperet, parvipendens Sanctum subsannabat. Cui respondens vir beatus ait, In nomine Domini, Nemane, aliqua de te veridica loquar verba. Inimici tui reperient te in eodem cum meretrice cubantem cubiculo, ibidemque trucidaberis.

For when the Saint was correcting this man for his evils, making light of the Saint he mocked. To him the blessed man, responding, said, In the name of the Lord, Neman, I will speak some truthful words about you. Your enemies will find you lying in the same bedchamber with a prostitute, and there you will be butchered.

Daemones quoque ad loca poenarum tuam rapient animam. Hic idem Nemanus, post aliquot annos, in uno cum meretrice lectulo repertus in regione Cainle, juxta verbum Sancti, ab inimicis decapitatus, disperiit.

Demons also will snatch your soul to the places of punishment. This same Neman, after several years, found in one little bed with a prostitute in the region of Cainle, according to the word of the Saint, was beheaded by his enemies and perished.

Caput 32: De Quodam Presbytero Sancti Viri Prophetatio

CHAPTER 32: The Holy Man’s Prophecy about a Certain Presbyter

ALIO in tempore Sanctus, cum in Scotiensium paulo superius moraretur memorata regione, casu Dominica die ad quoddam devenit vicinum monasteriolum quod Scotice Tioit vocitatur. Eadem proinde die quendam audiens presbyterum sacra eucharistiae mysteria conficientem, quem ideo fratres, qui ibidem commanebant, ad missarum elegerant peragenda sllemnia, quia valde religiosum aestimabant, repente hanc formidabilem de ore profert vocem, Munda et immunda pariter nunc permisceri cernuntur, hoc est, munda sacrae oblationis mysteria per immundum hominem ministrata, qui in sua interim conscientia aliquod grande occultat facinus. Haec qui inerant audientes tremefacti nimis obstupuere.

At another time the Saint, when he was dwelling among the Scotienses a little above in the aforementioned region, happened, on the Lord’s Day, to come to a certain neighboring little monastery which in the Scottish tongue is called Tioit. On that same day, therefore, hearing a certain presbyter completing the sacred mysteries of the Eucharist—whom for that reason the brothers who were living there had chosen for the solemnities of the masses to be performed, because they deemed him very religious—suddenly he brings forth from his mouth this dreadful utterance: Clean and unclean alike are now seen to be mixed together; that is, the mysteries of the sacred oblation are being ministered through an unclean man, who meanwhile in his conscience hides some great crime. Those who were present, hearing these things, trembled exceedingly and were stupefied.

Ille vero de quo haec dicebantur verba coram omnibus peccantiam compulsus est suam confiteri. Chrisique commilitones, qui in ecclesia Sanctum circumstantes occulta cordis audierant manifestantem, divinam in eo scientiam cum magna admiratione glorificarunt.

But he indeed, about 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 revealing the hidden things of the heart, glorified the divine knowledge in him with great admiration.

Caput 33: De Erco Fure Mocudruidi Qui In Coloso Insula Commanebat Sancti Prophetizatio Viri

Chapter 33: On Erco, the Thief Mocudruidi, Who Was Dwelling on the Island of Coloso: The Holy Man’s Prophecy

ALIO in tempore Sanctus in Ioua commanens insula, accitis ad se binis de fratribus viris, quorum vocabula Lugbeus et Silnanus, eisdem praecipiens dixit, Nunc ad Maleam transfretate insulam, et in campulis mari vicinis Ercum quaerite furacem; qui nocte praeterita solus occulte de insula Coloso perveniens, sub sua feno tecta navicula inter arenarum cumulos per diem se occultare conatur, ut noctu ad parvam transnaviget insulam ubi marini nostri juris vituli generantur et generant; ut de illis furenter occisis edax valde furax suam replens naviculam, ad suum repedet habitaculum. Qui haec audientes, obsecuti, emigrant, furemque in locis a Sancto praesignatis absconsum reperiunt, et ad Sanctum, sicut illis praeceperat, perduxerunt. Quo viso Sanctus ad eum dicit, Quare tu res alienas, divinum transgressus mandatum, saepe furaris?

At another time the Saint, abiding on the island of Iona, having called to him two men of the brethren, whose names were Lugbeus and Silnanus, giving them instruction said, Now cross over to the island Malea, and in the little fields near the sea seek out Erc the thievish; who, coming alone secretly from the island Coloso the night just past, is trying to hide himself through the day beneath his little boat roofed with hay among the heaps of sand, so that by night he may sail across to a small island where the sea-calves of our jurisdiction are begotten and beget; so that, with some of them savagely slain, the very ravenous thief, stuffing his little boat, may repair to his dwelling. They, hearing these things, obedient, set out, and they find the thief concealed in the places predesignated by the Saint, and led him to the Saint, just as he had ordered them. When he was seen, the Saint says to him, Why do you, having transgressed the divine commandment, often steal other men’s goods?

Quando necesse habueris, ad nos veniens necessaria accipies postulata. Et haec dicens praecipit verveces occidi, et pro phocis dari misero furaci, ne vacuus ad sua remearet. Et post aliquantum tempus Sanctus, in spiritu vicinam furis praevidens mortem, ad Baitheneum eo in tempore praepositum commorantem in Campo Lunge mittit, ut eidem furi quoddam pingue pecus et sex modios novissima mittat munera.

Whenever you have need, by coming to us you will receive the necessary things you ask for. And saying this, he orders wethers to be killed and, in place of seals, to be given to the wretched thievish man, lest he return to his own empty. And after some time the Saint, foreseeing in the spirit the thief’s near death, sends to Baitheneus, then the prepositus, residing in the Campo Lunge, that he should send to that same thief a certain fat sheep and six modii of the newest grain as gifts.

Quibus a Baitheneo, sicut Sanctus commendaverat, transmissis, ea die inventus est morte subita praeventus furax misellus, et in exequiis ejus transmissa expensa sunt xenia.

With these things having been sent by Baitheneus, just as the Saint had commended, on that day the poor wretched thief was found overtaken by sudden death, and the gifts that had been sent were expended on his funeral rites.

Caput 34: De Cronano Poeta Sancti Prophetia Viri

Chapter 34: On Cronan the Poet, the Prophecy of the Holy Man

ALIO in tempore, Sanctus cum juxta Stagnum Cei, prope ostium fluminis quod latine Bos dicitur, die aliqua cum fratribus sederet, quidam ad eos Scoticus poeta devenit; qui cum post aliquam recessisset sermocinationem, fratres ad Sanctum, Cur, aiunt, a nobis regrediente Cronano poeta aliquod ex more suae artis canticum non postulasti modulabiliter decantari? Quibus Sanctus, quare et vos nunc inutilia profertis verba? quomodo ab illo inimicis trucidatus, finem ad usque ocius pervenit vitae.

At another time, when the Saint was sitting with the brethren beside the Lake of Cei, near the mouth of the river which in Latin is called Bos, on a certain day a Scotic poet came to them; who, after some conversation, had withdrawn; and the brethren said to the Saint, Why, they say, as Cronan the poet was returning from us, did you not, according to the custom of his art, ask that some song be chanted with modulation? To whom the Saint, Why do you also now bring forth unprofitable words? how is it that he, slaughtered by enemies, has all too swiftly come to the very end of life.

His a Sancto dictis, et ecce ultra flumen aliquis clamitat homo dicens, Ille poeta, qui a vobis nuper sospes rediit, hora in hac ab inimicis in via interfectus est. Omnes tunc qui praesentes inerant valde mirati, se invicem intuentes obstupuere.

These things having been said by the Saint, behold, across the river some man cries out, saying, That poet, who lately returned safe from you, has in this very hour been slain on the road by enemies. Then all who were present, greatly amazed, looking at one another, stood astonished.

Caput 35: De Duobus Tigernis Sancti Vaticinatio Viri, Qui Ambo Mutuis Vulneribus Disperierant

Chapter 35: On The Holy Man’s Vaticination Concerning Two Tigerns, Who Both Had Perished By Mutual Wounds

ALIO itidem in tempore, Sanctus in Ioua conversans insula, repente inter legendum summo, cum ingenti admiratione, gemitu ingemuit maesto. Quod videns, qui praesens inerat, Lugbeus Mocublai coepit ab eo percunctari subiti causam maeroris. Cui Sanctus valde maestifcatus hanc dedit responsionem, Duo quidam nunc regii generis viri in Scotia mutuis inter se vulneribus transfixi disperierunt haud procul a monasterio quod dicitur Cellrois, in provincia Maugdornorum, octavaque die, hac peracta hebdomade, ultra fretum alius clamitabit, qui haec, de Hibernia veniens, ita taliter facta enarrabit.

Likewise at another time, while the Saint was conversing on the island of Ioua, suddenly, during reading, with the greatest, with immense admiration, he groaned forth a mournful groan. Seeing this, Lugbeus Mocublai, who was present, began to inquire of him the cause of the sudden sorrow. To whom the Saint, very saddened, gave this response: Two men of royal stock now in Scotia have perished, run through by mutual wounds between themselves, not far from the monastery which is called Cellrois, in the province of the Maugdornans; and on the eighth day, when this week has been completed, beyond the strait another will cry out, who, coming from Hibernia, will thus relate how these things were done.

Sed hoc, O filiole, quamdiu vixero nemini indices. Octava proinde ultra fretum clamatum est die. Sanctus tum supra memoratum ad se Lugbeum vocans, silenter ad eum ait, Qui nunc clamitat ultra fretum ipse est, de quo tibi prius dixeram, longaevus viator.

But this, O little son, so long as I live, disclose to no one. Accordingly, on the eighth day it was cried out beyond the strait. Then the Saint, calling to himself Lugbeus aforesaid, quietly said to him, He who is now crying out beyond the strait is the very one of whom I told you before, an aged wayfarer.

Vade, et adduc eum ad nos. Qui celeriter adductus, inter cetera, hoc etiam retulit, Duo, inquiens, in parte Maugdornorum nobiles viri, se mutuo vulnerantes, mortui sunt; hoc est, Colman Canis, filius Aileni, et Ronanus filius Aido filii Colgen, de Anteriorum genere, prope fines illorum locorum, ubi illud monasterium cernitur quod dicitur Cellrois. Post haec illius verba narrationis, idem Lugbeus, Christi miles, Sanctum seorsum coepit interrogare, dicens, Quaeso mihi de his talibus narres propheticis revelationibus quomodo, si per visum tibi, an auditu, an alio, hominibus incognito, manifestantur modo.

Go, and bring him to us. He, quickly brought, among other things reported this also: “Two,” he says, “in the part of the Maugdorni, noble men, wounding one another, have died; that is, Colman Canis, son of Ailenus, and Ronanus son of Aido 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 privately, saying, “I beg that you tell me about such things by prophetic revelations how they are manifested to you—whether by vision, or by hearing, or by another mode unknown to men.”

Ad haec Sanctus, De qua nunc, ait, inquiris valde subtili re nullatenus tibi quamlibet aliquam intimare particulam potero, nisi prius, flexis genibus, per nomen excelsi Dei mihi firmiter promittas hoc te obscurissimum sacramentum nulli unquam hominum cunctis diebus vitae meae enarraturum. Qui, haec audiens, flexit continuo genua, et, prostrato in terram vultu, juxta Sancti praeceptionem plene omnia promisit. Qua statim perfecta promissione.

To this the Saint said, “As to that which you now inquire—a very subtle matter—I shall by no means be able to intimate to you even any smallest particle, unless first, with knees bent, you firmly promise me, by the name of the Most High God, that you will divulge this most obscure sacrament to no one among men through all the days of my life.” He, hearing this, immediately bent his knees, and, with his face prostrate to the earth, according to the Saint’s precept fully promised all. Once that promise was straightway fulfilled.

Sanctus ad surgentem sic locutus inquit, Sunt nonnulli, quamlibet pauci admodum, quibus divina hoc contulit gratia, ut etiam totum totius terrae orbem, cum ambitu oceani et coeli, uno eodemque momento, quasi sub uno solis rado, mirabiliter laxato mentis sinu, clare et manifestissime speculentur. Hoc miraculum Sanctus, quamvis de aliis electis dicere videatur, vanam utique fugiens gloriam, de seipso tamen dixisse, per obliquum licet, nullus dubitare debet qui Paulum legit Apostolum, vas electionis, de talibus narrantem sibi revelatis visionibus. Non enim ita scripsit, Scio me, sed, Scio hominem, raptum usque ad tertium coelum.

The Saint spoke thus to the one rising, and says, There are some, although very few, to whom divine grace has granted this: that they may even survey clearly and most manifestly the whole orb of the whole earth, with the ambit of ocean and of heaven, in one and the same moment, as if under a single ray of the sun, the bosom of the mind marvelously widened. This miracle the Saint, although he seems to speak about other elect, fleeing vain glory to be sure, yet that he spoke about himself, though obliquely, no one ought to doubt who reads Paul the Apostle, the vessel of election, telling of such visions revealed to himself. For he did not thus write, “I know myself,” but, “I know a man,” rapt up even to the third heaven.

Quod quamlibet de alio dicere videatur, nemo tamen dubitat sic de propria, humilitatem custodiens, enarrare persona. Quem etiam et noster Columba in spiritalium visionum narratione secutus est superius memorata, quam ab eo supradictus vir, quem plurimum Sanctus amabat, magnis precibus praemissis, vix potuit extorquere, sicut ipse coram aliorum personis sanctorum, post sancti Columbae transitum, testatus est: a quibus haec quae de Sancto supra narravimus indubitanter didicimus.

Although he seems to say this of another, nevertheless no one doubts that thus, guarding humility, he recounts it of his own person. This, too, our Columba followed in the narration of spiritual visions mentioned above, which the aforesaid man—whom the Saint loved exceedingly—could scarcely extort from him, great prayers having been premised, as he himself testified before the persons of other saints after Saint Columba’s passing: from whom we indubitably learned these things about the Saint which we have narrated above.

De Cronano Episcopo

On Bishop Cronan

ALIO in tempore, quidam de Muminensium provincia proselytus ad Sanctum venit; qui se in quantum potuit occultabat humiliter, ut nullus sciret quod esset episcopus: sed tamen Sanctum hoc non potuit latere. Nam alia die Dominica a Sancto jussus Christi corpus ex more conficere, Sanctum advocat, ut simul, quasi duo presbyteri, Dominicum panem frangerent. Sanctus proinde ad altarium accedens, repente intuitus faciem ejus, sic eum compellat, Benedicat te Christus, frater; hunc solus, episcopali ritu, frange panem: nunc scimus quod sis episcopus.

AT ANOTHER time, a certain proselyte from the province of the Mumenenses came to the Saint; who, as far as he could, was humbly hiding himself, so that no one might know that he was a bishop: yet this could not be hidden from the Saint. For on another Lord’s Day, being ordered by the Saint to confect the body of Christ according to custom, he calls the Saint, that together, as if two presbyters, they might break the Dominical bread. The Saint therefore, approaching the altar, having suddenly looked upon his face, thus addresses him: “May Christ bless you, brother; do you alone, in episcopal rite, break this bread: now we know that you are a bishop.”

Quare hucusque te occultare conatus es, ut tibi a nobis debita non redderetur veneratio? Quo audito Sancti verbo, humilis pereginus, valde stupefactus, Christum in Sancto veneratus est; et qui inerant praesentes nimis admirati, glorificarunt Dominum.

Why have you hitherto tried to hide yourself, so that the veneration due to you might not be rendered by us? Upon hearing the Saint’s word, the humble peregrine, greatly astonished, venerated Christ in the Saint; and those who were present, being exceedingly amazed, glorified the Lord.

De Ernano Presbytero Sancti Prophetia Viri

The Holy Man’s Prophecy Concerning Ernan the Presbyter

ALIO ititdem in tempore, vir venerandus Ernanum presbyterum, senem, suum avunculum, ad praeposituram illius monasterii transmisit quod in Hinba insula ante plures fundaverat annos. Itaque cum ipsum Sanctus emigrantem exosculatus benediceret, hoc de eo intulit vaticinium, dicens, Hunc meum nunc egredientem amicum non me spero iterum in hoc seculo viventem visurum. Itaque idem Ernanus post non multos dies, quadam molestatus aegrimonia, ad Sanctum volens reportatus est: cujus in perventione valde gavisus, ire obvius ad portum coepit.

At another time likewise, the venerable man sent Ernanus the presbyter, an elder, his maternal uncle, to the prepositure of that monastery which he had founded many years before on the island of Hinba. And so, when the Saint, having kissed him affectionately as he was departing, was blessing him, he added this prophecy about him, saying, I do not expect that I shall see this friend of mine, now going forth, again living in this world. And so the same Ernanus, after not many days, being afflicted by a certain ailment, desiring it, was carried back to the Saint: at whose arrival, rejoicing greatly, he began to go to meet him at the port.

Ipse vero Ernanus, quamlibet infirmis, propriis tamen, vestigiis a portu obviare Sancto conabatur valde alacer. Sed cum esset inter ambos quasi viginti quatuor passuum intervallum, subita morte praeventus, priusquam Sanctus faciem ejus videret viventis, expirans interram cecidit, ne verbum Sancti ullo frustraretur modo. Unde in eodem loco ante januam canabae crux infixa est, et altera ubi Sanctus restitit, illo expirante, similiter crux hodieque infixa stat.

But Ernan himself, although with feeble strength, yet on his own footsteps, was striving, very eager, to go to meet the Saint from the port. But when there was between them an interval of about 24 paces, overtaken by sudden death, before the Saint might see his face living, breathing his last he fell to the ground, lest the word of the Saint should in any way be frustrated. Whence in the same place before the door of the hut a cross was fixed, and another where the Saint stood, as he expired, likewise a cross stands fixed even today.

De Alicujus Plebeii Familiola Sancti Prophetia Viri

Concerning The Prophecy Of The Holy Man Regarding The Little Family Of A Certain Plebeian

ALIO quoque in tempore, quidam inter ceteros ad Sanctum plebeius venit in loco hospitantem qui Scotice vocitatur Coire Salchain; quem cum Sanctus ad se vespere venientem vidisset, Ubi, ait, habitas? Ille inquit, In regione quae littoribus stagni Crogreth est contermina ego inhabito. Illam quam dicis provinciolam, ait Sanctus, nunc barbari populantur vastatores.

At another time also, a certain plebeian among the rest came to the Saint, lodging in a place which in the Scottish tongue is called Coire Salchain; and when the Saint saw him coming to him in the evening, he said, “Where,” he says, “do you dwell?” He said, “In the region which is contiguous to the shores of the lake Crogreth I dwell.” “That little province which you mention,” said the Saint, “the barbarian devastators are now occupying and laying waste.”

Quo audito, miser plebeius maritam et filios deplangere coepit. Quem Sanctus valde maerentem videns, consolans inquit, Vade, homuncule, vade, tua familiola tota in montem fugiens evasit; tua vero omnia pecuscula secum invasores abegerunt, omnemque domus suppelectilem similiter saevi raptores cum praeda rapuere. haec audiens plebeius, ad patriam regressus, cuncta, sicuti a Sancto praedicta, sic invenit expleta.

On hearing this, the wretched plebeian began to bewail his wife and sons. Seeing him grieving greatly, the Saint, consoling, said, Go, little man, go, your whole little family, fleeing into the mountain, has escaped; but all your little flocks the invaders have driven off with them, and likewise the savage plunderers seized all the household furniture with the booty. Hearing these things, the plebeian, having returned to his native country, found everything fulfilled just as it had been predicted by the Saint.

De Quodam Plebeio, Goreo Nomine, Filio Aidani, Sancti Prophetia Viri

Concerning a Certain Plebeian, Goreo by Name, Son of Aidan, the Prophecy of the Holy Man

ALIO itidem in tempore quidam plebeius, omnium illius aetatis in populo Korkureti fortissimus virorum, a sancto percunctatur viro qua morte esset praeveniendus. Cui Sanctus, Nec in bello, ait, nec in mari morieris: comes tui itineris, a quo non suspicaris, causa erit tuae mortis. Fortassis, inquit Goreus, aliquis de meis comitantibus amicis me trucidare cogitet, aut marita ob alicujus junioris viri amorem me maleficio mortificare.

Likewise at another time, a certain plebeian, the bravest of men of all that age among the people of Korkureti, inquires of the holy man by what kind of death he would be overtaken. To whom the Saint: “Neither in war,” he says, “nor on the sea will you die; a companion of your journey, from whom you do not suspect it, will be the cause of your death.” “Perhaps,” says Goreus, “someone among my accompanying friends is thinking to butcher me, or my wife, on account of love for some younger man, to mortify me by malefice.”

Sanctus, Non ita, ait, continget. Quare, Goreus inquit, de meo interfectore mihi nunc intimare non vis? Sanctus, Idcirco, ait, nolo tibi de illo tuo comite nocuo nunc manifestius aliquid edicere, ne te ejus crebra recogniti recordatio nimis maestificet, donec illa veniat dies qua ejusdem rei veritatem probabis.

The Saint, “Not so,” he said, “will it befall.” Wherefore, said Goreus, do you not wish now to intimate to me my killer? The Saint, “For that reason,” he said, “I am unwilling to declare anything more manifest to you now about that noxious companion of yours, lest his oft-renewed recollection, being recognized again, make you too sorrowful, until that day comes on which you will prove the truth of this same matter.”

Quid immoramur verbis? Post aliquot annorum excursus, idem supra memoratus Goreus, casu alia die sub navi residens, cultello proprio cristiliam de hastili eradebat; tum deinde alios prope inter se belligerantes audiens, citius surgit ut eos a belligeratione separaret, eodemque cultello illa subitatione negligentius in terra dimisso, ejus genicula offenso graviter vulnerata est. Et tali faciente comite, causa ei mortificationis oborta est; quam ipse continuo, secundum sancti vaticinationem viri, mente perculsus, recognovit; postque aliquantos menses, eodem aggravatus dolore, moritur.

Why do we linger with words? After the course of several years, the same Goreus mentioned above, by chance on another day sitting under a ship, was scraping encrustation from a shaft with his own little knife; then, hearing others nearby belligerating among themselves, he rises more quickly so that he might separate them from belligeration, and with the same knife, in that suddenness, having somewhat carelessly set it down on the ground, his kneecap, striking against it, was grievously wounded. And with such a companion acting, the cause of his mortification arose for him; which he immediately, according to the holy man’s vaticination, stricken in mind, recognized; and after some months, aggravated by the same pain, he dies.

De Alia Etiam Re, Quamlibet Minore, Puto Non Esse Tacenda Sancti Jucunda Praescientia, Et Prophetizatio Viri

Concerning Another Matter Also, However Minor, I Think The Saint’s Jocund Prescience, And The Prophesying Of The Man, Are Not To Be Passed Over In Silence

ALIO namque in tempore, cum Sanctus in Ioua inhabitaret insula, unum de fratribus advocans, sic compellat, Tertia ab hac illuscescente die expectare debebis in occidentali hujus insulae parte, super maris oram sedens: nam de aquilonali Hiberniae regione quaedam hospita grus, ventis per longos aeris agitata circuitus, post nonam diei horam valde fessa et fatigata superveniet, et pene consumptis viribus, coram te in litore cadens recumbet; quam misericorditer sublevare curabis, et ad propinquam deportabis domum, ibidemque hospitaliter receptam, per tres dies et noctes ei ministrans, sollicite cibabis; et post expleto recreata triduo, nolens ultra apud nos peregrinari, ad priorem Scotiae dulcem, une orta, remeabit regionem, plene resumptis viribus; quam ideo tibi sic diligenter commendo quia de nostrae paternitatis regione est oriunda. Obsecundat frater, tertiaque die post horam nonam, ut jussu, praescitae adventum praestolatur hospitae, adventantemque de littore levat lapsam, ad hospitium portat infirmam, esurientem cibat. Cui ad monasterium vespere reverso Sanctus, non interrogans sed narrans, ait, Benedicat te Deus, mi fili, quia peregrinae bene ministrasti hospitae, quae in peregrinatione non demorabitur, sed post ternos soles ad patriam repedabit.

For at another time, when the Saint was inhabiting the island of Ioua, calling one of the brothers, he thus addresses him: On the third day from this dawning day you will have to wait in the western part of this island, sitting upon the sea’s shore; for from the northern region of Ireland a certain guest crane, driven by winds through long circuits of the air, after the ninth hour of the day, very weary and worn out, will arrive, and with her strength almost consumed, falling before you on the strand, will lie down; which you shall take care to lift up mercifully, and you will carry her to a nearby house, and there, received hospitably, ministering to her for three days and nights, you will carefully feed her; and after the three days are completed, refreshed, unwilling to peregrinate among us any longer, she will return to the former sweet region of Scotia, whence she arose, with her strength fully resumed; which for this reason I commend to you so diligently, because she is sprung from the region of our fatherland. The brother complies, and on the third day after the ninth hour, as ordered, he awaits the coming of the foreknown guest, and, as she arrives, he lifts her, fallen on the shore, carries the infirm one to lodging, feeds the hungry one. To whom, when he returned to the monastery in the evening, the Saint, not asking but narrating, says: May God bless you, my son, because you have well ministered to the peregrine guest, who will not tarry in peregrination, but after three suns will return-foot to her fatherland.

Quod ita ut Sanctus praedixit et res etiam probavit. Nam trinalibus hospitata diebus, coram hospite ministro de terra se primum volando elevans in sublime, paulisperque in aere viam speculata, oceani transvadato aequore, ad Hiberniam recto volatus cursu die repedavit tranquillo.

Which came to pass just as the Saint foretold, and the matter also proved. For, after being hosted for three days, in the presence of the host-minister she first raised herself from the earth by flying aloft, and, having for a little while in the air speculated the way, the surface of the ocean having been crossed, she returned to Ireland with a straight course of flight on a tranquil day.

De Bello Quod In Munitione Cethirni Post Multo Commissum Est Tempora, Et De Quodam Fonticulo Ejusdem Terrulae Proximo Beati Praescentia Viri

On the War Which in the Fortification of Cethirn Was Engaged Long After, and On a Certain Little Spring Near the Same Little Plot of Land by the Blessed Man’s Prescience

ALIO in tempore vir beatus cum post regum in Dorso Cette condictum, Aidi videlicet filii Ainmurech, et Aidani filii Gabrani, ad campos reverteretur aequoreos, ipse et Comgellus abbas quadam serena aestivi temporis die, haud procul a supra memorata munitione resident. Tum proinde aqua de quodam proximo ad manus lavandas fonticulo ad Sanctos in aeneo defertur vasculo Quam cum sanctus Columba accepisset, ad abbatem Comgellum a latere sedentem sic profatur, Ille fonticulus, O comgelle, de quo haec effusa nobis allata est aqua, veniet dies quando nullis usibus humanis aptus erit. Qua causa, ait Comgellus, ejus fontana corrumpetur unda?

At another time, when the blessed man, after the convocation of kings on the Ridge of Cete—namely Aed, son of Ainmurech, and Aedan, son of Gabran—was returning to the seaward fields, he and Abbot Comgell, on a certain serene day of the estival season, were sitting not far from the above-mentioned fortification. Then accordingly water from a certain nearby little spring, for washing the hands, is brought to the Saints in a brazen little vessel. When Saint Columba had received it, he thus addresses Abbot Comgell, sitting at his side: That little spring, O Comgell, from which this poured-out water has been brought to us, a day will come when it will be apt for no human uses. For what cause, says Comgell, will its fountain-water be corrupted?

Sanctus tum Columba, Quia humano, inquit, cruore replebitur: nam mei cognationales amici et tui secundum carnem cognati, hoc est, Nellis Nepotes et Cruthini populi, in hac vicina munitione Cethirni belligerantes committent bellum. Unde in supra memorata fonte aliquis de mea cognatione trucidabitur homuncio, cujus cum caeteris interfecti sanguine ejusdem fonticuli locus replebitur. Quae ejus veridica suo tempore post multos vaticinatio expleta est annos.

Then Saint Columba: “Because it will be filled with human gore,” he says; “for my kinsmen-friends and your kinsmen according to the flesh, that is, the Descendants of Niall and the people of the Cruthini, warring, will join battle in this neighboring fortification of Cethirn. Wherefore, at the above-mentioned spring, a certain little man of my kin will be butchered, whose blood, together with that of the other slain, will fill the spot of that same little spring. Which truthful vaticination of his, after many years, was fulfilled in its time.”

In quo bello, ut multi norunt populi, Domnallus Aidi filius victor sublimatus est, et in eodem, secundum sancti vaticinium viri, fonticulo, quidam de parentela ejus interfectus est homo. Alius mihi Adamnano Christi miles, Finanus nomine, qui vitam multis anachoreticam annis juxta Roboreti monasterium Campi irreprehensibiliter ducebat, de eodem bello se praesente commisso aliqua enarrans, protestatus est in supradicto fonte truncum cadaverinum vidisse, eademque die ad monasterium sancti Comgelli quod Scotice dicitur Cambas commisso reversum bello quia inde prius venerat, ibidemque duos sancti Comgelli senes monachos reperisse: quibus cum de bello coram se acto, et de fonticulo humano cruore corrupto, aliquanta enarraret, illi consequenter, Verus propheta Columba, aiunt, qui haec omnia quae hodie de bello et de fonticulo expleta enarras, ante multos annos futura, nobis audientibus, coram sancto Comgello, juxta Cethirni sedens munitionem, praenunciaverat.

In which war, as many peoples know, Domnall, son of Aed, was exalted as victor; and in the same little spring, according to the prophecy of the holy man, a certain man of his kindred was slain. Another to me, Adomnán, a soldier of Christ, Finan by name, who led an anchoritic life for many years irreprehensibly near the monastery of Roboretus of the Plain, recounting some things about the same war, joined with himself present, declared that he had seen in the aforesaid spring a cadaveric trunk; and on the same day, the battle having been joined, he returned to the monastery of Saint Comgell, which in Scottic is called Cambas, because he had previously come from there, and there he found two aged monks of Saint Comgell. To whom, when he narrated several things about the war fought before him, and about the little spring corrupted with human gore, they in turn say: Columba is a true prophet, who had foretold, many years before, in our hearing, in the presence of Saint Comgell, sitting near the fortification of Cethirn, all these things which today you narrate as fulfilled about the war and about the little spring.

De Diversorum Discretione Xeniorum Sancto Revelata Viro Diali Gratia

On the Discernment of Various Guest-Gifts, Revealed to the Holy Man by Divine Grace

EODEM in tempore Conallus, episcopus Culerathin, collectis a populo Campi Eilni pene innumerabilibus xeniis, beato viro hospitium praeparavit, post condictum supra memoratorum regum, turba prosequente multa, revertenti: proinde sancto advenienti viro xenia populi multa, in platea monasterii strata, benedicenda assignantur. Quae cum benedicens aspiceret, xenium alicujus opulenti viri specialiter demonstrans, Virum, ait, cujus est hoc xenium, pro misericordiis pauperum, et ejus largitione, Dei comitatur misericordia. Itemque aliud discernit inter alia multa xenium, inquiens, De hoc ego xenio viri sapientis et avari nullo modo gustare possum, nisi prius veram de peccato avaritiae poenitudinem egerit.

At the same time Conallus, bishop of Culerathin, having collected from the people of the Plain of Eilne almost innumerable xenia, prepared hospitality for the blessed man, as he was returning after the convened meeting of the above-mentioned kings, with a great crowd following; accordingly, as the holy man arrived, many xenia of the people, spread out in the platea of the monastery, were assigned to be blessed. And as he was looking upon these while blessing them, pointing out in particular the xenium of a certain opulent man, he said, “The man whose xenium this is, for his mercies toward the poor and his largition, is accompanied by the mercy of God.” And likewise he discerns another xenium among many other xenia, saying, “Of this xenium of a man wise and avaricious I can in no way taste, unless first he shall have done true penitence for the sin of avarice.”

Quod verbum cito in turba divulgatum audiens, accurrit Columbus filius Aidi conscius, et coram Sancto flexis genibus poenitentiam agit, et de cetero avaritiae abrenunciaturum se promittit, et largitatem cum morum emendatione consecuturum. Et jussus a Sancto surgere, ex illa hora est sanatus de vitio tenacitatis. Erat enim vir sapiens, sicuti Sancto in ejus revelatum erat xenio.

Hearing that word, quickly divulged in the crowd, Columbus son of Aidi, conscious, runs up, and before the Saint, with knees bent, he does penitence, and promises that henceforth he will renounce avarice and will attain largess together with an emendation of morals. And, bidden by the Saint to rise, from that hour he was healed of the vice of tenacity. For he was a wise man, just as it had been revealed to the Saint in his xenium.

Ille vero dives largus, Brendenus nomine, de cujus xenio paulo superius dictum est, audiens et ipse Sancti verba de se dicta, ingeniculans ad pedes Sancti, precatur ut pro eo ad Dominum Sanctus fundat precem: qui, ab eo primum pro quibusdam suis objurgatus peccatis, poenitudinem gerens, de cetero se emendaturum promisit; et sic uterque de propriis emendatus et sanatus est vitiis.

That truly rich and bountiful man, Brendan by name, whose xenium was spoken of a little above, hearing likewise the Saint’s words said about him, kneeling at the Saint’s feet, begs that the Saint would pour out a prayer to the Lord for him; who, having first been reproved by him for certain of his sins, doing penitence, promised that henceforth he would amend himself; and so both were corrected and healed of their own vices.

Simili scienta Sanctus et alio tempore xenium alicujus tenacis viri, inter multa cognovit xenia, Diormiti nomine, ad Cellam Magnam Deathrib in ejus adventu collecta.

With similar knowledge the Saint also at another time recognized, among many guest-gifts, the guest-gift of a certain tightfisted man, by the name Diormit, collected at the Great Cell of Deathrib on his advent.

Haec de beati viri prophetica gratia, quasi de plurimis pauca, in hujus libelli textu primi caraxasse sufficiat. Pauca dixi, nam hoc de venerabili viro non est dubitandum quod valde numerosiora fuerint quae in notitiam hominum, sacramenta interius celata, venire nullo modo poterant, quam ea quae, quasi quaedam parva aliquando stillicidia, veluti per quasdam rimulas alicujus pleni vasis ferventissimo novo distillabant vino. Nam sancti et apostolici viri, vanam evitantes gloriam, plerumque in qunatum possunt interna quaedam arcana, sibi intrinsecus a Deo manifestata, celare festinant.

Let these things about the prophetic grace of the blessed man, as a few out of very many, suffice to have been scrawled in the text of this first little book. I have said a few, for this about the venerable man is not to be doubted: that those things were far more numerous which—sacraments hidden within—could in no way come into the knowledge of men, than those things which, like certain small tricklings at times, as through certain little chinks of some full vessel, were distilling with the very fervent new wine. For holy and apostolic men, avoiding vain glory, for the most part, insofar as they can, hasten to conceal certain internal arcana, made manifest within to themselves by God.

Sed Deus nonnulla ex eis, velint nolint ipsi, divulgat, et in medium quoquo profert modo, videlicet glorificare volens glorificantes se Sanctos, hoc est, ipsum Dominum, cui gloria in secula seculorum.

But God divulges some of these, whether they will or not, and brings them into the midst in whatever way, namely, wishing to glorify the Saints who glorify Himself—that is, the Lord Himself—to whom be glory unto the ages of ages.

Huic primo libro hic imponitur terminus; nunc sequens orditur liber de virtutum miraculis, quae plerumque etiam prophetalis praescienta comitatur.

Here an end is set to this first book; now the following book begins on the miracles of virtues, which for the most part prophetic prescience also accompanies.