This is a poem of Columkille’s, or at least ascribed to him. It is in very irregular metre, or rather changes its metre several times. The literal translation of the first few verses is as follows:– Delightful to be on Ben Edar (the Hill of Howth) before going over the sea, white, white; the dashing […]
Tag Archives: Alba
I Stretch My Eye Across the Brine
198. Then Columcille and his household departed from Erin, and this is the number they were: twenty bishops, two score priests, thirty deacons, and two score sons of learning that had not yet the rank of priest or deacon, as the poet, even Dallan Forgaill, hath said in this quatrain: Forty priests their number. Twenty […]
I Would Not Speak Falsehood
On a time that Columcille was in Alba, he sent holy Baithin on certain errands to Aedan son of Gabhran. Aedan inquired of him who that man was, to wit, Columcille, of the which the folk of the Western World gave such great report. “He is a good man,” saith Baithin, “for he hath not […]
Curious Pan-Celtic Flag
Flags of the Modern “Celtic” Nations
Pictish Battle Scene on Aberlemno II
Relics Taken in Flight
The shrine of Colum Cille and his other halidoms arrived in Ireland, having been taken in flight to escape the foreigners. — Chronicon Scotorum, Annal CS878.
An Untimely Death
The Annals of the Four Masters record the dies natalis of St. Columba in the year 592, cheating the blessed man out of five whole years of his earthly life (though I am certain from my study of St. Adomnán’s Vita Columbæ that Columba would have been more than happy to give them up). St. Columba died […]
The Dove Is Flown to Scotland
As a result of the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne referred to in the last post, St. Columba was exiled to Alba where he established himself at Hy, the Iouan Isle, now called Iona. * * * Colum Cille went to Scotland, where he afterwards founded a church, which was named from him. — Annals of the […]
A Queer Occurrence in Alba
A woman was cast up on the shore of Alba this year. Her length [was] 192 feet; the length of her plaits 16 [feet]; the length of the fingers of her hand 6 feet; the length of her nose 6 [feet]; her body as white as a swan or the foam of a wave. — […]
Glamis Manse Stone
The Glamis Manse Stone, also known as Glamis 2, is a Class II Pictish stone at the village of Glamis, Angus, Scotland. Dating from the IX Century, it is located outside the Manse, close to the parish church. It is inscribed on one side with a Celtic cross and on the other with a variety of Pictish symbols. The stone is a cross-slab 9 ft. 1 in. high, 4 ft. […]