15 March 2025

Two of Columba’s poems have been translated into metrical hymns by Duncan MacGregor – ‘O God, thou art the Father’ (CH4 119)  and ‘Christ is the world’s Redeemer’ (CH4 450). They are set to the tunes Durrow and Moville, named after Irish monasteries associated with Columba.

In addition to the poems, there is also a manuscript which may have been written by his own hand. Adomnan, the seventh century Abbot of Iona, who wrote his biography, frequently refers to St. Columba writing in his cell. Even on the last day of his life, he continues to transcribe the Psalter.

The last verse he wrote was from Psalm 33, ‘But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.’ Columba concludes, ‘Here I must stop at the foot of this page and what follows let Baithene write.’ Baithene succeeded him as Abbot. ‘The last verse which he had written is very applicable to the dying saint,’ writes Adomnan, ‘to whom the good things of eternity shall never be lacking.’

In the Royal Irish Academy, there is a manuscript entitled, ‘The Cathach of St. Columba’. It has been damaged by dampness and age. Only half the original remains. It is a copy of seventy-five psalms and dates from the days of St. Columba.

The word ‘Cathach’ literally means ‘battler’. Apparently, by the Middle Ages, the manuscript had earned a reputation as a relic which had been used successfully to gain a victory in an important battle. It has been beautifully illuminated with spirals, stemmed crosses and the occasional fish or animal head. Did this artwork belong to Columba too?