20 March 2025

As well as his monastic foundations, Columba was an effective missionary sharing the Gospel far and wide. His aristocratic background seems to have benefitted his missionary endeavours both in Dal Riata and in the Kingdom of the Northern Picts beyond its borders.

Columba’s relationship with Conall and the kings of Dal Riata secured monastic settlements on Iona and beyond. Whilst his relationship with King Brude, King of the Northern Picts, may not have effected his conversion, it provided a favourable environment for his missionary work.

Adomnan writes that Columba used an interpreter when he was preaching to the Picts near Loch Ness. Although he baptised believers, there is some disagreement as to how many conversions he secured.

Whilst Bede writes that ‘he converted that people to the Faith of Christ’, Adomnan isn’t so convincing. There were conversions e.g. a Pictish household in the region of Urquhart. But probably not as many as Bede would have us believe!

What is clear is that Columba’s missionary endeavours in the Kingdom of the Picts and the development of monastic foundations in Dal Riata paved the way for the conversion of Scotland which obviously followed!