21 March 2025

Columba has left a magnificent legacy. His monastic foundation on Iona led to the conversion of the people in Northumbria. For it was Aidan who became Bishop of Lindisfarne and Aidan was sent there at the request of King Oswald from the island of Iona.

Today, we can see for ourselves the great stone crosses which were built on the island and erected to the memories of St. Oran. St. John and St. Martin. They constitute an important  part of Iona’s artistic legacy.

It is possible that St. Columba copied out the Psalms in his cell and perhaps illuminated them himself. It is widely acknowledged that the Book of Kells was produced on Iona towards the end of the eighth century and taken to Kells in the ninth because of the Viking invasion.

And for fourteen hundred years, pilgrims have been flocking to Iona to worship in its ancient abbey, to walk around the island, to touch the stone and to stand by the sea where the saintly and heroic Columba once stood.

The inspiring work of Lord George MacLeod of Fuinary and the development of the Iona Community have enabled many more pilgrims to walk in Columba’s footsteps and hear once again of him who ‘was gladdened in his inmost heart by the joy of the Holy Spirit’.