Bibliography

Lacey, Brian, Saint Columba: his life and legacy, Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013.

  • Book/Monograph
Citation details
Contributors
Work
Saint Columba: his life and legacy
Place
Dublin
Publisher
The Columba Press
Year
2013
Description
Abstract (cited)
Saint Colum Cille, also known from the Latin form of his name as Columba, was probably born in Donegal in ad 520 and died on Iona on 9 June – most likely in the year 593. His memory has been kept alive for almost a millennium and a half through folklore and literature, music and song, poetry and sculpture, manuscript-making and metalwork, history and archaeology.

Saint Columba His Life and Legacy is a comprehensive examination of the saint’s life in so far as we can know it, and a survey of the cult and traditions that developed subsequently; it also gives an outline of the enormous cultural legacy associated with the saint’s name. It covers material from Ireland, Scotland, the north of England, and the continent (including Scandinavia) and combines some archaeology, art history and folklore with the richer documentary material.

Dr Brian Lacey deals with an actual historical person, distinguishing him from the wonderfully complex but fictional character of the stories that have developed over the last fourteen centuries. He traces the evolution and effects of the monastic institution stemming from the saint’s main foundation on Iona – probably founded around 562 – as these spread through­out Ireland, Scotland and the north of England, with cultural and other influences reaching further to the continent. The extraordinary literary and artistic achievements of the Columban communities, of which the summa is the Book of Kells, are put in context, and the way in which Colum Cille’s memory has been invoked in the centuries since the middle ages is examined.
(source: Columba Press)
Related publications
General
Lacey, Brian, Colum Cille and the Columban tradition, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997.
Subjects and topics
History, society and culture
Agents
Colum CilleColum Cille
(fl. 6th century)
Columba
founder and abbot of Iona, Kells (Cenandas) and Derry (Daire).
See more

Contents:

Preface; Introduction; Sources
[1] “Columba’s birth and early life”
[2] “‘Pilgrim for Christ’: founding the monastery on Iona”
[3] “Everyday life on Iona”
[4] “‘The fifth of the ides of June’: Columba’s death”
[5] “Successors of Columba: later abbots of Iona”
[6] “Adomnán and the Vita Columbae
[7] “Other Columban monasteries and dedications in Scotland”
[8] “The cult of Saint Columba on the continent of Europe”
[9] “The comarb of Colum Cille and the monastery of Kells”
[10] “Other Columban monasteries in Ireland”
[11] “Derry and the end of the Columban familia
[12] “Colum Cille, from the Middle Ages to the present”
Index; Preface
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
August 2013, last updated: September 2021