Life of Columba

This earlier work is attributed to Cummene Find, who became the abbot of Iona and served as the leader of the monastic island community from 656 until his death in 668 or 669 A.D.[2] While the Vita Columbae often conflicts with contemporaneous accounts of various battles, figures, and dates, it remains the most important surviving work from early medieval Scotland and provides a wealth of knowledge regarding the Picts and other ethnic and political groups from this time period.

The Vita also offers a valuable insight into the monastic practices of Iona and the daily life of the early medieval Gaelic monks.

Most of the short chapters begin with Columba informing his fellow monks that a person will soon arrive on the island or an event will imminently occur.

[9] In the second book, Columba performs various miracles such as healing people with diseases, expelling malignant spirits, subduing wild beasts, calming storms, and even returning the dead to life.

He also performs agricultural miracles that would hold a special significance to the common people of Ireland and Britain such as when he casts a demon out of a pail and restores the spilt milk to its container.

In the last Chapter, Columba foresees his own death when speaking to his attendant: This day in the Holy Scriptures is called the Sabbath, which means rest.

His attendant witnesses heavenly light in the direction of Columba, and angels join him in his passage to the Lord: And having given them his holy benediction in this way, he immediately breathed his last.

After his soul had left the tabernacle of the body, his face still continued ruddy, and brightened in a wonderful way by his vision of the angels, and that to such a degree that he had the appearance, not so much of one dead, as of one alive and sleeping.