Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 24 on 05/01/2006.

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Spirtual journey

In the first of a new series on Scottish holy buildings Ian Mitchell visits Iona

The best time to see Iona Cathedral, or Abbey, is at sundown on a summer evening, when the wind of the day has died and the roar or rustle of the sea – depending on the strength and direction of the wind – has calmed down to a breathy whisper, if that.

The Abbey church might be empty, or it might have a group of choristers rehearsing Gaelic psalms. Otherwise there will be few people about. The coach-parties will have returned to Mull or the mainland, and the islanders will most likely be indoors at their tea.

Even their animals seem at peace.

Sit alone, then, in one of the pews in the Abbey church and cast your mind back to 563 AD when St Columba, with 12 companions from his native Donegal, landed amongst the pagan Celts to bring a new religion called Christianity to Britain, 30 years before Augustine’s mission from Rome arrived in Kent, and 60 years before Mohammed marched on Mecca.

The missionaries built themselves cells and established a monastery on the island, from where they proselytised far and wide.

The force of their message was such that their successors over the next few centuries, together with their Irish brethren, brought Celtic Christianity to much of England, Germany and Switzerland as well as to Scotland.

Their names were well known from Iceland to Italy. The Convent of Erfurt, where Martin Luther lived as a monk, is said to have been originally a Celtic foundation. Columba might well have been forgotten by history had not an Iona abbot, St Adomnán, pub.....

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By Ian Mitchell

Section : Scottish Islands

Page number : 65