St Columba

St Columba, also called Colum or Columcille (c. 521-597), Irish missionary, known as the apostle of Caledonia, born in County Donegal. His father was a kinsman of princes then reigning in Ireland and western Scotland; his mother was also of royal blood. He studied under St Finnian at Clonard. About 546 he founded Derry, now the city of Londonderry, and, about 552, he established Durrow Monastery, now in County Offaly.

Setting out in 563, at the age of 42, and accompanied by 12 disciples, St Columba established a community on the island of Iona on the west coast of Scotland. He then attempted to convert to Christianity the Pictish tribes that inhabited the area beyond the Grampian Mountains. St Columba's missionary activities were highly successful; he and his disciples seem to have travelled the Pictish mainland (now Scotland), the Hebrides, and the Orkneys, establishing mission stations. The parent House of Iona exercised supremacy over all the monasteries that St Columba had built, as well as over those founded by his disciples in northern England. He spent about 34 years organizing his ecclesiastical system in Scotland. His feast day is June 9.