Columba and the Irish Monks

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

I. Last Time: St. Patrick

II. How the Irish Monastic Communities Saved Civilization

A. No Irish Martyrs; “Green Martyrs” instead

B. Communities of Twelve

“Many of the nobles of the English nation and lesser men also had set out to those places, forsaking their native island either for the grace of sacred learning or a more austere life. And some of them indeed soon dedicated themselves faithfully to the monastic life, others rejoiced rather to give themselves to learning, going about from one master’s cell to another. All these the Irish willingly received, and saw to it to supply them with food day by day without cost, books for their studies, and free teaching.”

C. Centers of Learning; Copying Literature… Especially the Bible

Saved classical literature; amazing artwork; Book of Kells

D. The Value of Civilization: common grace blessings

III. How Columba and the Irish Missionary Movement Spread the Gospel

A. Columba’s Life story

1. Born into royalty; could have been a high king, Columba chose to become a monk

2. Educated in letters and trained in the monastic life in Newtownards near modern-day Belfast

3. He was drinking in the academic richness of Latin learning and Christian theology; he studied under an abbot named Finnian of Clonard; ordained as a priest

4. At one point, Columba travelled to the continent, to visit the tomb of Saint Martin of Tours in Gaul; Columba drank in the pattern of evangelistic monasticism of that ministry, then returned to Ireland to do the same thing

5. Columba started dozens of monasteries; 41 by the time he turned 41

6. Columba was an intense man, fervent for Christ; he also loved beautiful things; he loved books, especially beautifully designed manuscripts

B. Columba the Fighting Monk

1. Some time later, this same King Diarmait had ordered one of Columba’s followers killed, Columba thought it was necessary to avenge him (AD561)

2. Columba mobilized his powerful kinsmen and took the field of battle against King Diarmait and his forces… and Columba’s side won the battle decisively

3. But when the battle ended, three thousand and one men lay dead… only one on Columba’s side, but still the carnage was immense

4. Columba was temporarily excommunicated; his penance for reinstatement was his permanent exile from Ireland; and if he wanted to go to heaven, he must do it from exile and only after saving three thousand and one souls to replace the dead in battle

C. Columba’s Exile

1. In 564, Columba left Ireland with the customary twelve companions… fellow monks with whom he would start a new monastery

2. He sailed over the horizon, finally reaching the rocky and windswept island of Iona  off the west coast of modern-day Scotland

3. This journey would forever change the course of western history

D. The Darkness Falls on Western Europe

Cahill: “While Rome and its ancient empire faded from memory and a new, illiterate Europe rose on its ruins, a vibrant, literary culture was blooming in secret along its Celtic fringe. It only needed one step more to close the circle, which would reconnect Europe to its own past by the scribes of Ireland.”

E. Columba in the Land of the Picts

1. As following their usual practice, when Columba and his twelve monks landed in Iona, they set up the mission compound… and this pattern would be copied over and over again by the missionary monks they sent out

a. They first made little individual stone and sod huts for all the twelve monks

b. They also made for Columba the abbot’s hut… a little larger and more ornate, but not by much; set on larger and higher ground than the others

c. They then made a kitchen and a refectory, where they would share their meals together

d. Then a scriptorium and library where they would copy their scrolls and store them

e. They made a smithy for a blacksmith; a kiln for pottery; a couple of barns to store food

f. Then a modest church where they would all pray and worship

g. THAT WAS IT! That was the recipe… and they were ready to live and work

2. In Iona, a steady stream of visitors came to observe them and to contemplate joining them—Scots, Picts, Irish, Britons, Anglo-Saxons

3. This was Columba’s vision… to start as many of these monasteries as he could in a lifetime… like a franchise

4. Columba set a maximum of 150 men in Iona, then started the next one

F. Reaching the Terrifying Picts

G. Columba’s Program

1. Columba’s vision for spreading the Kingdom of Christ was relentless

2. He trained and sent out twelve men and an abbot again and again

3. All over Scotland and norther England, these monasteries were planted and grew

4. They would evangelize the surrounding areas with the gospel of Christ

5. They had copies of the scriptures, and would teach them powerfully and clearly to the people

H. Columba’s Death

I. Characteristics

1. “He was a man of the very highest birth, with all the natural advantages of command which such a circumstance gave an aristocratic society. He had the gift of spiritual vision, combined with a power to control other men by the force of his own personality. He was a shrewd judge of character, yet at the same time a man of warm sympathies. His monks and the lay people felt this attraction. He could terrify, he could comfort, he could delight.”

2. A French historian called him a warrior monk, a “man of iron”

3. He had an overwhelming passion: the creation of a literate, Christian society among the Picts and Scots of northern Britain.

4. AND NOW, after his death, scores of stout-hearted spiritual sons began to work the same transformation among the pagan Angles of Northumbria from their new island base, Lindisfarne, further up the coast of Scotland

Cahill: “Like an ancient Irish warrior hero, Columba now became the model for all who would earn the ultimate victory of heavenly glory. Monks began to set out in every direction, bent on heroic, glorious exile for the sake of Christ. They were also warrior-monks, not afraid of whatever monsters they might meet. Some went north, like Columba. Others went northwest, like Brendan the Navigator, who visited Iceland, Greenland and North America with the gospel, supping on the back of a whale in mid-ocean. Some set out in boats without oars, putting their destination completely in the hands of God. Many of these Irish exiles found their way to continental Europe, where they were more than a match for the barbarians they met. They whom the Romans had never conquered, and had evangelized only accidentally by Patrick… fearlessly brought the ancient civilization back to its ancient home.” (Cahill, 187-8) More importantly, they carried the gospel of eternal life in the name of Christ with them wherever they went.

IV. Columbanus Carries on the Vision

A. Columbanus’s background (b. AD 540)

B. Setting Out for Gaul (AD 590); following the “recipe”

E.H. Broadbent on Celtic (Irish) missionaries:

“Their method was to visit a country and, where it seemed suitable, fund a missionary village. In the center, they built a simple wooden church, around which were clustered school-rooms and huts for the monks, who were the builders, preachers, and teachers. Outside this circle, as required, dwellings were built for the students and their families, who gradually gathered around them. The whole was enclosed by a wall, but the colony often spread out beyond the original enclosure. Groups of twelve monks would go out, each under the leadership of an abbot, to open up fresh fields for the gospel. Those who remained taught in the school, and, as soon as they had sufficiently learned the language of the people among whom they were, they translated and wrote out by hand portions of scripture, and also hymns, which they taught to their students. They were free to marry or remain single; many remained single so they might have greater liberty for the work. When some converts were made, the missionaries chose from among them small groups of young men who had ability, trained them specifically in some handicraft and in languages, and taught them the Bible and how to explain it to others, so that they might be able to work among their own people. They delayed baptism until those professing faith had received a certain amount of instruction and had given some proof of steadfastness. They avoided attacking the religions of the people, counting it more profitable to preach the truth to them than expose their errors. They accepted the Holy Scriptures as the source of their faith and life, and preached justification by faith. They did not take part in politics or appeal to the state for aid. All this work, in its origin and progress… was independent of Rome and different in important aspects from the Roman Catholic system.”

C. Clashes With Regional Roman Catholic Bishops; Columbanus’s exile

D. Ongoing Missionary Work All Over Europe

V. The Eternal Legacy of these Irish Monastic Communities

A. How Can We Measure what these Irish Monks Did?

B. Cahill’s points: saving western civilization… including enabling the Franks to rise up when Muslims swept up into France in 751 in the battle of Tours… without the passion for Christ, no Charles Martel would have organized them to resist… they might have become Muslims

C. But the Real Issue: SOULS eternally in heaven for the glory of God!!