The Life of Saint Columba, Apostle of Scotland

								

and ask him if all the spirits in heaven were as radiant and beautiful
as he. One day the angel bade the boy tell him what he would choose if
any virtue might be his for the asking.
"I would choose purity and wisdom," answered he.
"Well hast thou chosen, Columba," said the angel, "they shall be
thine, and God will add to them yet another gift."
So it came to pass in the course of time that there appeared one day
before Columba three beautiful maidens, who would have embraced him,
but he pushed them roughly away.
"Dost thou not know us, Columba?" asked one of them, and a celestial
radiance shone from her face and garments as she spoke. "We are three
sisters sent to thee from our Father, that we may abide with thee for
ever."
"I know you not," said Columba. "Who is your father?"
"Our Father is God, the Lord and Saviour of the world," answered the
maiden, and her voice was like the music of heaven.
"Truly a noble parentage," said the boy. "By what names do men call
you?"
"Our names are Purity, Prophecy, and Wisdom," she answered, "and we
have come never to leave thee more, and to love thee with an
incorruptible love."
So among the peaceful hills and lakes of Donegal the boy Columba grew
into manhood. Tall and fair and straight of limb was the son of Eithne
and Fedhlimidh, with a voice clear and sweet as a trumpet-call, and a
heart that was fearless, pure, and true. Cruithnechan had done his work
well; he had taught Columba all that he knew of earthly lore and of
heavenly; but the time of his fostering was over. He must go forth now
into the great world that lay beyond the quiet mountains, the world of
strife and of tragedy, of joy and of sorrow.
A strange world and one of many contrasts, that of Ireland in the sixth
century. To the unanimous voice of Christianity she owed her name of
the "Island of the Saints." From the days of St. Patrick the monastic
schools, veritable cities of God in the midst of the strife and
barbarism of those early days, exerted their influence on the life
around them in favour of piety, learning and civilization. Here were
being formed a whole population of writers, theologians, architects,
sculptors, poets, historians, and above all of missioners and
preachers, who were to carry the light of the Gospel far and wide into
other lands. The founders of these schools were mostly of the noblest
blood in Ireland, and kings and princes did not disdain to come to them
for advice and help, or even to listen to their reproofs. Most powerful
for good was the influence of the Church in Ireland, and well for her
that it was so, for the times were wild and lawless.
To the Hy-Nialls, the kinsmen of Columba, belonged the whole north-west
of Ireland. The sovereign rule over the entire country was theirs, in
the Irish colony of Dalriada in Caledonia over the seas, as well as in
the mother-country of Erin.
They exercised authority over the provincial kings, but an authority