The Historical Saint Columcille
Note: As we are discussing the historical saint, and not the Columba of the play, he will be referred to as Columcille or Saint Columcille. This will put specific distinction between the character and the historical saint. However, it is important to note that he goes by many different spellings such as Colmcille, Columbcille, Columbkille or Colm.
Saint Columcille is a well-known saint, who has meant a lot to Irish history and remains a role model. According to Scott Boltwood, English professor: "The historical Columcille has traditionally been regarded as one of Ireland’s earliest exiles,and one recent commentator on the play describes the saint as ‘the type of the Irish exile: displaced, uneasy, failing to belong, nostalgic’ […] which forces the individual to negotiate identity” (Boltwood, An Emperor, 52). Boltwood has a point in this quote because Saint Columcille served as an inspiration to join the life of exile away from family and temptation. But where did Columcille come from?
Works Cited/Consulted
Boltwood, Scott. “’An Emperor or Something’: Brian Friel’s Columba, Migrancy and Postcolonial Theory.” Irish Studies Review, 10.1 (2002): 51-61. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Jan 2014.
Evans, Nicholas. “The Calculation of Columba’s Arrival in Britain in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History and the Pictish King-lists.” The Scottish Historical Review, 87-2 (2008): 183-205. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Jan 2014.
Ireland, Colin. “Early Medieval Ireland and Christianity.” Encyclopedia of Irish History and Culture. Ed. James S. Donnelly, jr. Farmington Hills: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 161-166. Print.
Menzies, Lucy. St. Columba of Iona: A Short Account of his Life. Glasgow: The Iona Community, 1949. Print.
O’Reilly, Jennifer. “Reading the Scriptures in the Life of Columba.” Studies in the Cult of Saint Columba. Ed. Cormac Bourke. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1997. Print.
Ryan, John. “St. Columba of Derry and Iona.” Studies, 52-1 (1963): 37-51. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 27 Jan 2014.