In the year 597, Augustine and thirty monks landed in Kent sent by Pope Gregory to convert the Anglo Saxons, and his mission was to become totally successful. However, other monks and missionaries had already crossed the sea and in the north the Irish Celtic Church was flourishing very well. There were several religious settlements here, founded and led by monks destined to become saints. The "father" of these was St. Columba of Iona.

He was born Colum MacFelin MacFergus by Loch Garten in Donegal on 7th December 521. He was of royal blood, his mother Eithne was a princess of the royal house of Leinster. His father was descended from one Niall of the Nine Hostages, a chieftain and a somewhat ruthless pirate. It was he who was credited with being the instigator of the raid on these shores and the capture of the young Saint Patrick.

He was a young man of considerable presence, according to his biographer Adomnan, combining the skills of a scholar, poet and ruler with a fearless commitment to the Christian cause. He entered the monastic life at the age of nineteen and by the time he was twenty five he had become the Bishop of Derry. He is also set up monasteries at Durrow and possibly at Kells.

Along with his religious faith went a deep love of learning, in particular of books and fine writing in the Irish tradition. It was this passion that led him into committing the great sin of his long life. He had a particular enthusiasm for transcribing the gospels and had made a copy of a psalter which belonged to another monastery. A dispute regarding the ownership ensued resulting in a battle near Sligo where many lost their lives. Columba (or Columcille in the Irish form) was devastated and it is believed that he vowed then to devote the remainder of his life to win as many souls for God as had been lost in the battle. This might well have been the reason for his self-imposed exile from his beloved homeland but at this time Irish missionaries were leaving to convert the pagan Scots and Picts.

Columba and twelve followers left Ireland in 563 and eventually settled on the tiny island of Iona where already there was a small Christian community and here they set up a monastery. During his years in Scotland his considerable political skills were put to use. Like St. Swithin a few centuries later, he also had the ear of kings. He consecrated the King Aidan of Dalraida in 574 and converted Brude the King of the Picts. He was concerned with the political well-being of Scotland and in particular that the social position of the bards, being a bard himself assuring the future of Irish fine writing and illumination.

While in Iona he still remained in contact with his Irish abbeys but his main purpose was to develop his last monastery. From here missionaries tookColumba’s teachings to other parts of northern Britain and then south and into Europe. Other famous Celtic abbeys were established, a notable one being at Lindisfarne under Bishop Aidan. Adomnan wrote that Columba was "gladdened in his utmost heart by the joy of the Holy Spirit". During his life he wrote poetry, and transcribed many religious books. It is possible that the famous Book of Kells now in Trinity College Dublin was produced in Iona. He died in church just before Matins on 9th June 597, the same year Augustine landed in Kent.. His traditions were upheld by his followers and at the Synod of Whitby in 663, St. Colman, the Abbot of Lindisfarne, while pleading the cause of the Celtic Church claimed that he would never cease to emulate "the lives, customs and discipline" set by "Father Columba and his successors".

After Columba’s death, Iona was much troubled by Viking raids and in 849 his relics were taken back to Ireland to the comparative safety of the Abbey of Kells leaving no relics of Columba on Iona. The Celtic Church was absorbed into the Church Of Rome. Although Canterbury and the teachings of Saint Augustine were the rule in England, Iona retained its place as the spiritual heart of Scotland. In the tiny graveyard on Iona lie the remains of 48 Scottish kings, 4 Irish kings and 8 Norwegian kings as well as many of the Lords of the Isles. Restored in the 12th century, the abbey fell into disrepair during the Reformation and remained a ruin for centuries. At the end of the 19th century, to his eternal credit, George Douglas Campbell, the eighth duke of Argyll gave the ruins to the Church of Scotland in the hope that they could be restored and used by all Christians and so they have been. Not only have the buildings been restored but the Iona Community - (Columba’s modern disciples) has an influence all over the Christian world. It is predominantly Church of Scotland but its membership includes Christians from all denominations and there is always a place on Iona for those in need of renewal and challenge. Pilgrims still cross the sea to Iona and return home uplifted by the spirituality of the place. Many of the great medieval abbeys are now just magnificent ruins- but not Iona. St. Columba’s little place is still a base for mission - a "living" relic of the Father of the Celtic Church in Britain.