0:00:02 > 0:00:05BELL CHIMES
0:00:05 > 0:00:10HYMN
0:02:09 > 0:02:13Tonight, we're remembering the journey of Colmcille.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17And I want us just to pause for a moment on silence, as we remember...
0:02:25 > 0:02:27..We thank you for Colmcille and...
0:02:53 > 0:02:55And then, another beautiful poem
0:02:55 > 0:02:56we have written.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59"My Derry, my little oak grove.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03"My dwelling and my little cell.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06"O, eternal God, in heaven above,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10"Woe to him who violates it!"
0:03:10 > 0:03:12Colmcille's idea of the journey
0:03:12 > 0:03:15on which some of you are about to embark
0:03:15 > 0:03:18was an idea whose time had come,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21and he pursued it with steadfastness and great bravery.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33COLUMBA'S POEM
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Let's go!
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Disappointed not getting away this morning.
0:10:16 > 0:10:17Though I have to sit here,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20it was predicted that the wind will be blowing too strong
0:10:20 > 0:10:22from the wrong direction.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25The good thing, and what gives me heart,
0:10:25 > 0:10:26tomorrow morning, we'll get away,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29and the wind will be favourable for us.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33'Please listen... The course that we're running today.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35'Get across the...'
0:15:01 > 0:15:05HE SINGS IN IRISH GAELIC
0:15:42 > 0:15:46We're actually leaving Ireland, Rathlin Island,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51and making a passage across the Channel to Scotland.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53We're not going onto mainland Scotland,
0:15:53 > 0:15:57we're going to an island called Islay.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59It can be quite rough out here but, as you can see,
0:15:59 > 0:16:02today is anything but that.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05It's absolutely oily, flat calm.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10This morning, we got a forecast for a bit of wind out of the south,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14and it was there when we left the harbour this morning at Rathlin,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17but it has died away completely, unfortunately.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20THEY SHOUT
0:16:27 > 0:16:30We have lost any wind we'd hoped for,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34but we're making about sort of three and a half or four knots
0:16:34 > 0:16:35here on the rower.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38So we're covering the ground.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32COLUMBA'S POEM
0:17:51 > 0:17:53THEY LAUGH
0:18:44 > 0:18:46I see you found my beauty case!
0:18:46 > 0:18:48SHE CHUCKLES
0:23:01 > 0:23:03THEY CHUCKLE
0:25:24 > 0:25:26There's a spiritual dimension to all of this.
0:25:26 > 0:25:32And I'm sure we're moving, you know, in the spirit of Colmcille.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34The spiritual power is with us,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37so I'd like to think that we will be finishing
0:25:37 > 0:25:41and we will achieve what we set out to achieve - get off to Iona.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37COLUMBA'S POEM
0:28:58 > 0:29:01REPEAT PRAYER
0:29:17 > 0:29:21REPEAT PRAYER
0:29:21 > 0:29:22Peace be with you.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24ALL: And with your spirit.
0:29:24 > 0:29:25Good evening, everyone.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27ALL: Good evening, father.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30We're gathered here this evening on this feast day of St Columba,
0:29:30 > 0:29:33here, in St Columba's Church...
0:29:41 > 0:29:46THEY SING A HYMN
0:31:38 > 0:31:41THEY SING IN IRISH GAELIC
0:39:40 > 0:39:42COLUMBA'S POEM
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Just throw it on the boat and you're ready to go.
0:39:56 > 0:39:57HE CHUCKLES
0:40:06 > 0:40:09THEY CHUCKLE
0:40:18 > 0:40:21The last leg of the journey was quite a short leg,
0:40:21 > 0:40:26just over ten miles, from Uisken Bay, which is on the south side of Mull.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Beautiful wee place, we pulled out of there, off the coast to land.
0:40:29 > 0:40:35We had a bit of wind on the front of the boat, which we were expecting.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37And then, we went up into a famous wee anchorage there
0:40:37 > 0:40:39called the Tinkers Hole.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Beau... It's almost Caribbean-like in there.
0:40:41 > 0:40:42HE CHUCKLES
0:40:42 > 0:40:44OK, stop rowing!
0:41:25 > 0:41:30BAGPIPE PLAYING
0:42:13 > 0:42:16This hillfort is thought to have been one of the most important,
0:42:16 > 0:42:20if not THE most important, political centre in the Scottish part
0:42:20 > 0:42:22of the Kingdom of Dal Riata,
0:42:22 > 0:42:26the kingdom within which Iona was founded in 563 AD.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30So insofar as Columba dealt with the kings of Dal Riata
0:42:30 > 0:42:32in their Scottish basis,
0:42:32 > 0:42:33this is thought to have been the place
0:42:33 > 0:42:35where he is most likely to have come.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37Would you think that people here
0:42:37 > 0:42:39would have known anything about Colmcille,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41the people he belonged to back in Ireland?
0:42:41 > 0:42:43Would have they had any understanding
0:42:43 > 0:42:45of what was going on in Ireland?
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Dal Riata is a kingdom that spans both the western part of Scotland
0:42:47 > 0:42:50and the northern part of county Antrim, in Ireland.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53And there's a lot of reasons to think that actually the kings of Dal Riata
0:42:53 > 0:42:55spent quite a lot of time in the north of Ireland,
0:42:55 > 0:42:57and they would have known the political geography
0:42:57 > 0:43:00and the ins and outs of politics in the north of Ireland.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03And, of course, Columba came from a very important family in the north of Ireland,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07and it's inconceivable to me that these kings wouldn't have known his family
0:43:07 > 0:43:09and wouldn't have known his kinsmen, who were kings.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14There has been some dispute down the centuries about who exactly gave Iona to Colmcille.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16Some people have said it might have been the Picts,
0:43:16 > 0:43:19who, I suppose, lived in that direction.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21But otherwise, Dal Riata...
0:43:21 > 0:43:25What is your own view? What do you think are the facts?
0:43:25 > 0:43:29Well, you're right. There's an 8th-century, very famous 8th-century account
0:43:29 > 0:43:35from the English historian Bede that says that the island was given to Columba by the king of the Picts
0:43:35 > 0:43:39as a result of or in connection with the conversion of the Picts to Christianity.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42But the Iona Record which survives says
0:43:42 > 0:43:45that a monastery was given to Columba
0:43:45 > 0:43:48by the king of Dal Riata, Conall, son of Comgaill.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52And there's no reason really to doubt the earlier tradition,
0:43:52 > 0:43:54which is Iona's own tradition,
0:43:54 > 0:43:58but it seems to me that the Dal Riata foundation is the most likely.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04THEY SING
0:44:41 > 0:44:44It was quite a dramatic entrance into the Sound of Iona -
0:44:44 > 0:44:47the abbey is right in front of you.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50The guys really got excited there
0:44:50 > 0:44:53when they saw their goal within sight.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55We have it, lads, we have it!
0:45:01 > 0:45:03CLAPPING
0:45:03 > 0:45:05HE SHOUTS
0:45:05 > 0:45:08CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:45:18 > 0:45:19Congratulations.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:45:25 > 0:45:27- Hip, hip!- Hurrah!
0:45:27 > 0:45:28- Hip, hip!- Hurrah!
0:45:28 > 0:45:30- Hip, hip!- Hurrah!
0:46:10 > 0:46:13We give thanks for those who have voyaged to Iona
0:46:13 > 0:46:16from the lands of Colmcille.
0:46:16 > 0:46:21So we remember those who brought the gospel to these lands
0:46:21 > 0:46:27and whose sails and abbeys were closed to wind and sea.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32You have been faithful, oh, God, to your people through the ages.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36And here we pledge our continuing friendship.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38Amen.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42# The peace of the Earth be with you
0:46:42 > 0:46:45# The peace of the heavens too
0:46:45 > 0:46:49# The peace of the Earth be with you
0:46:49 > 0:46:53# The peace of the heavens too
0:46:53 > 0:46:56# The peace of the rivers Be with you
0:46:56 > 0:47:00# The peace of the oceans too
0:47:00 > 0:47:08# Deep peace falling over you
0:47:08 > 0:47:14# God's peace growing in you. #
0:47:14 > 0:47:17James, as a Scottish historian, how important was Iona?
0:47:17 > 0:47:21I would say it's one of the two or three most important religious centres
0:47:21 > 0:47:24in these islands, in Britain or Ireland.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29In the period, you know, Canterbury and Clonmacnoise possibly, and Iona,
0:47:29 > 0:47:32they're all sort of at the very top of the list of important places
0:47:32 > 0:47:34in terms of the cultural influence,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37in terms of the political influence that they had,
0:47:37 > 0:47:39in terms of the kind of reach.
0:47:39 > 0:47:41This is one of the only churches
0:47:41 > 0:47:44that has a reach both into Britain and into Ireland,
0:47:44 > 0:47:45so it's very important.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47And speaking of course about the records,
0:47:47 > 0:47:51we have the annals that, as far as we know, began here in Iona.
0:47:51 > 0:47:53This is very important for Irish historians
0:47:53 > 0:47:55and Scottish historians as well, of course.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Yes, absolutely, yes. For whatever reason, the Iona Chronicle,
0:47:58 > 0:48:02that was maintained in the 7th century and the 8th century here,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06became the foundation of all of the mediaeval chronicles of Ireland
0:48:06 > 0:48:09and possibly outside of Ireland, as well.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11And so, if that hadn't happened,
0:48:11 > 0:48:15then, our understanding of Irish history and Scottish history would be very different.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18Why do think this place became so important?
0:48:18 > 0:48:20One of the factors is the...
0:48:20 > 0:48:23In the earliest phase, anyway, the men who led this monastery
0:48:23 > 0:48:28were people from very important and very well-connected families from Ireland.
0:48:28 > 0:48:29In addition to that,
0:48:29 > 0:48:31they had the support of some of the most influential
0:48:31 > 0:48:36and significant political leaders in this area.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41So what do you think the kind of historical legacy of Colmcille and Iona was?
0:48:41 > 0:48:43Columba and Iona go together. Columba founds Iona
0:48:43 > 0:48:46and I think, in a sense, really, his legacy flows through Iona.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49The bishops of the isles, some of them, were buried here.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52They thought this was a place where important people should be buried
0:48:52 > 0:48:57and various dignitaries and worthies form aristocratic families in the islands, and from Ireland,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59and from Scandinavia were all buried here.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01There are legends that early Scottish kings were buried here,
0:49:01 > 0:49:04which are much more difficult to substantiate.
0:49:04 > 0:49:06But the bottom line is that Iona towered
0:49:06 > 0:49:09in the mindset and in the perceptions
0:49:09 > 0:49:13of the political elites and the ecclesiastical elites of Scotland.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16COLUMBA'S POEM
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Gilbert, I suppose this is what we call the dining room
0:50:10 > 0:50:13of the Augustinian monastery of Inchcolm.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15Cos Inchcolm is really Inis Colm.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19It's the island of Columba and, clearly, there's been a dedication.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23We don't know when this dedication first appeared.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25I think it first appears in the 12th century.
0:50:25 > 0:50:28So older than this monastery that we are in now?
0:50:28 > 0:50:31This is a later rebuild of an earlier monastery.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33Of course, we are on the east coast of Scotland here.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35Somebody would find that surprising,
0:50:35 > 0:50:38but Columba's influence really spread right through Scotland.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42- It really did. And out of Scotland into what is now England...- Yeah.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45..into Northumbria, as it then was the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the north east of England.
0:50:45 > 0:50:49- Down the road towards Lindisfarne, in fact, Iona's daughter house... - Yeah.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53..there's Abbey St Bathans, and Baithene is the second abbot of Iona,
0:50:53 > 0:50:56who only ruled for a year, but he was the second abbot.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59So we can maybe see this not as a territorial expansion,
0:50:59 > 0:51:01but as a linear expansion of Columban influence.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05All these dedications of Columba's followers
0:51:05 > 0:51:08all over Scotland and the north of England sort of feeds the Irish tradition
0:51:08 > 0:51:11that Columba came here to convert the Scots.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15Columba came here, he came to Argyle, to the west coast of Scotland,
0:51:15 > 0:51:20from a Gaelic-speaking political, cultural environment
0:51:20 > 0:51:23to another Gaelic-speaking political, cultural environment.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26And there's no reason to suppose that the Gaels of Scotland
0:51:26 > 0:51:30were any different in their religion from their cousins in Ireland.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43If you were to attempt to write a life of Colmcille,
0:51:43 > 0:51:45could you pull if off, could you do it?
0:51:45 > 0:51:48I could. It'd be great, and it would be about 14 lines as long.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51The fullest record we have that was detailed,
0:51:51 > 0:51:57a narrative record we have of Colmcille, is Adomnan, his successor,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00who's writing 100 years after Colmcille died.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03What he tells us about Colmcille I think should be read
0:52:03 > 0:52:06as much about himself and how he sees his role.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08To give an example, he describes a young woman
0:52:08 > 0:52:12being chased across a plain by some violent creature,
0:52:12 > 0:52:16comes to Columba and hides under his cloak
0:52:16 > 0:52:22and this persecutor of the innocents spears the young woman under Columba's cloak and she dies.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27Columba curses him and laments that his honour, the honour of God,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30had been violated by this man.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Now, this persecutor of the innocents,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37it may be that Columba did actually protect people who were being persecuted,
0:52:37 > 0:52:41but Adomnan wrote a law called the Lex Innocentium,
0:52:41 > 0:52:43the Law Of The Innocents,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46specifically devised to protect women and children and clergy
0:52:46 > 0:52:50from violence in a very violent world.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53The metaphor of Columba's cloak providing protection
0:52:53 > 0:52:56for a defenceless creature and being violated
0:52:56 > 0:52:58is exactly what the law is about.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01Now, should we see this as a historical memory of real St Columba
0:53:01 > 0:53:04or should we see it as Adomnan's sense of who he is
0:53:04 > 0:53:07and what his task is as Columba's successor?
0:53:07 > 0:53:10So, in a sense, all we know of Columba...
0:53:12 > 0:53:17- ..I hesitate to say this, he's really a fiction of Adomnan's imagination. - Yeah.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41This is St John's Cross here, it's only a replica of the original,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44the original is now broken and in the museum at the back of the monastery.
0:53:58 > 0:53:59But we think that this cross,
0:53:59 > 0:54:02which was made about 750 or thereabouts,
0:54:02 > 0:54:06is the first of the Celtic, true Celtic crosses which has the ring.
0:54:06 > 0:54:07And it was really put...
0:54:07 > 0:54:10The cross itself was a composite made of a number of bits of stone
0:54:10 > 0:54:15and the ring was put in as a later addition to support the arms.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18So these are extremely important in the history of,
0:54:18 > 0:54:22if you like, Celtic art, Irish art, the art of these islands.
0:55:06 > 0:55:07BELLS CHIME
0:55:07 > 0:55:11COLUMBA'S POEM
0:57:30 > 0:57:32I know the calendar can have its own sensibilities
0:57:32 > 0:57:33in this part of the world,
0:57:33 > 0:57:36but it is an honour to address you
0:57:36 > 0:57:40on such an auspicious day, the 9th June.
0:57:40 > 0:57:42This is the feast day of St Columba,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45who very specially symbolises the historic linkages
0:57:45 > 0:57:49and deep bonds between Britain and Ireland.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52Born a prince in Donegal, exiled in Iona
0:57:52 > 0:57:56and honoured today in the Central Lobby of the Palace of Westminster,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59his monks provided not just an Irish national treasure,
0:57:59 > 0:58:01the Book of Kells,
0:58:01 > 0:58:04but also a British national treasure, the Lindisfarne Gospels.
0:58:31 > 0:58:35Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd