26
September 610 A.D. Death
of Ireland’s Colman Ela
Graves, Dan. “Death of
Ireland’s St. Colman Ela.”Christianity.com. Jul 2007.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/601-900/death-of-irelands-st-colman-ela-11629720.html. Accessed 24 May 2014.
Around the year 580, when Colman
was about 27 years old, he stood before an assembly in the Irish province of
Meath. His uncle Columba--famous as a founder of monasteries and as a
missionary to Scotland--said, "Give a portion of good land to our brother
Colman that he may found a monastery."
Aidus Slaine, heir to the throne, offered him a
parcel of land known as "the wood of Ela." Colman replied, "There
shall be my resurrection and henceforth I shall be named from that place;"
which is how he got his name Colman Ela. The place is known today as Lynally.
Many stories are told of the saint. For example, he
once escaped the deadly whirlpool of Brecan. The story is given in Adomnan's
Life of St. Columba:
On
another day; also, while St. Columba was engaged in his mother-church, he
suddenly cried out, with a smile, "Columbanus [Colman], the son of Beogna,
has just now set out on a voyage to us, and is in great danger in the rolling
tides of Brecan's whirlpool: he is sitting at the prow and raising both his
hands to heaven: he is also blessing that angry and dreadful sea: yet in this
the Lord only frightens him, for the ship in which he is shall not be wrecked
in the storm; but this is rather to excite him to pray more fervently, that by
God's favor he may escape the danger of his voyage, and reach us in
safety."
The monks suffered great hunger at their new
monastery, although it was a region of plentiful water and rich fields.
Miraculously, provisions reached them at desperate moments.
Many incredible legends are told of Colman. One
says a pet fly used to rest on Colman's book, marking the place where he left
off reading whenever he was interrupted. Another claims that, when worn out, if
he overslept, a pet mouse wakened him for prayers by nibbling his ear. It is
told that he once walked across a river to make peace between two armies; the
stronger force had seized all the boats to prevent him from interfering.
Colman cared about young people. Once he rescued an
illegitimate child, whom angry villagers were about to drown, baptized him and
brought him up in the knowledge of the Scriptures. One of the famous tales
about him concerns a sunny-natured boy named Baithin who could not remember his
lessons. One day Colman punished Baithin for this and the boy ran off. Then
Colman, fearful that harm would come to the boy--harm which he would have to
explain to the parents--went into the chapel and began to pray.
Baithin meanwhile met a man with a load of sticks
who began building a hut. Seeing it go together piece by piece, he realized
that learning, too, had to be built piece by piece. On the way back to school,
Baithin was caught in a rain shower. The earlier lesson was reaffirmed to him
as he watched a hole fill with water drip by drip. Again he realized that
learning also must come drop by drop. Impressed with Baithin's story, Colman
wrote it down. Baithin himself eventually became a scholar.
Colman died on this day, September 26, 610 (or
611). In addition to the monastery at Ela, he also founded an abbey and left
behind him books and sayings.
Bibliography:
1. Adamnan. Life of St. Columba.
Medieval Sourcebook. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/columba-e.html
2. "Celtic and Old English
Saints 26 September."
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celt-saints/message/201
3. "Colman, Ela or Elo."
The Dictionary of National Biography, founded in 1882 by George Smith; edited
by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1921 - 1996.
4. "St. Elo Colman." The
Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1908.
Last updated July, 2007
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