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93 pages

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An accessible, popular account of the 7th-century life of Adomnan of Iona, from his boyhood in Donegal to his death as Abbot of Iona, with an emphasis on the contemporary significance of his Law of Innocents.

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Publié par	Wild Goose Publications
Date de parution	01 octobre 2007
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781905010851
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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AGAINST
THE TIDE
AGAINST
THE TIDE
The Story of Adomnán of Iona
Warren Bardsley
Copyright © Warren Bardsley
Print edition first published 2006 by Wild Goose Publications, 4th Floor, Savoy House, 140 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3DH, UK, the publishing division of the Iona Community. Scottish Charity No. SC003794. Limited Company Reg. No. SC096243.
www.ionabooks.com
ePub:ISBN 978-1-905010-85-1 Mobipocket:ISBN 978-1-905010-86-8 PDF:ISBN 978-1-905010-87-5
Cover design © 2006 Wild Goose Publications Cover photograph © Jon Crosby
The publishers gratefully acknowledge the support of the Drummond Trust, 3 Pitt Terrace, Stirling FK8 2EY in producing this book.
All rights reserved. Apart from reasonable personal use on the purchaser’s own system and related devices, no part of this document or file(s) may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Non commercial use: The material in this document may be used non-commercially for worship and group work without written permission from the publisher. Please make full acknowledgement of the source e.g. © [author’s name], from Against the Tide, published by Wild Goose Publications. Where a large number of copies are made, a donation may be made to the Iona Community via Wild Goose Publications, but this is not obligatory.
Commercial use: For any commercial use of this material, application in writing must be made to Wild Goose Publications at the above address.
Warren Bardsley has asserted his rights in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
To my late wife, Joan, who loved Iona, and Tom O’Loughlin, who introduced me to Adomnán
CONTENTS
Introduction
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter one: A Donegal boyhood
Chapter two: Turning points
Chapter three: Scholar, priest and teacher
Chapter four: Abbot of Iona
Chapter five: Life in community
Chapter six: Holy places, holy people
Chapter seven: Hostage crisis
Chapter eight: A brave decision
Chapter nine: Gethsemane
Chapter ten: A revolutionary law
Chapter eleven: On the plains of Birr
Chapter twelve: In the image of Columcille
Chapter thirteen: Last days
Epilogue
Appendix A – Ronnat
Appendix B – Adomnán and the Justice and Peace Commitment of the Iona Community
Appendix C – An Adomnán liturgy of celebration
Books and articles for further reading
Sources
INTRODUCTION
Since beginning work on an MA degree in Celtic Christianity at the University of Wales, Lampeter, I have become increasingly fascinated by the figure of Adomnán (pronounced ‘Adovnaun’). The more I have learned about him, the more he has grown in stature. Hence, my puzzlement that so few people, outside of the academic world of medieval Irish studies, seem to know much about him. The fact that he is Columba’s (Columcille’s) biographer is well-known by those familiar with the story of Iona, of course, but beyond that?
Soon after completing my degree, I presented a paper on Adomnán’s Law of the Innocents to my local theological society. The group is well-informed and includes a number of Church historians. To my surprise the law was not only news to them, but only one of those present had even heard of Adomnán! Yet, here is a man who ranks among the leading scholar-theologians of the seventh century; someone who not only produced a standard work of reference on the holy places of Palestine and a biography of Columba, but achieved the ‘promulgation’ of a revolutionary law, the first of its kind, which sought to protect women and non-combatants in time of war.
Adomnán was, by the standards of any period, an outstanding ecclesiastical statesman and Christian humanitarian.
I discovered that though much has been written about Adomnán by scholars, it has been written mainly, if not exclusively, for an academic audience. Apart from Richard Sharpe’s excellent introduction in his translation of Adomnán’s Vita S. Columbae , little or nothing has been published for a general readership. It is because I believe that Adomnán’s story deserves to be more widely known that I have written this book.
This book is a work of ‘faction’. The word ‘faction’ may create the impression of a story that contains more fiction than fact. I have tried to be faithful to the known historical facts of Adomnán’s life (which are sparse enough) and what may reasonably be inferred from them. Some readers will inevitably disagree with my conclusions. For example, I have placed Adomnán in Durrow during the twenty-odd years prior to his becoming Abbot of Iona. There is no textual evidence for this, apart from references in the Vita S. Columbae which seem to indicate detailed knowledge of the monastery at Durrow. As far as Adomnán’s dispute with his community on Iona is concerned, the major reference to this is in Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England (HE V15,V21), where Bede states that Adomnán returned to Iona following his visit to Aldfrith in 689 but failed to persuade his brothers to adopt the Roman rite. My conviction that Adomnán spent considerable periods of time in Ireland between 691 and 697 does have some support in the Irish annals, though the evidence is far from conclusive. However, if Adomnán was at odds with his community over the Easter question, his prolonged absence during those years seems perfectly feasible. A more persuasive argument for his absence, in my view, relates to the need to gain widespread support in Ireland for his proposed Law of the Innocents . This could hardly have been achieved from a distance. To have enlisted the assent of almost a hundred kings and leading clerics from Ireland and beyond, as ‘guarantors’ of his Law, must have taken years.
At the end of each chapter, I have included a reflection in which I try to point up the significant historical background against which Adomnán lived his life and, where relevant, some implications for present-day faith and practice. Occasionally, I have included a table talk in which I try to imagine the possible reactions of Adomnán’s fellow community members to his life and career. Scholars never tire of reminding us (in the words of L.P. Hartley) that ‘the past is a foreign country’, and of course they are right to do so. Nevertheless, it is a country that, with sensitivity, care and imagination, may be visited. After all, we are of the same flesh and blood as our forebears, and our humanity is the common thread woven into the fabric of our shared history.
I felt a strong impulse to write this book. It is my conviction that Adomnán’s life and witness have important things to say to us today. My hope and prayer is that you will discover this to be true and will be as inspired and challenged by the story of ‘Adomnán, the illustrious’ as I have been.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank a number of people who have made important contributions to this book. First, thank you to my tutors in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter – in particular, Drs Jonathan Wooding and Tom O’Loughlin, who excited my curiosity and inspired my exploration into the fascinating field of Celtic Christianity. I hope they will recognise their influences, even if they disagree with some of my conclusions!
I am indebted to the Revd Irene Morrow, Dr Margaret Hogan and Mr Jim Houlihan of Birr, County Offaly, who were responsible for organising a conference to mark the 1300th anniversary of the promulgation of the Law of the Innocents in 1997. They not only gave me hospitality when I visited the town, but supplied me with much useful local information and actively encouraged me to press on with the writing of this book.
I am deeply grateful to Dr Richard Sharpe, Professor of Diplomatic in the Faculty of Modern History at Oxford University, who took time to go through the manuscript with a fine-tooth comb and saved me from a number of major and minor errors. Of course it goes without saying that I take full responsibility for the position I have taken on the life and career of Adomnán.
The Iona Community continues to be a major focus for my spirituality and is a constant source of inspiration. It is no exaggeration to say that without that influence this book could not have been written.
Finally, my thanks to the staff at Wild Goose Publications for their encouragement and support.
Warren Bardsley, September 23, 2004: The feast of St Adomnán and the 1300th anniversary of his death
PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE
Life can only be lived forward, but it can only be understood backwards.
Søren Kierkegaard
O ne early-summer afternoon in the year 704 on the tiny Hebridean island of Iona, a lone figure stood on a rocky outcrop and looked out across the Atlantic Ocean towards Ireland. He fancied he could see land but he knew it was an illusion, for he was standing near to the spot where Columcille had landed on the eve of Pentecost, 563 with his twelve companions. This was the ‘Hill of the Back to Ireland’ close to where Columcille’s men had beached the curragh which had carried them across the sea, before moving inland to establish their monastic settlement. From here they could no longer see their beloved homeland. It was the place of leaving behind; the place of new beginnings.
Now, 140 years on from that momentous arrival, Adomnán, the ninth Abbot of Iona, successor to Columcille and leader of the monastic familia which bore his name, reflected on those tumultuous years, and on how much had been achieved. From humble beginnings on this small island, the gospel had spread east across Scotland, south into Britain, and north to the islands beyond Iona. The Columban confederation was the most powerful and influential in Ireland and Scotland and was renowned across Britain and Europe. Moreover, the community on Iona was growing, numbering almost 200 brothers with always more young men wanting to join than they could accommo