or Colum or Columcille
born 0441; 521, Tyrconnell
died June 8/9, 597, Iona; feast day June 9
Irish abbot and missionary.
A member of the warrior aristocracy, he was excommunicated for his part in a bloody battle. Exiled, he set out to do penance as a missionary. He founded two famous monasteries in Ireland before taking 12 disciples to the Scottish island of Iona ( 0441; 563), where they built a church and monastery that served as a base for the conversion of the Scottish Picts , and thereby Scotland, to Christianity.