BAEDAN, Saint, Abbot of IONA. — He was the most illustrious of the numerous Irish saints of this name (at least fifteen). Son of Brennan, of the royal family of Connel Guban, born in 536. He was a cousin of St. Columba and the principal of his twelve disciples. With him in 563 he came to Scotland, in the kingdom of Dál Riata, founded by the “Scots” of northern Ireland. He was first abbot in the monastery on the island of Tir-itha (Tyree), and when St. Columba died in 597, B. succeeded him in the governance of the monastery of Iona or Hy, the well-known island northwest of Scotland, center of the apostolic activity of St. Columba. The date of his death fluctuates between 598 and 600. He is commemorated on June 9.
Bibl.: The Life in Acta SS. Unii, II, Paris 1867, pp. 233-235; numerous biographical details are also found in the life of St. Columba, written by Adomnán (d. 704), ibid., pp. 197-236. — C. de Smedt, Acta SS. Hiberniae, London 1888, pp. 871-878; A. Potthast, Bibliotheca histor. M. Aevi, II, Berlin 1896, p. 1191; F. Kenney, The sources of the early history of Ireland, I: Ecclesiastical, New York 1929, p. 434; F. O’Brien, S. V. in DHG, VI, col. 160.