IONA. - A small island west of Scotland, which, according to the Venerable Bede, King Brude of the Picts gave to the Irish St. Columba, who founded there in 585 a monastery that became famous for its school of writing and for the great number of its saints (St. Aidan, St. Finan, St. Columban, etc.). Until the Synod of Whitby (664) the monks of I. evangelized Scotland and Ireland.
At I. there originated a ceremony that later spread throughout Christian Europe: in 574 the new king of Ireland, Aidan, received there the royal unction from the hands of the abbot
St. Columba. I. was the burial place of the first kings of Ireland and of Scotland.
The severe rule of St. Columban of Luxeuil followed by the monks ensured that the moral state always remained very high. The monks founded many monasteries, which, governed by provosts, remained dependent on the mother house. In 688 the abbot Adamnan (v.) accepted the Roman discipline, and in 715 the monks of St. Columba were driven out of the Kingdom of the Picts, and with this the distinctive life of the Irish-Scottish Church came to an end. The monastery suffered greatly from the Norman invasions: in 806, 68 monks were killed. In 986, after being destroyed by the Normans themselves, the monastery was rebuilt by Queen St. Margaret of Scotland (v.). In 1203 it became a Benedictine abbey, and in 1567 it passed to the Anglican Church.
The present-day ruins of the Benedictine church contain fine capitals decorated with animals and foliage in an early Celtic style. The pointed arches date back to the 13th century, while the tall Cross of St. Martin, decorated with rich reliefs, belongs to the 10th century. To the northeast of the Cathedral there is a very interesting ancient little church in the Celtic style.
Bibliography3 works
Hermine Kuhn-Steinhausen