23 September – Saint Adamnan of Iona or St Eunan of Iona

[Weedy]

23 September – Saint Adamnan of Iona or St Eunan of Iona

(c 628-704)
Relative of Saint Columban. Monk at Drunhome, Donegal, Ireland. Abbot
of Iona in 679. President-general of all the Columban houses in
Ireland. Hagiographer and Spiritual Writer, Poet, Statesman, Canon
Lawyer. Born in c 628 in Drumhome, County Donegal, Ireland and died on
23 September 704 at Iona Abbey of natural causes. Patronages –
Donegal, Ireland, County of, Raphoe, Ireland, City of, Raphoe,
Ireland, Diocese of. Also known as – Adam, Adamnano, Adomnan, Eunan.

Adamnan was the Author of the Life of Columban, probably written
between 697 and 700. This Biography is, by far, the most important
surviving work written in early-medieval Scotland and is a vital
source for our knowledge of the Picts and an insight into the life of
Iona and the early-medieval Gaelic Saint Columban. (His life here:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/23/saint-of-the-day-23-november-st-columban-543-615/)

Adamnan promulgated the Law of Adamnan or “Law of Innocents” (Irish:
The Cáin Adomnáin). He also wrote the treatise De Locis Sanctis (i.e.
“On Holy Places”), an account of the great Christian holy places and
centres of pilgrimage. Adamnan received much of his information for
this work, from a Frankish Bishop called Arculf, who had personally
visited Egypt, Rome, Constantinople and the Holy Land and visited Iona
after his travels.

Adamnan was a descendant of a cousin of Saint Columban, Colmán mac
Sétna. He is thought to have been born into a noble family in what is
now County Donegal in Ireland, probably as a younger son. Some
historians believe he attained his obviously high level of education
by studying at Durrow Abbey, one of Ireland’s most important early
Christian Monasteries. He became a Monk at a Columban Monastery in
Ireland in about 640 and then, at some later point, transferred to
Iona Abbey. Opinions again differ about the date of his move to Iona,
ranging from about 650, during the Abbacy of Ségéne, to about 670,
after the accession of Abbot Failbe.

In 679, Adomnan became the ninth Abbot of Iona Abbey. As Abbot, he was
extremely influential in the wider affairs of a land that was still
divided between Gaels, Picts, Britons and Angles. He forged especially
strong links with King Aldfrith of Northumbria. He was also
influential in partially bringing the Celtic Church into line with the
wider body of the Roman Church when he adopted the Roman dating of
Easter. This had been agreed in 664 at the Synod of Whitby and the
difference, possibly trivial to modern eyes, had led to a rift between
the Roman and Celtic Churches.

Adomnan’s most important innovation came in 697. The Synod of Birr, in
Ireland, attracted a highly influential gathering of Irish, Dalriadan
and Pictish nobles. Adomnan used it to gain widespread agreement to
his “Law of Adomnan.” This “Law of Innocents,” set out to guarantee
the safety and immunity of various types of non-combatants in warfare.
It was a pioneering initiative in Europe and a remarkable achievement
for a cleric on the Celtic fringe of the known world. Many see it as
the first step in the process that has since led to the Geneva
Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Adomnan is probably better known, however, for his Life of St
Columban. This was really a Biography or a history of his predecessor
of a Century earlier as Abbot of Iona. Rather it was a “hagiography”
intended to prove Columban’s saintliness and extol his virtues and
achievements. It is perhaps the most important surviving record from
the areas which later became Scotland at this time. He also wrote a
considerable amount of poetry.

Adomnan died in 704, probably on 23 September, the day now celebrated
as his feast day. He was subsequently regarded as a Saint of the Irish
and Scottish tradition and is considered to have been one of the mos
influential participants in this early period of Irish and Scottish
Church.

Along with St Columban, he is joint Patron of the Diocese of Raphoe,
which encompasses the bulk of County Donegal in the north-west of
Ireland. The Cathedral of St Eunan and St Columban (popularly known as
St Eunan’s Cathedral), the Cathedral in that Diocese, is in
Letterkenny. In 727 the relics of Adamnan were brought to Ireland to
renew the “Law of Innocents” and they were returned to Iona in 730.
In his native Donegal, Adamnan has given his name to several Churches,
Institutions and buildings – all under the Irish version of his name
Eunan.

https://anastpaul.com/2021/09/23/


“… Who is this about whom I hear such things?”
And he sought to see him.” – Luke 9:9

REFLECTION – “[John] says: “We announce to you the eternal life that
was with the Father and was manifested to us. What we have seen and
heard we announce to you (1 Jn 1:2-3). Let Your Charity pay heed:
“What we have seen and heard we announce to you.”...
“Blessed are those who do not see and who believe” (Jn 20:29). It is
we who were described, we who were designated.
May there be in us, then, the blessedness that the Lord foretold would
come to be! Let us hold firmly onto what we do not see because, those
who have seen it, are announcing it, so that we also may have
fellowship with them and so, that “our joy may be complete” (v. 4).”
– St Augustine (354-430) Bishop of Hippo Father and Doctor of the
Church (Sermons on the first letter of Saint John, I, 3)

Saint Quote:
They are echoes and heartbeats of faithfulness and love. They are
shadows of the hopes and joys and sorrows Padre Pio laid down at the
foot of the cross on his own personal Golgotha.
--Padre Pio

Bible Quote:
10 For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
he bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does the Lord withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
12 O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the man who trusts in thee! Psalm 84:10-12 RSVCE


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We must always pray, and not faint.--Luke 18:1

5. A man of prayer is capable of everything; therefore, it is of great
importance that missionaries should give themselves to this exercise
with particular earnestness; and as without it they will gain little
or no fruit, so with its help they will become much more able to move
hearts and convert souls to their Creator, than by learning and
oratorical skill.
--St. Vincent de Paul

St. Francis Borgia was a man of much prayer, in which he would remain,
as if in ecstasy, sometimes for six hours in succession, which
appeared to him but a moment; and the mere sight of him in the pulpit
would rouse the people to compunction.

St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure and the Blessed Albertus Magnus confessed
that they gained their learning more by prayer than by study. We read
of St. Thomas, in particular, that not being able to understand a text
of Scripture, he had recourse to prayer, and while he was praying with
great fervor there appeared to him the holy Apostles Peter and Paul
and explained the difficulty in a voice so clear and distinct that it
was heard by his companion Brother Reginald.

( "A Year with the Saints". September: Prayer)