Columba paralleled Patrick: in his love of the Bible, actually living it. He consistently set an unselfish and
pious example; loving books, and was
fanatical on promoting missions. He, doing the work of an evangelist, repeatedly preached an exquisite uncompromised message for accepting
Jesus Christ's
salvation. Not a stranger to adventure, (his Ionian quest had just currently been realized and established), he set forth in 564 to Pict King Brude's Fortress on the banks of
Loch Ness. In 575, the middle of his
evangelism of Scotland from 563 to 597, he returned to Ireland and intervened during a meeting of disputing Irish
bards. 1200 singers embarrassed the abbot when they sang to him their appreciation of his aiding their cause.
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Not only did the exhausted Columba bless his fellow monks before he died on a Sunday in 597; but he blesses our generation too, because of his work initiated in Ireland, followed through Scotland, established in England and carried beyond.
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