“Nor is heaven as is alleged.
Nor is hell as is asserted.
Nor is the good eternally happy.
Nor is the bad eternally unhappy.”

Scaring off the Loch Ness Monster is quite an achievement, but my favourite St Columba story is the one where he buries St Oran alive, twice

—from the CARMINA GADELICA, via the National Library of Scotland

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https://digital.nls.uk/early-gaelic-book-collections/archive/75758828?mode=transcription

#Scottish #literature #folklore #medieval #earlymedieval #StColumba #saint #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #theology

“Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed”

The first recorded sighting of a monster connected to Loch Ness is given in Adomnán’s VITA COLUMBÆ (“Life of St Columba”, c.7th/8th century CE). St Columba sends it packing

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https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/columba-e.asp

#Scottish #history #LochNess #LochNessMonster #StColumba #saint

Columba has a fair claim to being Scotland’s first patron saint. Scottish kings were buried in Reilig Odhráin, the cemetery next to Columba’s abbey on Iona between the 9th & 11th centuries CE, & what were (possibly) his relics were (perhaps) carried in front of the Scottish army at Bannockburn

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https://www.nms.ac.uk/discover-catalogue/monymusk-reliquary

#Scottish #history #medieval #StColumba #saint