Sancti Columbæ (printed by Pinkerton, London, 1789; Paisley, 1889) was incorporated in the Vita Sancti Columbæ of Adamnan, the ninth abbot (679-704). But both these writers are concerned not so much with the life as with the prophecies, miracles, and other unusual phenomena which were ascribed to their subject, and so the amount of real biographical facts is very small. This ‘life’ by Saint Adamnan is, however, one of the best of the mediæval lives of saints. It has been edited in a very superior manner, first by W. Reeves (Dublin, 1857), and again upon Reeves's edition by J. T. Fowler (Latin text and English notes, Oxford, 1894; English translation of the text, 1895).
COLUM′BÆ (Lat. nom. pl. of columba, dove). An order of birds, containing the pigeons (Columbidæ and allied families) and the dodos (Didiidæ). See Dodo; Dove; Pigeon.
COLUM′BAN, or COL′UMBA′NUS, Saint (543-615). One of the most learned and eloquent of the many missionaries whom Ireland sent to the Continent during the Dark Ages. He was born in Leinster. Having studied under Saint Congall, in the great monastery of Bangor, in Ulster, he passed over to France, accompanied by twelve companions, and in Austrasia and Burgundy, near the southern extremity of the Vosges Mountains, founded the monasteries of Anegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaine. His adherence to the Irish rule for calculating Easter involved him in controversy with the French bishops about 605; and a few years later the courage with which he rebuked the vices of the Burgundian Court led to his expulsion from France. Passing through Switzerland into Lombardy, he founded, in 612, the famous Monastery of Bobbio, in the Apennines, where he died on November 21, 615. The writings of Saint Columban, which are wholly in Latin, consist of a rule for the government of his monastery, a few poems, several letters on ecclesiastical affairs, and sixteen short sermons. His monastic rule has been printed more than once; but the most complete edition of his works is in Patrick Fleming's Collectanea Sacra, published at Augsburg in 1621, and at Louvain in 1667. It is reprinted in Migne, Patrol. Latina, lxxx. Of the sermons of Saint Columban, M. Guizot remarks that “the flights of imagination, the pious transports, the rigorous application of principles, the warfare declared against all vain or hypocritical compromise, give to the words of the preacher that passionate authority which may not always and surely reform the soul of his hearers, but which dominates over them, and, for some time at least, exercises paramount sway over their conduct and their life.” The town of San Colombano, in Lombardy, takes its name from the Irish monk, as the town and Canton of Saint Gall (q.v.), in Switzerland, perpetuate the name of the most favored of his disciples. For his life, consult: Jonas, who was almost a contemporary and one of his successors as the Abbot of Bobbio, in Migne, Patrologiæ Cursus Completus (Paris, 1857-60); also W. F. Besser, (Leipzig, 1857); and J. K. Zimmermann (Saint Gall, 1865).
COLUMBARIUM (Lat., dove-cote, from columba, dove). From a fancied resemblance to a dove-cote, the name given to the niches in Roman burial-places arranged in rows around the walls of the sepulchral chambers to receive the little urns or sarcophagi of marble or terra-cotta containing the ashes of the deceased; finally, to the sepulchral chamber itself. Tombs of this description were chiefly used by the poorer classes who could not afford separate tombs, and were erected by great families for their slaves and dependents, or by funeral associations or corporations under the Empire. Several perfect examples have been found near Rome; among them, those of the Vigna Codini, at the Licinian Gardens. Others exist at Naples and elsewhere in Italy. The ustrina, or places for incinerating the bodies, were attached to the columbaria. In recent times the term columbarium is applied to a room or hall connected with a crematory, and provided with niches for the cinerary urns.
COLUM′BA'S ISLE. The poetic name for the island of Iona, on the western coast of Scotland, where Saint Columba, ‘The Apostle of Caledonia,’ founded a monastery about 565, and was buried in 597.
COLUM′BIA (Neo-Lat., from Columbus). The name under which the United States is usually personified.
COLUMBIA. A name formerly applied to the region, west of the Rocky Mountains, embracing British Columbia and the States of Washington and Oregon.
COLUMBIA. A city and county-seat of Boone County, Mo., 144 miles west-northwest of Saint Louis; on the Wabash Railroad, and connected by a branch with the Missouri, Kansas and Texas system (Map: Missouri, D 3). It has flouring and planing mills, elevators, and manufactures of agricultural implements; also farming, fruit-growing, and stock-raising interests. The city is the seat of the State University, organized in 1842; State Agricultural College; and of institutions for women, Christian College (Christian), established in 1851, and Stephens College (Baptist), founded in 1856. The monument to Thomas Jefferson originally erected in Monticello. Va., is located here, also a State hospital and a United States Government experiment station. Settled in 1820, Columbia is governed by a mayor, elected biennially, and a city council. Population, in 1890, 4000; in 1900, 5651.
COLUMBIA. A borough in Lancaster County, Pa., 28 miles southeast of Harrisburg; on the Susquehanna River, here more than a mile wide, and on the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia and Reading railroads (Map: Pennsylvania, E 3). It is an important industrial centre, its manufactures including boilers and engines, iron, laundry machinery, silk, lace, shirts, wagons, brushes, flour, novelties, malt liquors, stoves, etc. Wrightville, on the west bank of the river, is connected with the borough by one of the longest bridges in the United States. The place was founded in 1726 by English Quakers from Chester County, and was for many years called Wright's Ferry. In 1789 it was proposed to locate the capital of the United States here. In June, 1863, the original bridge was burned to prevent the Confederate troops from marching on Philadelphia. Population, in 1890, 10,199; in 1900, 12,316.
COLUMBIA. The capital of South Carolina, and county-seat of Richland County, on the east bank of the Congaree River below the junction
