popularity of his rule that at one time it seemed as if his influence, and not that of Benedict, was to change the aspect of monasticism in all succeeding ages. Moreover, his followers worked with such fearless and untiring activity, and presented in themselves such examples of self-denial and devotion, that, as has been well said, 'For a time it seemed as if the course of the world's history was to be changed; as if the older Celtic race that Roman and German had swept before them had turned to the moral conquest of their conquerors; as if Celtic and not Latin Christianity was to mould the destinies of the Churches of the West.'[1] All this, however, is beside our present purpose. We have only to consider the life and work of Columbanus in so far as it throws light on the history of the Church in Ireland, the country which sent him forth as an apostle and evangelist.
The rule which Columbanus imposed on those who were his followers is still extant, and is generally supposed to have been derived from that already in force in Comgal's establishment at Bangor. If so, Bangor must have been very different from Iona. The picture drawn in the last chapter of the life of those who looked up to Columba as 'father, is that of a peaceful Christian community, where the highest law is the law of love, and punishments, if they existed at all, occupy such a secondary place that they are never mentioned by the saint's biographer. There are penances, of course, but they are all for open and scandalous sins—never for mere breaches of discipline; and it cannot be said that they erred on the side of severity. A man who had been guilty of fratricide and incest was not too
- ↑ Green, Short Hist. of the Eng. People, ch. i. § 3.
