The New Student's Reference Work/Iona

Iona (ḗō′nä), the most famous island of the Hebrides off Scotland. It is three and one half miles long and one and one half broad. The soil is fruitful, so much being raised per acre that in early times the yield was considered miraculous. Its history begins in 563, when St. Columba, leaving Ireland, landed upon Iona with 12 disciples and built a monastery, which was long regarded as the mother-church of the Picts. The heathen Norsemen ravaged and destroyed the settlement repeatedly. In 1888 a great Catholic pilgrimage was made to the island. It is situated near Staffa, and can be reached by steamer from Oban. See Iona by the Duke of Argyll.