Colmán of Lindisfarne

Colmán of Lindisfarne ( 605 – 674 AD) also known as Saint Colmán was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 661 until 664.

Life Colmán was a native of the west of Ireland and had received his education on Iona. He was probably a nobleman of the Conmaicne Mara. Colmán succeeded Aidan and Finan as bishop of Lindisfarne, being appointed in 661. Colmán resigned the Bishopric of Lindisfarne after the Synod of Whitby called by King Oswiu of Northumbria decided to calculate Easter using the method of the First Ecumenical Council instead of his preferred Celtic method. The change to the Roman Method led Colmán to leave and travel back to Scotland and eventually, back to Iona.

Later tradition states that between the years 665 and 667, Colmán founded several churches in Scotland before returning to Iona. However, there are no seventh-century records of such activity by him. From Iona he sailed for Ireland, settling at Inishbofin in 668 AD where he founded a monastery, the School of Mayo. When Colmán came to Mayo he brought with him half the relics of Lindisfarne, including the bones of St. Aidan and a part of the true cross. This was reputed to be in Mayo Abbey until its vanishment during the Reformation in 1537.

What was the reason for their intermittent absence? Earlier commentators suspected that the two nations came from different agricultural backgrounds and that the Irish intermittently removed themselves from the island with the monastery's livestock for the purpose of ‘booleying’, a form of transhumance. It is also possible that the Irish visited their kinsfolk on the mainland. Returning to the island in winter, they helped to consume the fruits of the Saxons' labours. This situation inevitably led to tensions within the community. Disputes arose between the Saxon and Irish monks after a short time. Colmán brought his Saxon followers onto the mainland and founded a monastery for them at "Magh Eó" - the Plain of Yew Trees, His feast is celebrated on 8 August