Colmán of Lindisfarne

Colmán of Lindisfarne was an Irish monk and bishop of the seventh century, known chiefly from the account given by the Venerable Bede in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. He was formed in the monastic life at Iona, the island monastery established by Columba in the sixth century, and belonged to the Irish ecclesiastical tradition that Aidan had carried to Northumbria. After the death of Bishop Finan, Colmán was appointed Bishop of Lindisfarne, holding that see from about 661 until 664. In that office he was the principal pastor of the Northumbrian church at a moment when Irish and Roman customs of worship and discipline still existed side by side. No contemporary writing by Colmán himself survives, and the early sources do not record his parentage, birthplace within Ireland, or the year of his birth.

The defining episode of his public career was the Synod of Whitby, held in 664 at the monastery of Streanaeshalch under King Oswiu of Northumbria. The assembly was called to settle disputes over the dating of Easter and the form of the clerical tonsure. Colmán spoke for the practices of Iona, appealing to the example of Columba and to what he understood as the tradition of the apostle John. Wilfrid argued for the Roman computation and for the authority associated with the see of Rome. Oswiu gave judgment for the Roman Easter. Bede, who favoured that outcome, nevertheless wrote of Colmán with marked respect, stressing his piety, austerity, and the affection in which clergy and people held him.

Unwilling to abandon the customs in which he had been trained, Colmán resigned the bishopric of Lindisfarne. He withdrew first to Iona, taking with him some of the relics of Saint Aidan and a body of monks, Irish and English, who remained attached to the older observance. From Iona he proceeded to Ireland and founded a monastery on Inishbofin (Inis Bó Finne), an island off the coast of Connacht. Discord later arose between the Irish and English members of that community, in part over the seasonal organisation of labour when Irish monks were accustomed to travel. Colmán therefore established a separate house for the English brethren at Magh Eo on the mainland, a monastery that became known as Mayo of the Saxons. Bede notes that it continued as a distinguished English community living under Irish rule.

Irish annalistic sources record the death of Colmán, styled bishop of Inishbofin, in the mid-670s; the Annals of Ulster place it in 676. The precise place of burial is not securely attested in the earliest texts. He was venerated as a saint in Ireland and in Northumbria. Western calendars commonly assign him the feast of 8 August; some Eastern commemorations use 18 February. He belongs to the large group of early medieval saints recognised by acclamation rather than by a later papal process of canonisation. What can be known of him rests on Bede’s eighth-century narrative and on brief notices in the Irish annals, which together portray a monk-bishop of austere life whose refusal to accept the Roman Easter ended his Northumbrian episcopate but did not erase the reputation for holiness that even his opponents conceded.