This month, 1,460 years ago, was the first recorded encounter with the Loch Ness monster. According to his biographer Adomnán, Irish monk Columba, was conducting missionary work in Scotland in AD 565 when he encountered pagans burying someone who had been killed by a huge aquatic beast. Columba ordered one of his fellow monks to swim across the loch to fetch a boat. The monk quickly obeyed, but his swimming attracted the monster.

As it closed in on his colleague, Columba made the sign of the cross and said, “Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed.” According to Adomnán, “. . .at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes….” When the monk returned safely to shore, even the pagans gave glory to God.

Even if this particular story is a legend, Columba was a real and important figure in Christian history. Born into a royal family in Ireland, he may very well have become a High King. Instead, he joined the church and received the kind of topflight education that was distinctive of Irish Christianity. As the Irish church then was centered on monasteries, he then became an abbot.

After founding a monastery at Derry and possibly others, Columba left Ireland to establish a monastery at Iona, an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. From there, he, his monks, and their successors evangelized the Picts and other people groups living in Scotland. Later, they moved south into Northumbria and England.

Columba often faced opposition from Druids who opposed him with magic and incited local rulers against him. Columba’s political skills were tested, but he managed to impress the king of the northern Picts. This ensured safe conduct as he evangelized that part of Scotland.

Columba’s monasteries were epicenters of education and the arts. He himself copied manuscripts and likely illuminated them with highly animated art. Archeologists on Iona believe that they have found remains of his scriptorium. The Book of Kells, the greatest of all Irish illuminated manuscripts, was produced by his successors at Iona and moved to the Columban monastery of Kells to protect it from Viking raids. Today, it sits in the Old Library at Trinity College in Dublin.

The monks of Iona pioneered the development of Irish High Crosses. They also produced exceptionally beautiful metalwork and settings for gems and jewels, including the now lost cover for the Book of Kells.

Columba’s support for the arts extended beyond those who were expressly Christian to the filid, who were professional poets, storytellers, and chroniclers with roots in paganism. In 575, ten years after Columba’s encounter with Nessie, there was a movement to expel the filid from Ireland. Columba came to their defense, and a compromise was reached that allowed them to stay in Ireland under some restrictions. Columba himself was a trained poet, with two surviving works attributed to him.

Columba’s approach to ministry exemplified a solid understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom. He engaged in evangelism, and he promoted education and the arts. He understood that elements of paganism could be redeemed and used by church and society for positive ends. Rather than isolating from society, his monasteries attempted to demonstrate the lordship of Christ in all facets of life in that time and place. Over time, his monasteries became economic powerhouses that shaped politics in both Ireland and Scotland.

Columba’s applied faith made an incredible impact on the world of his day and for years after. That’s true even if the story about “Nessie” isn’t.

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