Venerable Adamnán, Abbot of Iona

Saint Adamnán of Iona

The twenty-third of September is the feast-day in the Orthodox Church of Saint Adamnán, the formidably-learned Irish ninth abbot of Iona, who was held in utmost respect by Saint Bede. Adamnán holds a particularly special place in the history of Western mediæval law, as well. He authored the Lex Innocentium (also the Law of the Innocents or Cáin Adamnáin), which was one of the first efforts by a Christian legal scholar to curb abuses, killing and torture of non-combatants – especially women – in war.

Saint Adamnán [also Adomnán, Adam or Eunan] was born to Rónán mac Tinne and his wife Ronat, sometime between the years 624 and 627, at Droim Thuama – now Drumholm in Irish Ulster. He was given to be educated by Columban monks from Iona, and eventually chose to become a monastic novice under Abbot Ségéne mac Fiachnaí of Iona – the same abbot who despatched Holy Father Aidan to serve among the English – when he was in his mid-twenties (the year 650).

Saint Adamnán’s concern for equity came quite early in his life. At one time, as a young boy before he became a novice, he went around house to house collecting milk from the local farmers, for the sake of three older lads who wanted to become priests. He carried the milk in a large earthen jar on his back, strung about his neck with hay-twine rope. Many of the people he begged from could not afford to give much – some only gave a cupful. When at last he had collected enough milk for the poor scholars, he began walking home.

Three horses, each bearing a man dressed in rich robes and jewels and finery, came up behind him. Adamnán stood off the road well out of their way, trying hard not to let the milk spill. Even so, one of the horses bumped up against him, sending him sprawling. The jar shattered and all the milk was lost. The horsemen jeered at him, and Adamnán became furious. He demanded that they pay to replace the jar at least, but they rode on, not heeding him. Adamnán ran after them.

The horsemen were astonished that this boy could keep up with them, running on foot. One of them – who was not malicious, only a bit cavalier – reined in his horse and bade his fellows stop and listen to the young saint. Adamnán explained patiently that the jar they had broken had been borrowed, and that the milk he had collected was gotten cup by cup from poor farmers, for the sake of three who would be priests. They must make it right by paying for the loss.

The horseman who had turned and listened to Adamnán was none other than Fínsnechta Fledach mac Dúnchada, who would later become High King of Ireland. He agreed that Adamnán’s request was just, and moreover was surprised and pleased that this lad would go to such lengths to demand justice. He sent to the palace for both a replacement jar and as much milk as had been spilt, and moreover invited the three would-be priests to stay with him while they completed their studies. Fínsnechta Fledach also sponsored Adamnán as a novice to Iona Abbey, which was then his desire.

Saint Adamnán succeeded to the abbacy of Iona in March of 679. Saint Adamnán also made several voyages into England, as a diplomat for Fínsnechta Fledach to the Northumbrian court. The first time he was sent, he negotiated the release of sixty Irish hostages who had been taken by Ecgfrið King. On subsequent trips to England, he visited Wearmouth and Lindisfarne, where it is quite possible he met with Abbot Ceolfrið, who convinced him of the correctness of the Roman date of Pascha. The calendar had been at issue since long before the Synod of Whitby; and Adamnán was in the minority position among the Celts of supporting the Roman date. However, by careful diplomacy, Adamnán was able to institute the Roman date of Pascha in the Liturgical use of the Abbey of Iona by the time of his repose.

Saint Adamnán was renowned for holding firm and fast to the traditional dogmas of the Faith; however, he was also known for having an open mind regarding those aspects which were not essential but which were damaging to unity – like the calendar issue. Like Saint Boniface in England and Germany, Saint Adamnán had a high respect for women. In 697, he authored the Lex Innocentium. This was one of the first attempts to give philosophical and legal flesh to the concept of the ‘just war’, though Adamnán was primarily concerned not with justifying warfare of any sort, but instead with preserving the status, welfare and bodily security of women and other non-combatants.

Being inspired by the Holy Theotokos and by his own earthly mother Ronat, Saint Adamnán argued for the rights of women, ‘for a mother is a venerable treasure, a mother is a goodly treasure, the mother of saints and bishops and righteous men, an increase in the Kingdom of Heaven, a propagation on earth.’ The law which he authored on behalf of the bishops of Ireland and Scotland sought to put an end to both violence against women in war, and also domestic violence in peacetime – by placing specific penalties on men who injured or killed women. These penalties could be quite harsh: Adamnán recommends judicial mutilation and execution as well as fines, as penalties for men who injure or kill women.

It may come as a surprise to some that a mediæval judicial scholar like Saint Adamnán attempted to place such limits on comportment in war. The seventh-century Lex Innocentium long predates (and is a model for) the twentieth-century Geneva Conventions, which attempt to enshrine the exact same sort of comportment in international law. Unfortunately, chronological snobbery has been so firmly entrenched in our thinking as moderns, that we are blind to the ways in which late antiquity was in certain senses as humane as (if not more so than) our age is.

Saint Adamnán also took an approach to historiography and hagiography which we might consider ‘radical’ even by contemporary standards. He wrote a Life of his cousin, Saint Colum Cille, or Columba, of Iona, that lay particular stress on his ‘fight against exploitation, carelessness, falsehood and murder’. Adamnán organises the Life of Saint Columba not chronologically, but thematically. It is broken up into three books: the first one, of his prophecies; the second, of his wonders; the third, of his visions. It is noteworthy that Adamnán portrays Saint Columba as having a particular love of poor and downtrodden people. Many of the miracles attributed to Columba by Adamnán have either to do with his helping a poor person without means, or else by preternatural insight exposing the violent and exploitative schemes of rich and powerful men. Saint Columba, like the Brythonic Saint Beuno, also pronounces some formidable curses against the rich and greedy and violent, which always manage to manifest.

Saint Adamnán also authored a work on the Holy Places in Palestine. For his source, he was assisted by a Frankish cleric named Arculf, who had gone on pilgrimage not only to Palestine but also to Damascus, Alexandria and Constantinople. Arculf was on his way home when a storm blew up off the coast of Britain and shipwrecked him near Iona. Saint Adamnán welcomed Arculf and allowed him to stay as long as he wished at Iona, and furthermore listened with great interest to all of Arculf’s tales of the Holy Land. With Arculf’s permission, he committed the tales of his pilgrimage to writing. Adamnán also authored a compilation of works of Goidelic poetry, and also a book of visions which he had received.

Holy Abbot Adamnán reposed peacefully in the Lord in the year 705. His saintly cultus is strong in County Donegal in Ireland, where he is the patron of eight churches; and also in the Scottish Midlands. It is somewhat strange, given both Adamnán’s visits there and Saint Bede’s devotion to him, that Adamnán is not likewise venerated in northern England. All the same, he remains a great holy father of the pre-Schismatic Western Church. His actions and also his writings are also an invaluable social witness for the Church, in that they not only advocate for the poor but also stringently castigate their exploitation and depredation by the wealthy. Holy father Adamnán, abbot and scholar, diplomat and friend of the poor, pray unto Christ our God that our souls may be saved!

Iona Abbey, Scotland