Iona Abbey, Iona

A starting point for so much spiritual history, Iona’s restored abbey is also the beginning of a one-month pilgrimage route to St. Andrews, the St. Columba’s Way.

Highlights:

• Foremost Celtic monastery
• St. Columba’s former shrine
• Revived and newly restored monastic community
• Celtic standing crosses
• Site of early saints and martyrs

Iona was the mothership of Celtic Christianity in Britain. It still is, to a large extent, thanks to the revived community based around the medieval monastery church. Iona produces liturgies, songs, and prayers used by churches around the world.

St. Columba came to Iona in 563 and founded a little monastery with 12 monks. This tiny foothold became the number one Celtic missionary centre for Scotland and England. Its monks went on to found Lindisfarne, the most important early English monastery, from where they reached as far south as Essex.

The revived Iona Community represents a modern form of monasticism – a mixed-sex and ecumenical community with a ‘scattered’ membership living around the world. The residential community recently completed an extensive restoration project in June 2021, with impeccable environmental and renewable energy credentials. The Celtic spirit is thriving.

There is much to see on the island, including the possible grave of its founding saint, the extensively restored abbey buildings, numerous Celtic crosses, and the sites of massacres, miracles, and visions.

Iona Abbey

The abbey church is still the primary focus of pilgrimage to Iona. And in a sense, the little stone chapel at the front ought to be the focus of the abbey, since it is thought to cover the original shrine of St. Columba. In reality, it is a rather bare room, with nothing resembling a shrine structure or even an icon of the saint when I visited. The tiny chapel is 12th century, but its foundations are thought to be 9th century, the remains of St. Columba’s shrine. Such starkness certainly underlines the fact that the abbey is influenced by both its Celtic origins and the Presbyterian culture from which its revival arose. Iona today is a hybrid, drawing on two strong and distinctive – but rather different – Christian traditions.

It is fair to add that St. Columba’s relics are probably no longer here, as they were removed when the community fled Viking raids in the 9th century. Some relics may have gone to Kells in Ireland, and others to Dunkeld near Perth in Scotland. Strangely, though, the abbey does possess one relic possibly connected to the saint himself, though you have to make an effort to find it. This is St. Columba’s Pillow, a small boulder carved with a Celtic cross that is displayed in a metal cage in the corner of the abbey’s small museum. These stone pillows occur elsewhere in northern Europe, inspired by Jacob’s pillow mentioned in Genesis 28. The Life of St. Columba, written by Iona’s ninth abbot St. Adomnan, mentions the saint sleeping on one.

The chapel is on the left of the abbey entrance, immediately behind the huge St. John’s Cross, a concrete reproduction of the 8th-century original. The other complete cross standing nearby, St. Martin’s Cross, is 9th century, its detail still easily identifiable. The Virgin and Child are in the middle of the west side, while below are scenes from the Old Testament, including Daniel in the lion’s den.

Inside the abbey itself, there is another fragment of ancient stone carving in the north transept. A statue niche between the two windows holds the remains of a possible effigy of St. Columba. A side chapel to the right of the high altar offers somewhere to sit and contemplate Iona’s ancient and modern history. Visitors linger here. This church was once a roofless ruin before its restoration in 1902, donated to the Church of Scotland.

The cloister is one of the most elegantly restored sections, with newly carved columns interspersed with a few surviving originals. The cloister and surrounding buildings are usually off-limits, as they are home to the community’s residents.

At the front of the monastery is Tòrr an Aba – the hill of the abbot. This is thought to be the location of St. Columba’s study. The earliest intact building in the complex is St. Oran’s Chapel, a 12th-century structure used for funerals of countless Scottish leaders and kings, including Macbeth. John Smith, the Labour Party leader who died in 1994, is buried here. Known as the Street of the Dead, this was the processional route for coffins arriving at the port.

Elsewhere on the Island

There are other holy sites around Iona. The remains of a ruined nunnery can be seen between the ferry and the abbey. This was built in the 13th century. Martyrs Bay, a beach to the south of the ferry terminal, is where 68 monks were slaughtered by Viking raiders in 806.

On the opposite side of the island is The Machair, a coastal pasture 2.5 km from the jetty. The Machair is common grazing land which the monks and nuns farmed. The beach here is called the Bay at the Back of the Ocean – next stop, America.

The Celtic Tradition

Celtic Christianity broadly covers beliefs and practices of those living in the north and west of the British Isles from the 5th to the 12th centuries. The end date for the Celtic tradition is often given as 664, following the Synod of Whitby. However, it continued for another 500 years until the Normans arrived and exerted their influence.

There was no consolidated ‘Celtic church’; even Iona and Lindisfarne made important decisions independently. Celtic tradition fizzled in, rather than out, as a result of isolation from Rome. It lasted less than 200 years, from around 410 to about 600, when St. Augustine of Canterbury reconnected British Christians with Rome.

When in the Area

For those tracing Celtic history, the Garvellach Islands, 5 miles south of Mull, offer a glimpse into early monastic life. The most southerly island, Eileach na Naiombh, has remains of a 6th-century monastic community established by St. Brendan. Its Gaelic name means ‘rocky place of the saint.’

At the time of research, Seafari offered day trips to the Garvellach Islands. Their boats run about twice a week in summer.

Iona Abbey, Isle of Iona PA76 6SQ

isle-of-iona.com (island website)

iona.org.uk (community website)

historicenvironment.scot (search Iona Abbey)

Ferry from Oban (via Mull) or direct from Easdale

W3W: drill.fluffed.ears GPS: 56.3348N 6.3917W

Directions

The most common route to Iona is by ferry via Mull. Ferries leave the Scottish mainland at Oban and arrive at Craignure on Mull. They connect with buses traveling the 37 miles across Mull to Fionnphort, from where small ferries make the 10-minute crossing to Iona. For ferries, see calmac.co.uk or call 0800 066 5000. Direct trips are available from Easdale (postcode PA34 4TB). See seafari.co.uk or call 01852 300003 for bookings.

The best guide to the island’s spiritual highlights is Iona – a Pilgrim’s Guide by Peter W. Millar. The abbey is a 15-minute walk north from the ferry terminal. Entry fee: £9 adults, £7.20 concessions, £5.40 children. See the website for opening times.