One of the smallest of the British Isles, situated near a rugged and barren coast, surrounded by dangerous seas, and possessing no sources of internal wealth, Iona has obtained an imperishable place in history as the seat of civilization and religion at a time when the darkness of heathenism hung over almost the whole of Northern Europe. lona or Icolmkill is situated at the extremity of the island of Mull, from which it is separated by a strait of half a mile in breadth, its distance from the mainland of Scotland being thirty-six miles.

Columba was a native of Ireland, and connected by birth with the princes of the land.  Ireland was at that time a land of gospel light, while the western and northern parts of Scotland were still immersed in the darkness of heathenism.  Columba with twelve friends landed on the island of lona in the year of our Lord 563, having made the passage in a wicker boat covered with hides.  The Druids who occupied the island endeavored to prevent his settling there, and the savage nations on the adjoining shores incommoded him with their hostility, and on several occasions endangered his life by their attacks.  Yet by his perseverance and zeal he surmounted all opposition, procured from the king a gift of the island, and established there a monastery of which he was the abbot.  He was unwearied in his labors to disseminate a knowledge of the Scriptures throughout the Highlands and islands of Scotland, and such was the reverence paid him that though not a bishop, but merely a presbyter and monk, the entire province with its bishops was subject to him and his successors.  The Pictish monarch was so impressed with a sense of his wisdom and worth that he held him in the highest honor, and the neighboring chiefs and princes sought his counsel and availed themselves of his judgment in settling their disputes.

When Columba landed on lona he was attended by twelve followers whom he had formed into a religious body of which he was the head.  To these, as occasion required, others were from time to time added, so that the original number was always kept up.  Their institution was called a monastery and the superior an abbot, but the system had little in common with the monastic institutions of later times.  The name by which those who submitted to the rule were known was that of Culdees, probably from the Latin “cultores Dei”—­worshippers of God.  They were a body of religious persons associated together for the purpose of aiding each other in the common work of preaching the gospel and teaching youth, as well as maintaining in themselves the fervor of devotion by united exercises of worship.  On entering the order certain vows were taken by the members, but they were not those which were usually imposed by monastic orders, for of these, which are three,—­ celibacy, poverty, and obedience.—­the Culdees were bound to none except the third.  To poverty they did not bind themselves; on the contrary they seem to have labored diligently to procure for