Beatha Cholm Cille
UCD-OFM A 8. 16th century. Vellum.
The sixteenth-century Life of Colum Cille was compiled on the instructions of Maghnus Ó DÓmhnaill in 1532. He succeeded to the lordship of Donegal in 1537. He features prominently in the Annals of the Four Masters where the military exploits of his youth are narrated. This manuscript was written by Eoghan Carrach Ó Siaghail for Ó DÓmhnaill's son-in-law, Niall Óg Ó Néill. The Ó Siaghail family were hereditary physicans to the MacCoghlans but were also active as scribes in the sixteenth century. Another copy of the life written by Giolla Riabhach MÓr Ó Cléirigh is now preserved in the Bodleian Library Oxford (MS Rawlinson B 514).
The life of the saint is partly derived from the seventh-century Vita Columbae composed by Adomnán, abbot of Iona. Later stories were added and in particular local stories which associated Colum Cille with monuments in Gartan and Glencolumkille, Co Donegal appear in the life.
