Holy Innocents and St Columba Episcopal Churches

A Second Iona

An acquaintance writes a weblog about European archaeology, and this article about the discovery sheds more light on one of our patrons, St Columba of Iona.

Experts unearth an Iona of the east - The Herald

WHEN St Columba landed in Scotland in the Dark Ages, he set about creating a centre of learning that would illuminate the Christian world.

His monastery on Iona, founded in 563AD, became a place of pilgrimage for saints and kings. It is believed to have produced the Book of Kells, one of the world's most famous religious manuscipts.

However, archaeologists have discovered the site of a second monastery in Scotland which they believe was also founded by St Columba at about the same time.

The linked article goes on to describe the ruined "second Iona," what was found in the ruins, what may have gone on there, and how the monestery came to be abandoned.

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