Description

Fourteen centuries ago Irish saints brought the Word of God to the Hebrides and Scotlands Atlantic shore These white martyrs sought solitude remoteness even harshness in places apart from the world where they could fast pray and move closer to an understanding of God places where they could see angels Columba who founded the famous monastery at Iona was the most wellknown of these courageous men who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land but the many others are now largely forgotten by history

In this book Alistair Moffat journeys from the island of Eileach an Naoimh at the mouth of the Firth of Lorne to Lismore Iona and then north to Applecross searching for traces of these extraordinary men He finds them not often in any tangible remains but in the spirit of the islands and remote places where they passed their exemplary lives Brendan Moluag Columba Maelrubha and others brought the Gaelic language and echoes of how the saints saw their world can still be heard in its cadences And the tradition of great piety endures