Saint Adamnan
abbé
d'Iona (✝ 704)
L'un des plus
grands successeurs de saint
Columba à la tête de l'abbaye d'Iona en Écosse. Son influence fut
grande sur la société et l'Église de son temps.
Dans l’île d’Iona en Écosse, l’an 704, saint Adamnan, prêtre et
abbé. Doté d’une connaissance excellente des Écritures et très zélé pour
l’unité et la paix, il réussit par sa parole à persuader un grand nombre en
Écosse et en Irlande de suivre l’usage romain pour la célébration de Pâques.
Martyrologe
romain
Saint Adamnan d’Iona
Neuvième Abbé d’Iona (Inner Hebrides)
Fête le 23 septembre
Drumhome, comté de Donegal, Irlande, v. 624 – † Iona 23 septembre 704
Autres graphies : Adamnan, Adaman (« petit Adam »), Eunan ou
Adomnán
Adomnán (Adam, Aunan ou Eunan), né à Drumhome, près de Raphoe, au comté de
Donegal (Irlande), devint moine au monastère là-bas. Plus tard en 679, Adamnan
fut le neuvième abbé d’Iona, petite île de la côte écossaise, située juste au
sud-ouest de la pointe de Mull, dans les Hébrides intérieures, et l’un de ses
érudits les plus remarquables. Successeur de saint Columba, son œuvre la plus
connue est sa « Vie de saint Columba », un document hagiographique de
grande importance.
Il donna refuge à Aldfrid quand la couronne de Northumbrie était en
controverse après la mort du père d’Aldfrid, le roi Oswy. En 686, quand Aldfrid
accéda au trône, Adamnan lui rendit visite afin d’obtenir la libération de
prisonniers irlandais. Deux ans plus tard,Adamnan visita plusieurs monastères
anglais et fut persuadé par saint Ceolfrid d’adopter le calendrier romain pour
la fête de Pâques. Adamnan travailla sans cesse par la suite avec beaucoup de
succès à encourager les moines irlandais et les monastères à substituer leurs
pratiques celtes avec celles de Rome. Il persuada le concile de Birr que les
femmes seraient exemptes des guerres et que les femmes et les enfants ne
devraient pas être faits prisonniers ou massacrés (accord appelé Loi
d’Adamnan). Érudit célèbre pour sa piété, il écrivit une vie de saint Columba,
une des plus importantes biographies du début du Moyen Age. Il a également
écrit « De locis sanctis », une description de l’Orient,
raconté par un évêque Franc, Arculf, dont le navire s’était échoué près de
Iona, de retour de Jérusalem. Quelques-uns en Irlande pensent qu’Adamnan et
saint Eunan sont la même personne, bien que ceci soit indéterminé. Il est mort
à Iona le 23 septembre qui est son jour de fête.
La Vie de Saint Adamnan
627-704, abbé d'Iona. Alias Adomnan, Adam et Eunan. Adamnan naquit dans le
Comté de Donegal (Irlande) et devint moine à Iona sous l'abbé Seghine, à qui il
succédera en 679. Il devint tant célèbre comme écrivaint que comme un des
protagonistes principaux dans le nord de l'Irlande contre le système Romain de
calcul de la date de la Pâque. En 686 il vint en Northumbrie pour obtenir de
son ancien élève le roi Aldfrith qu'il libère 60 prisonniers Irlandais,
capturés durant le règne d'Egfrith (670-685). En 688 Adamnan visita Ceolfrith
de Wearmouth, qui le convertit à la tradition d'Iona sur le calcul de la Pâque
et d'autres pratiques. En 692, il prit par aux Synodes et Conventions Irlandais
en tant que dirigeant des monastères d'Iona dans le nord de l'Irlande. Et en
697, il obtint un considérable succès, plaidant pour l'acceptation des dates de
Pâque telles que suivies à Rome et virtuellement dans toute l'Eglise en
Occident. Seuls ses propres monastères lui résistèrent.
Il fut aussi responsable de la "Loi d'Adamnan" ("Cain Adomnain") qui protégeait les femmes en les
exemptant d'aller à la guerre et insistant qu'elles soient traitées comme
non-combattantes. Les garçons et les clercs étaient protégés de même, et il
prévoyait des sanctuaires réels. Ces règles furent acceptées partout en
Irlande.
L'oeuvre principale d'Adamnan fut la célèbre Vie de Columba, abbé
d'Iona. Ce très remarquable portrait d'un pionnier charismatique est une des
plus éclatantes Vita's produites à l'époque. Il rédiga aussi un ouvrage sur les
Lieux Saints en Terre Sainte, compilé sur base des informations fournies par
l'évêque Gaulois Arculfus, qui avait fait naufrage dans l'ouest de la
Grande-Bretagne. Bède connaissait cet ouvrage, mais apparement pas la Vie de
Columba.
Après la mort d'Adamnan, Iona accepta la Pâque Romaine en 716. Son
culte fleurit tant en Irlande qu'en Ecosse, avec des dédicaces en Donegal,
Derry et Sligo, de même qu'Aberdeenshire, Banff, Forfar et les Iles de l'Ouest.
En 727 les reliques d'Adamnan furent ramenées d'Iona en Irlande, afin de ramener
la paix entre les clans du père d'Adamnan et les autres. Elles furent emmenées
en procession entre les 40 églises qui avaient été sous la Règle d'Iona : le
peuple jura d'obéir à la Loi d'Adamnan. Ses reliquaires furent profanés par les
Normands en 830 et 1030. Fête : 23 septembre / 6 octobre [ 13 jours
de plus dans l'ancien calendrier byzantin ]
Adomnan (Adamnan) of Iona,
Abbot
September 23 (RM)
Today the Universal Church celebrates the memorial of St. Adomnan of
Iona, Abbot, who died September 23, 704. He was the 9th abbot of Iona (near
present-day Argyll, Scotland), the monastery founded by Saint Columba in 563.
Born c. 627, Adomnan became abbot c. 679. At that time, abbots were members of
the powerful Ui' Neill family, kings in northern Ireland.
There were different practices in various parts of the British Isles
then. In Celtic monasteries there was a different method for dating Easter, a
different tonsure, and the abbot held administrative superiority to a bishop.
Conflict over practice came to a head when King Egfrith of North Umbria
(Celtic) married a Kentish princess (English/Universal) and the Synod of Whitby
followed in 664 to resolve the differences between the Celtic and English
churches. The king was won over by the English, but the Columban factions
remained unresolved until Adomnan used his diplomatic skills to convert the
Columbanus.
Adomnan had an open mind regarding issues damaging to unity but not
essential to the faith. He worked for 15 years to emphasize the essential and
downplay the differences. During this time he also established a law to protect
women, children, and clergy from injury or participation in war (Cai'n Adomna'n
or Law of the Innocents (697)) and wrote the Vita Columbae. The Cai'n Adomna'n
established legal rights for women for the first time in the British Isles.
The Vita Columbae stresses St. Columba's relationship with God and his
fight against exploitation, carelessness, falsehood, and murder. St. Adomnan
upholds Columba as an Irish saint whose faith transcends petty divisions.
May God help us all to live in the spirit of St. Adomnan.
St. Adamnan of Ireland, Abbot
HE was the eighth in descent from the great Nial, king of Ireland, and
from Conal the Great, ancestor of St. Columbkille. His parents were eminent for
their rank and virtue. He was born in the year 626, at Rathboth, 1 now called Raphoe, in the county of Donegal, and embraced a monastic
life with great humility and fervour, in the monastery which had been founded
there by his kinsman St. Columb. Afterwards following the steps of his holy
kinsman, he left Ireland, and retired to the celebrated monastery of Hij, of
which he became fifth abbot. In 701 he was employed by Longsech, king of
Ireland, on an embassy to Alfred, king of the Northern Saxons, to demand of the
latter a reparation of the injuries committed by his subjects on the province
of Meath, and carrying off the effects of the inhabitants before the troops of
the Irish could arrive to chastise those invaders. Adamnan succeeded happily in
this negotiation: he was favourably received by the Saxon monarch, and obtained
full satisfaction for all the damages done to his countrymen in the foregoing
year. While he continued in England he laid aside the custom of his
predecessors, and conformed to the true time of celebrating Easter. Upon his return
home, says Bede, 2 he used his utmost endeavours to guide his monks of Hij, and all those
who were subject to that monastery, into the road of truth, which he himself
walked in, but was not able to prevail. He therefore sailed into Ireland, his
native country, and there preached to the natives, and with modest exhortations
explained to them the true time for observing Easter: by which means he brought
almost the whole island to a conformity with the universal church in that point
of discipline. Having remained in Ireland to celebrate that festival according
to the canons, he afterwards returned to Hij, and earnestly recommended to his
own monks to conform in this particular to the Catholic custom; but did not
compass his ends before his death, which happened in 705. However, he left
among them a judicious treatise, On the right time of keeping Easter, which
disposed them some time after to forsake their erroneous computation.
St. Adamnan wrote the life of St. Columbkille; he also wrote certain
canons, and a curious description of the Holy Land, as that country stood in
his time. This book furnished Bede with his principal memorials, l. De Locis
Sanctis; and is published by Gretzer, and by Mabillon, t. 4, Act. Ord. St.
Benedicti, p. 456. He mentions the tombs of St. Simeon and of St. Joseph at
Jerusalem, many relics of the passion of Christ, the impression of the feet of
our Saviour on Mount Olivet, covered with a church of a round figure, with a
hole open on the top, over the place of the impression of the footsteps; he
also mentions grasshoppers in the deserts of the Jordan, which the common
people eat, boiled with oil; and a portion of the cross in the Rotunda church
in Constantinople, which was exposed on a golden altar on the three last days
of Holy Week, when the emperor, court, army, clergy, and others went to that
church at different hours, to kiss that sacred wood. 3 The festival of St. Adamnan is kept with great solemnity in many
churches in Ireland, of which he is titular patron, and in the whole diocess of
Raphoe, of which he was a native. The abbatial church of Raphoe was changed
into a cathedral soon after, when St. Eunan was consecrated the first bishop:
of whom Sir James Ware could not find any further particulars. See Ware, p.
270, Colgan in MSS. ad 23 Sept. Suysken, t. 6, Sept. p. 640.
Note 1. Rath, in old Irish, signifies a town or
military inclosure, and Both, a booth, or cottage: so that
Rathboth is a town made up of cottages. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
IX: September. The Lives of the Saints. 1866
St. Adamnan
Abbot of Iona, born at Drumhome,
County Donegal, Ireland, c. 624; died at the Abbey of Iona, in 704. He was educated by the Columban monks of his native place, subsequently becoming a novice at Iona in 650. In 679 he succeeded to the abbacy
of Iona, which position he held up to his death. He
was also president-general of all the Columban
houses in Ireland. During his rule he paid three lengthy visits
to Ireland, one of which is memorable for his success in
introducing the Roman Paschal
observance. On his third visit (697) he assisted at the Synod
of Tara, when the Cain Adamnain, or Canon
of Adamnan (ed. Kuno Meyer, London, 1905) was adopted,
which freed women and children from the evils
inseparable from war, forbidding them to be killed
or made captive in times of
strife. It is not improbable, as stated in the "Life of St. Gerald"
(d. Bishop of Mayo,
732), that Adamnan ruled the abbey
of Mayo from 697 until 23 Sept.,
704, but in Ireland his memory
is inseparably connected with Raphoe,
of which he is patron.
From a literary
point of view, St. Adamnan takes
the very highest place as the biographer of St. Columba (Columcille), and as the author of a treatise
"De Locis Sanctis". Pinkerton
describes his "Vita Columbae" as "the most complete piece of
biography that all Europe can boast of, not only at so early
a period but even through the whole Middle Ages". It was printed by Colgan (from a copy supplied by Father Stephen White, S.J.), and by the Bollandists, but it was left for a nineteenth-century Irish scholar (Dr. Reeves, Protestant
Bishop of Down, Connor
and Dromore) to issue, in 1837,
the most admirable of all existing
editions. St. Bede highly praises the tract "De Locis
Sanctis", the autograph copy of which was presented by St.
Adamnan to King Aldfrid of
Northumbria, who had studied in Ireland. The "Four Masters" tells us that he was "tearful,
penitent, fond of prayer, diligent and ascetic,
and learned in the clear understanding of the Holy Scriptures of God." His feast
is celebrated 23 September.
Grattan-Flood, William.
"St. Adamnan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 23 Sept. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01135c.htm>.
Saint Adamnan of Iona
Also known as
- Adam
- Adamnano
- Adomnan
- Eunan
Profile
Distant relative of Saint
Columba. Monk at Drunhome, Donegal, Ireland. Abbot
of Iona in 679.
President-general of all the Columban houses in Ireland. Evangelized throughout Ireland.
Adamnan gave
sanctuary to Prince Aldfrid when the throne of Northumbria was in dispute following the death of King Oswy. When Aldfrid became king in 686,
Aldamnan secured the release of all Irish prisoners taken in the conflict, and visited the monasteries
of Wearmouth and Jarrow.
Persuaded by Saint
Ceolfrid, Adamnan adopted the Roman calendar for determining Easter,
and then worked for the adoption of many Roman liturgical practices in the
Celtic region. This so displeased some brother monks at Iona
that from 692
on, Adamnan rarely went there.
Attended the Council of Birr and Synod of Tara in 697
at which he helped enact the Canons of Adamnan, laws that
helped protect civilian and clerical populations in areas at war, prohibiting the murder or enslavement of non-combatant women and children. A noted scholar, he wrote the biography Life of Saint Columba in the
late 680’s, a work that survives today (see links below). He also wrote De locis sanctis (On the Holy
Places), a popular description of Palestine based on the notes of and interviews with the Frankish pilgrim bishop Arculf. Renovated and revitalized the monastery
of Raphoe, Ireland.
Born
- c.628 in Drumhome, County Donegal, Ireland
- 23 September 704 at Iona Abbey
- relics
taken to various Irish sites during the next century during peacemaking
conferences
- most relics
were destroyed during Danish incursions in 830 and 1030
- man in prayer
with the moon and seven stars
over his head
- man writing (his biography of Saint
Columba)
