9/30: Idyllic Isle of Iona!

Earlier in the day, we'd taken a ferry from the Western Highland resort town of Oban to the Inner Hebridean Isle of Mull and then had a delightful tour across the island with a local driver, Sheila,  who entertained us every step of the way with local lore. After dropping us off about two hours later in the tiny community of Fionnphort, we boarded another ferry to the uninhabited Isle of Staffa. There we were enthralled by its phenomenal basalt columns and Fingal's Cave. The last island in our day trip of some of the Inner Hebrides was to Iona, the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland.

From the ferry, we caught sight of the Iona Abbey, the main site on the isle.

After being dropped off in the tiny harbor in the island's only real village of Baile Mor, we traipsed through the community en route to the nunnery ruins. Fortunately, it wasn't a long walk as the only cars belonged to the island's residents and there was just one taxi!

One of Britain's best-preserved medieval nunneries was the realm of Iona's religious women where a community of women worshipped in a strict round of services and private prayer. Founded around 1200, the convent flourished for more than 350 years. 

Many nuns came from noble families. The convent provided refuge for unmarried daughters, widows, illegitimate girls, and estranged wives. Far from leading lives of poverty and seclusion, these women had daily contact with the outside world. They supported themselves financially, living off income from nunnery lands on Iona and beyond. Until the 1600s, the south shore of the island was known as 'hillside of the nuns.'

Just beyond the nunnery ruins was Reilig Odhrain, Iona's main burial ground and the final resting place of abbots, monks, great lords, and warriors. Tradition said it was also the burial place of kings including the Scottish king Macbeth of Shakespeare fame that many believed was buried here. Though medieval sources named 48 Scottish kings buried here, recent scholarship has cast doubt on this long-held belief. 

We continued on to St. Oran's Chapel, the burial chapel of the MacDonald Lords of the Isles. Located in the graveyard of the Iona Abbey, the chapel was built in the 1100s and is the oldest intact building on Iona. St. Oran was said to have martyred himself, offering to be buried alive to sanctify this cemetery. Pilgrims probably paused here to pray to St. Oran on their way to the abbey and St. Columba's shrine.

The chapel had a collection of elaborately-carved grave slabs carved in the distinctive Iona School style which was developed by 14th century local stone carvers.

The chapel was now run by the Iona Community, founded in 1938 by George Macleod. The ecumenical group was a religious community that seeks new ways of living the Gospel. As part of its commitment to justice, healing, and peace, a service of prayers for healing is held every Tuesday evening in the Abbey Church at 9. I liked that visitors were invited to leave requests for prayers here. 

History of Iona: Iona Abbey marked the site of Christianity's arrival in Scotland. St. Columba left Ireland after being caught with an illegally copied psalm book. According to legend, the first spit of land out of sight of his homeland was Iona, so it was there he stopped in 563 and established the abbey. Columba's monastic community thrived and Iona became the center of Celtic Christianity. Iona missionaries spread the gospel throughout Scotland and northern England, while scholarly monks established Iona as a center of art and learning. The Book of Kells, described as possibly the finest piece of art from Europe in the Dark Ages, was probably made in the 8th century on Iona. The importance of Iona slowly ebbed. When Vikings massacred 68 monks in 806, remaining monks evacuated most of Iona's treasures to Ireland, including the Book of Kells which we were fortunate to view on our second day of this trip about five weeks ago. 

Much later, with the Reformation, the abbey was abandoned and most of its finely carved crosses were destroyed. Locals used the abbey in the 17th century as a convenient quarry for other building projects! The island's population is now just 200 after a potato famine hit in the 1840s and a third of the residents emigrated to my native Canada and Australia a decade later. 

While the abbey, nunnery, and graveyard, dated to the 13th century, little actually remained of the original Columba monastery. What we saw was a reconstruction of the later Benedictine abbey built after the Benedictines arrived in 1200.  

This rocky knoll was known as Torr an Aba or Hill of the Abbot. St. Columba's writing hut was believed to have stood on its summit as archaeologists found traces there.  His 'raised wooden hut' would have had commanding views over his monastery and across to Mull. At the top of the hill was an empty stone socket that once held a cross marking the significance of the spot.

St. Columba was an accomplished scribe. As Iona was a shining beacon of Christian learning, it had a major scriptorium where books of God contained the word of God were produced and meticulously copied. Creating gospel books, hymnals, and magnificent manuscripts, the monks scratched letters onto the vellum or calf skin and decorated the pages in brilliant colors.

This cobbled stretch of road, known as the Street of the Dead, was thought to be over 1,000 years old. It linked the abbey with the Reilig Odhrain burial ground we'd seen earlier and the landing point at the bay beyond. The bodies of abbots, lords, warriors, and possibly even kings were carried here before being laid to rest.

Towering over the entrance to Columba's shrine was a replica of St. John's Cross that was unprecedented in its design. The original was in the Abbey Museum. Iona's iconic high crosses marked the holy ground on approach to the abbey church and Columba's shrine. These may have been aids to contemplation - a focus for the prayers of the faithful.

In front of the abbey was St. Martin's Cross which had stood in this same spot for more than 1,200 years, the only high cross still in its original location. I had never known that some of the earliest images of the Virgin and Child came from Iona! The scene at the center of the cross was probably copied from the same source as a page in the Book of Kells.

People have been traveling to Iona Abbey for over 1,400 years. Like us, they arrived by boat and moved in procession toward the heart of the abbey to visit the church and the St. Columba shrine. 

When Columba died in 597, the monks buried their founder near the abbey church. In the 600s, pilgrims started to come to the island, hoping to pray at the shrine containing Columba's relics and receive the saint's blessing. In the centuries that followed, Iona became an internationally famous destination. Pilgrims paused at chapels, burial grounds, and crosses that marked the sites of Columba's many miracles. 

Here's a description of the images on the cross from the bottom up since they're clearer: a Celtic snake; David defeating Goliath; King David playing the harp; Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac; and, partially visible at the top, Daniel in the lions' den.

This chapel marked the burial place of St. Columba. We read that "sightings of heavenly lights and angels" prompted the building of a richly decorated wooden shrine around his grave. The stone chapel we saw probably dated from the 800s and then reconstructed in modern times. 

This 'well head' in front of the chapel was modern but the well itself was likely to have been here in St. Columba's time with the steps down inside providing access for religious rituals like baptism. It's possible the well was even older as a sacred well was used in pagan rituals before being absorbed into Christian practice after St. Columba arrived in 563. The well water was probably also bottled for pilgrims to take home. 

The Abbey Church felt like a very active church because it was the home church for the island's vibrant Iona Community.

Pilgrims may have washed their feet in this trough before entering the abbey church. Tradition has it that by throwing in three handfuls of water, people could ask St. Columba for a favorable wind before setting out to sea. We could just make out a faint cross carved onto the end of the stone.

While much of the space inside the church had been rebuilt, plenty of original stone carvings still remained. 

The capitals on many columns were particularly striking.

Can you imaging attending church services and seeing this eternally screaming face each time?!!

Steven and I have been in countless churches and other places of religious worship all over the world in our seven years of international travel together but I can say with certainty never had we come across signs proclaiming the dangers of the climate crisis under an altar before. 

These memorials were in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll who gave the ruined abbey to the Iona Cathedral Trust for restoration. 

Many believe that a miracle-working statue of St. Colomba stood in this niche just outside the church. Though only his feet remained, we could see the saint's outline in a contemporary form. 

Thank goodness we knew to look for the cloister as it was so poorly marked we'd never have seen it otherwise.

The cloister was filled with more finely carved capitals but these were modern recreations. 

There were also several more of the tall, narrow tombstones like the ones we'd seen in St. Oran's Chapel a bit earlier. 

Behind the abbey we found Maclean's Cross which many pilgrims paused by to pray on their approach to the abbey. On one side of the cross, they could contemplate eternal interlocked designs sprouting from the tails of two beasts. On the other side was the poignant image of the crucifixion. Erected around 1500, the cross was paid for by the powerful Maclean family and was therefore a public display of their support for the abbey. 

Before leaving the complex, we made sure to visit the Abbey Museum for a few minutes. According to historians, Iona has the finest collection of sacred sculpture anywhere in Scotland, much of it from Reilig Odhrain. 

This was the oldest carved stone to survive on Iona, likely carved within a generation of St. Columba's death in 597. The Latin inscription on the top of the stone said The Stone of Echodi as he was a monk that served with Columba.

These stones commemorated members of Gaelic society buried on this holy isle between about 1300 and 1500. Their relatives brought their bodies from miles around, hauling these great slabs of schist, slate, and sandstone to lay over their graves. These striking works of art were probably commissioned by the deceased during their lifetimes with the stones quarried and carved locally and then transported to Iona when they died. 

The grave slabs looked very similar to the West Highland grave slabs we'd seen en route to Oban the day before in Kilmartin Glen. 

I think this was the 8th century St. Oran's Cross but there were so many fabulous crosses in the museum I may have it mixed up with one of the others!

In 1200, Iona's ruler and patron, Ranald, made a bold move. He refounded the abbey as a Benedictine monastery with new buildings and European practices. A son of the mighty sea lord, Somerled, Ranald had inherited his father's control of this area. Their MacDonald descendants (of which I am one as my maiden name is MacDonald of the Clan Ranald!) continued to dominate the region, later becoming Lords of the Isles. As powerful benefactors, their family burial chapel was in the abbey cemetery. 

This grave slab, which originated in the 1300s and added to later, was a memorial to five generations of Mackinons who ruled Iona on behalf of the MacDonalds and appointed family members to key roles at the abbey.

This gravestone from the 1500s was the only woman's one we'd seen over the last few days as we traveled through the Western Highlands so it was a refreshing change! Above the cross was a narrow label that used to have an inscription.

Though the abbey and nunnery fell into ruin around 1560 after the Protestant Reformation, they remained important to the islanders and the wider world.

My mother was born and raised in Bedford, England, and emigrated to eastern Canada after becoming a war bride after World War II. When my parents and three older brothers moved to Ottawa shortly before I was born, my mother faithfully attended the St. Columba Anglican Church a short distance away from our home as she didn't convert to my father's Catholic faith. Visiting Iona and learning so much about St. Columba and the birth of Christianity in Scotland made me think so much of my mum whom I know would have loved Iona. 

Iona has been described as a 'thin place with a fine veil separating Heaven and Earth.' It was a place of fine art and pilgrimage where religion was a critical part of everyday life. I think I also speak for Steven when I say we experienced a great sense of peace and spirituality visiting the entire religious complex. 

It was after 5 when we caught the ferry for the short trip back to Fionnphort on the Isle of Mull.

We were happy to see that Sheila, our bus driver from the morning was there waiting for us to take us across the island to Craignure, as she had been such an entertaining raconteur that morning. 

Yay, we spotted more hairy coos aka Highland cattle on our way back across the isle!

Sheila mentioned that Robbie the Bobbie, i.e. the local police officer, was known to cut enough of his own peat so he'd have enough to heat his home all winter.

This was another contestant in the island's recently completed scarecrow competition!

I think the perfect word to describe the Isle of Iona would be idyllic as I hope you will agree when you look at these images.

I thought this contestant was pretty darned cute! I wish I had could have gotten a better photo of its name when we drove by as all I could make out was Sir ...!

Somehow Sheila managed to pass by this fellow double-decker bus on the seemingly impossible narrow road! The driver turned out to be her 'boyfriend', also in his late 60s.

The early evening ferry ride back to Oban on the mainland couldn't have been more beautiful as we spotted some seals and dolphins alongside our boat! 

I was very fortunate meeting a fellow passenger, Ben Gibbons, on the final ferry back to Oban as he showed me this lovely photo he'd just taken of a common dolphin. He kindly agreed to send it to me so I could include it in this post at long last.

Next post: Researching my family heritage and the road to Aberdeen via Glencoe.

In between trying to finally finish these last posts on our trip to Ireland and the United Kingdom last fall, I have been writing posts on our much-abbreviated trip to Sri Lanka and southern India last month that was supposed to have been part of a four-month-long trip to Asia and the Middle East. Here's the link to the latest post on our wild drive from Kandy to Dambulla in Sri Lanka with a young Muslim driver as we passed the country's tallest Hindu temple and encountered a Buddhist festival complete with men strung up on hooks!

https://bergersadventures8.blogspot.com/2020/05/37-buddhist-shocking-parade-in-matale.html

Posted on May 6th, 2020, from a gorgeous spring day in Denver.

Steven and I hope you stay healthy and strong in these troubled times.