304 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



there is no probability that in either case they preached 'to the heathen. 

 And, speaking generally, the primary idea of the word peregrinatio is not 

 evangelistic labour, but exile from the mother country and its temptations, 

 for the purpose of leading a life of austerity. This is clearly brought out in 

 the paragraphs of the old Irish Life of St. Columba which expound the 

 " three ways in which one leaves his fatherland when he goes into 

 pilgrimage."' Gen. xii. 1 and Matt. xix. 29 are quoted ; but there is not the 

 smallest allusion to missionary work. It was just because the central 

 thought of pilgrimage was seclusion and asceticism that it is so often 

 referred to as a form of penance.^ Many Irish pilgrims preached to pagans, 

 but this was not the ideal of their pilgrimage. And if missionary activity is 

 not already in the word peregrinari, it cannot be forced into it by the addition 

 pro Christo. Anyone who believed that exile and asceticism belonged to the 

 highest form of Christian life would go on " pilgrimage " for the love of 

 Christ, even though it was no part of his purpose to carry the Gospel to the 

 heathen. The text, so often quoted in this connexion, "Everyone that hath 

 forsaken houses or brethren ... for my name's sake " (Matt. xix. 29), if it 

 refers to "pilgrimage," would certainly warrant the phrase pi-o Christo. 



But further, the word uolens should not be pressed, as Dr. Skene seems 

 unconsciously to press it. It might legitimately be applied to voluntary 

 acquiescence in the advice or command of others. There is such a thing as 

 willing obedience to distasteful orders. 



Let us as-sume, however, that which seems to me so far from evident, that 

 Adamuan believed Columba to have left Ireland under the influence of " a 

 desire to carry the Gospel to a pagan nation." It remains doubtful that this 

 was his sole motive. Certainly, in spite of his strong assertion, Dr. Skene 

 considered himself free to suggest another wliich, to say the least, is not 

 vouched for by any direct statement of Adamnan. After reminding us' that 

 in 560 the Irish colony of Scottish Dalriada suffered a serious reverse at the 

 hands of Bmde, king of the northern Picts, he makes the definite state- 

 ment : " This great reverse called forth the mission of Columba . . . and led 

 to the foundation of the monastic church in Scotland."' The theory is 

 elaborated a little further on. '• Separated from him by the Irish Channel was 

 the great pagan nation of the northern Picts, who, under a powerful king, had 

 just inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Scots of Dalriada, and threatened 

 their expulsion from the country ; and, while his missionary zeal impelled 



1 Stokes, p. 169. 



-Plummer, "Vitae,"i, p. cxxii ; " Bede," ii. 170. 



3 p. 79. 



■• The only authority cited for this is the Propliecy of St. Berchan {ibid., p. 83). 



