Colum Cille: Altus Prosator (1)
Who can please God in the last time,
when the noble rules of truth have all been changed
except for those who scorn the present world?[1]
– Colum Cille, Altus Prosator
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
– 1 John 2.15
Theology and poetry
In every age and place the Gospel has made inroads, theologians have resorted to poetic forms to share their deepest thoughts and most abiding truths.
Perhaps inspired by the example of the Word of God—more than one-third of which is written in poetry—Christian thinkers have elected to employ the powers of meter, rhyme, and image to engage, not just the minds of readers, but their hearts as well. And the results can be most satisfying, though beyond their place and time, alas, they largely go ignored.
But in their day, their poetic works astonished, pleased, provoked, and challenged readers to consider God and all His will compactly, vividly, and in ways calculated to lead them to increase devotion to the Lord.
Even when conditions seemed least favorable, and the times most unlikely, theologians turned to verse. Among these, Colum Cille (521-597) stands out as, if not the most prolific, yet a poet of considerable power and unparalleled scope, of themes most lofty and expansive, and of verse that unifies creation and divine intention with sublime effects.
Colum Cille
We know Colum mostly as a missionary and monk, who founded the community of saints on Holy Isle, Iona. A rising star in the school of Finnian of Clonard, Colum was exiled from Ireland for seeking to make a personal copy of the gospels, an action strictly forbidden by monastic code. Sailing to Iona, he climbed the highest point of the island and looked back to see whether he could still see Ireland. He could not, and so he stayed on Iona.
He would serve there for more than thirty years and would be joined by monks from Ireland and converts from Scotland. Together they formed a community of saints and scholars, and Iona became known as “Holy Isle”. Colum prepared men, through worship, teaching, and example, for advancing Christ’s dominion throughout all of Scotland and on to the continent.
He was a man of erudition, an evangelist and prophet, and a friend to kings and paupers. His expressed desire
in life was that he might be for Christ an eternal holy hymn.[2] A fellow poet described him as a “noble candle”[3] who was full of grace.[4] He was a pillar of all learning, and especially in the Law of God.[5] He understood the spirit world; he set the psalms for singing; taught God’s Law; obeyed His wisdom; studied seasons, stars, and galaxies; made copies of God’s Word for all his schools—and even mastered Greek.[6]
His first biographer observed that in some speculations Colum made, his mind became enlarged, and he saw plainly all the world caught up within a single ray of sun.[7] He was “the spearcast,” wrote Beccán, and by him “lies were slain.”[8]
He was, in sum, a most profound, devoted, faithful, and remarkable savant, servant, and saint. And he was a poet, whose few surviving works combine a love for truth, a knowledge of creation, and a deep devotion to discipleship and witness. And, as we shall see, the verse of Colum Cille comes in no way short of orthodoxy or poetic excellence.
Altus Prosator
His most important literary contribution is his poem, Altus Prosator (Great High Sower or Exalted First Sower). As the title suggests, the poem is about God and the works He has “sown” through the course of divine revelation. Colum’s insight to God and his understanding of His ways is spread before us in a carefully crafted alphabetic poem of 23 stanzas and a coda. The poem is an overview of the redemptive plan of God and must surely have been a source of comfort and encouragement to the monks of Iona.
Altus Prosator can instruct and encourage us as well, as we shall see.
For Reflection
1. Why do you think more theology isn’t written in poetry?
2. Would writing in poetry make theology more interesting? More accessible? Explain.
Psalm 19.1-3
St. Christopher: Beneath the Cross of Jesus
The heav’ns declare God’s glory, the skies His work proclaim!
From day to day and night by night they shout His glorious Name!
No speech, no words, no voice is heard, yet all across the earth
the lines of His all-present Word make known His holy worth.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: This week: Our ReVision series on “Everyday Christianity” explores the joy of knowing the Presence of the Lord. Our Read Moore podcast continues through our book, The Disciplined Life. The focus of our Scriptorium daily study looks at the second part of Colossians 1. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
[1] All translations of Altus Prosator are from John Carey, ed. and tr., King of Mysteries (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1998), pp. 29-50.
[2] Adiutor Laborantium in Thomas Owen Clancy and Gilbert Márkus, Iona: The Earliest Poetry of a Celtic Monastery (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997), p. 73.
[3] Beccán mac Luigdech, For Réir Choluimb, in Clancy and Márkus, p. 141.
[4] Ibid., p. 143.
[5] Dallán Forgaill, Amra Choluimb Chille, in Clancy and Márkus, p. 107.
[6] cf. Dallán Forgaill, Amra Choluimb Chille, pp. 107, 109; Adomnán, Life of Columba, Alan Orr Anderson and Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson, eds. and trans. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), pp. 13, 15, 27, and Book 3 (throughout).
[7] Adomnán, Life of Columba, p. 19.
[8] Beccán mac Luigdech, For Réir Choluimb, in Clancy and Márkus, p. 139.
