The Church of St. Colmcille, Churchtown South, East County Cork, Ireland.

Churchtown (Ballintemple in Irish) is one of three churches of the Parish of Cloyne in East County Cork:
Parish Church: St. Colman in Cloyne, East County Cork (est. 1815)
Local Church: Immaculate Conception in Shanagarry (Sean-Gharra in Irish) established 1814 by Father Peadar Ó Néill who had been exiled to Australia 1800-1803.
Local Church: St. Colmcille in Churchtown (South)

Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, ‘church dove’; 7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

Saint Columba is one of the three chief saints of Ireland, after saint Patrick and saint Brigit of Kildare.

The main source of information about Saint Columba’s life is the Vita Columbae (i.e. “Life of Columba”), a hagiography written in the style of “saint’s lives” narratives that had become widespread throughout medieval Europe. Compiled and drafted by scribes and clergymen, these accounts were written in Latin and served as written collections of the deeds and miracles attributed to the saint, both during his or her life or after death. The canonization of a saint, especially one who had lived on the fringes of the medieval Christian world like Saint Columba, required a well-written hagiography to be submitted to Rome, but popular belief and local cults of sainthood often led to the veneration of these men and women without official approval from the Catholic Church.

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