Iona College - ICANN Yearbook (New Rochelle, NY)

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Il ia lo St. Columba and Io the missionary zeal of Iona lhal we dedicate the 1964 ICANN. DEDICATION Two thousand miles to the cast of Iona College lies the peaceful hut rugged isle of Iona. Some fourteen hundred years ago, a hand of twelve monks, led hy the holy Columba, threaded its way northeastward on the tempestuous North Atlantic to establish a monastery at this remote place. Iona then was, ami for several hundred years previous had been, a center of Druid worship. With the advent of Columba, it liecame an outpost of the Christianity which was to so de- cisively influence the history of the British Isles. Columba was horn in 521, and was heir to the throne in Northern Ireland; hut, this he abandoned for the monastic life. After studying under St. Finnian, Columba was or- dained in 551, and became well known for his devotion and piety. He travelled extensively throughout Ireland, estal»- lishing numerous churches and monasteries. In 563 he Iie- came involved in a dispute concerning u copyright, which resulted in the death of three thousand men in the Battle of Coleraine. Legend relates that Columha was directed to go into exile, and would he allowed to return only after he had converted as many souls to Christianity as hud been lost in this battle. St. Aidan, a more reliable biographer of Columha, attributes his journey to his excessive missionary zeal. At the Iona Abliey the monks diligently pursued the fusion of all material and spiritual values. The emphasis of the Celtic Church on the oneness of all can he seen as being influential in Columba's life. His explicit directions were to convert ScoUund and the pagan Saxons. As a poet and as an outstanding scholar, the abbot of Iona accentuated to a high degree the role .©£the spiritual in the lives of his brethren. His statesmanlike policies helped to set up the Kingdom of the'3lc6ts, with Aidan as ijs ruler. The lineal descendant of this throne presently occupies the royal chair of Great Britain J Acyvhv +£!X( wo hui For two hundred years after the death of Columba the monastic activities of Iona declined as waves of Viking plun- derers devastated the island and martyred the monks. Since its.-si clfT ghrnfry prominence in things spiritual and intel- lectual, the island has remained as a shrine of inspiration. Columha prophesied the decline of Iona. Yet a new Iona was to take its place, for its spirit outlived its material appur- tenances. 4

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THEME 0' How simple it is to speak of molding minds and affecting eternity. Edu- cation is often reduced to impassioned platitudes of golden pasts and rose- tinted futures. Y'et the feeling and occasional flashes of exultation that accompany the lone, immediate insight into the nature of a novel, or the thought of a great thinker, or the sense of something historic must be considered only as foretastes when the same discoveries are charged by another mind—be it student or teacher. ' ■ revmtt • . .• Sensitive guidance, scholarly example, and stalwart endeavor mark Iona's intellectual and spiritual stance. The ancient questioning attitude that brings wisdom and youth into harmony and sometimes discord is the water- shed of Iona. The answer to the perennial questions—-Why teacher? Why stu- dent?—lies in the two of it, not the one; the answer lies in the conjugality of —knowledge, beauty, and happiness. I Ws S if yp ii Mi- M 6