This Day in Christian History: June 9 June 9, 597: Death of St. Columba Saint Columba was born in Ireland in 521. On his father's side, he was the descendant of a High Irish King. His mother was the sister of Saint Martin. He is best known for his missionary work in Scotland. After studying under many well-known church leaders, Columba crossed over to Scotland with 12 of his followers and founded a church in Iona. He is credited with being the leading figure to introduce and spread the Christian faith in Scotland. Columba had many miracles occur during his ministry. Once, he was attempting to evangelize one of the Scottish towns when they threw him out of the city, closed the gates, and tried to drown out his preaching with music. His voice miraculously raised above the instruments and was heard to the entire crowd. Then the gates came open, so he walked in and won many converts to Christ. He died in Iona at the age of 77 on June 9, 597. According to the Catholic encycl...

This Day in Christian History: March 17 March 17, 461: Death of Maewyn (more commonly known as Saint Patrick)  Did you know that Saint Patrick was not Irish? His was born in Roman Britain, however, at the age of 16, his town was attacked by Irish raiders. Maewyn was kidnapped and brought to Ireland where he was enslaved. It was during his six years of captivity, as he served as a shepherd, that Maewyn found a relationship with the Lord.  According to the Confessio of Patrick, the Lord told him to flee to the coast, where there would be a ship waiting to take him home. The port was two hundred miles away, but Maewyn did flee, and was able to convince the captain to let him on board. By the time he returned to his family, Maewyn was in his twenties. After some time, Maewyn had a vision of a man begging him to return to Ireland and minister to the very people that had enslaved him. He did return to Ireland and became known as Patrick. He faced great opposition from ...