Product Code Database
Iona Abbey is an abbey located on the island of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast of Scotland.
It is one of the oldest Christian religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland and marks the foundation of a monastic community by Columba, when Iona was part of the Kingdom of Dál Riata. Saint Aidan served as a monk at Iona, before helping to reestablish Christianity in Northumberland, on the island of Lindisfarne.
In the 12th century, the Macdonald lords of Clan Donald made Iona the ecclesiastical capital of the Royal Family of Macdonald, and subsequent Lords of the Isles into the early 16th century endowed and maintained the abbey, church and nunnery. Two of the Macdonalds (each named Angus) became Bishops of the Isles with the bishop's seat at Iona. St. Oran's chapel was the burial place for the Lords as evidenced by their grave slabs.Clan Donald and Iona Abbey 1200–1500 by Ian Ross Macdonnell, 2012.
From 1207 to 1493, the early Clan Donald and its Lords of the Isles were entirely central to Iona abbey's medieval existence, development and prestige. This enduring Macdonald phase equals the 300 year period of primary Columban monasticism. It is paramount in providing the sole witness to Iona's extant architecture and is a principal witness to the surviving monuments. The Iona Abbey church was in all but name The Macdonald's Cathedral of The Isles. Medieval Iona Abbey, as you see it today (restored in the 20th century) is largely the legacy of the 15th century Clan Donald Lords of the Isles and their Clan Donald Abbots and Bishops.
Today, Iona Abbey is the spiritual home of the Iona Community, an Ecumenism Christian religious order, whose headquarters are in Glasgow. The Abbey remains a popular site of Christian pilgrimage today.
At this time the name of the island and so the abbey was "Hy" or "Hii"; "Iona" only seems to date from the 14th century, as a mis-transcription of a Latinized "Ioua" for "Hy".Meyvaert, 7–8
Columba's monastery was surrounded by a ditch and earth bank, part of which is believed to have pre-existed Columba's arrival, and part of which can still be seen to the north west of the current abbey buildings.
The building at Kells took from 807 until the consecration of the church in 814. In 814, Cellach, Abbot of Iona, retired to Kells, but, contrary to what is sometimes claimed, it is clear from the Annals that Iona remained the main Columban house for several decades, despite the danger of Viking raids.Meyvaert, 11
In 825, Blathmac and those monks who remained with him at Iona were martyred in a Viking raid, (2026). 9780521829922, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521829922 and the Abbey was burned. But only in 878 were the main relics, with Columba's reliquary shrine specified in the records, moved to Ireland, with Kells becoming the new main Columban house. Though not mentioned, this might well have been when the Book of Kells came to Kells. However, Iona Abbey was probably not deserted as its continued importance is shown by the death there in 980 of Amlaíb Cuarán, a retired King of Dublin.
Columba established several monasteries in Britain and Ireland, although he was mainly based at Iona.
Other monks from Iona moved to the Continent, and established monasteries in Belgium, France, and Switzerland.
The Iona Nunnery, a foundation by Somerled's daughter, Bethóc of the Augustinian Order, (one of only three in Scotland – the other two were in Perth and Teampull na Trionaid in North Uist), was established south of the abbey buildings. Graves of some of the early nuns remain, including that of a remarkable prioress, Anna Maclean, who died in 1543. Clearly visible under her outer robe is the rochet, a pleated surplice denoting the Augustinian Order. The nunnery buildings were rebuilt in the fifteenth century and fell into disrepair after the Reformation.
The abbey church was substantially expanded in the fifteenth century by the Macdonald Lords of the Isles who considered it their spiritual seat and the church, their Cathedral of the Isles. Following the Scottish Reformation, Iona, along with numerous other abbeys throughout the British Isles, was dismantled, and abandoned, its monks and libraries dispersed.
The simple square font was added in 1908 and dedicated to the memory of the Very Rev Theodore Marshall DD, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in that year.
In 2000 the Iona Cathedral Trust handed over the care of the Abbey, Nunnery, and associated sites to Historic Scotland.Yeoman, Peter (2014). Iona Abbey and Nunnery, p. 69. Historic Scotland, Edinburgh.
In June 2021, the abbey reopened following a £3.75M renovation, fund-raised by the Iona Community over three years, and including a renewable energy system and high-speed broadband.
| St. John's Cross in the Abbey museum | St. Martin's Cross outside the abbey |
Many early Scottish kings (said to be 48 in total), as well as kings from Ireland, Norway and France, are said to be buried in the Abbey graveyard. However, modern scholars are sceptical of such claims, which were likely mythic associated with increasing the prestige of Iona. Numerous leading Hebrides, such as various Lords of the Isles and other prominent members of West Highland Scottish clan, were buried on Iona, including a row of Maclean chieftains and several early MacLeod chiefs. The site was much loved by John Smith, 20th-century leader of the Labour Party, who was buried on Iona in 1994.
Several are found on the island of Iona. St Martin's Cross (dated to the 8th century) still stands by the roadside. A replica of St John's Cross is found by the doorway of the Abbey. The restored original is located in the Infirmary Museum at the rear of the abbey.
The contemporary Jedburgh-based sculptor Christopher Hall worked for many years on carvings on the cloisters of the abbey, which represent birds, flora and fauna native to the island. He also was commissioned to carve John Smith's gravestone.
|
|
