Columcille on the Foyle..
According to the statement on the Derry City Council website, “The Inner City Trust River Foyle Project is an attempt to create a haven of peace on the centre of the river which divides the city, where both Catholics and Protestants together can meet and appreciate historic shared Christian heritage.” Hmm.. I’m not entirely convinced we need another reminder of that particular historic heritage on this island.. ANYway.. the centre piece of the regeneration project is to be a 160ft high statue of St Columba in the River Foyle – to cost an estimated £16million. According to the BBC report, Tony Candon of Derry City Council said, “Both [versions of Columba's name] come from the word meaning a dove, which indicates a man of peace, a man of God.”.. which doesn’t quite match all of the traditional versions of the Life of St. ColumbaFrom the introduction to this version at Utah State University
St. Columba was born on December 7, ca. 521 A.D. to Fedhlimidh and Eithne of the Ui Neill clan in Gartan (Donegal). As a young man, Columba soon took an interest in the church, joined the monastery at Moville, and was ordained a deacon by St. Finnian. After studying with a bard called Gemman, Columba was ordained a priest by Etchen, the bishop of Clonfad. Columba entered the monastery of Mobhi Clarainech, and when disease forced the disbanding of that monastery, Columba went north and founded the church of Derry. Tradition has it that after founding several other monasteries, Columba copied St. Finnian’s psalter without the permission of Finnian, and thus devalued the book. When Finnian took the matter to High King Dermott for judgement, Dermott judged in favor of Finnian, stating “to every cow its calf; to every book its copy” (I am borrowing this quote from Cathach Books in Dublin). Columba refused to hand over the copy, and Dermott forced the issue militarily. Columba’s family and clan defeated Dermott at the battle of Cooldrevny in 561. Tradition further holds that St. Molaisi of Devenish, Columba’s spiritual father, ordered Columba to bring the same number of souls to Christ that he had caused to die as pennance. In 563, Columba landed on Iona with 12 disciples, and founded a new monastery. After founding several more monasteries, confounding the local druids, and participating in another battle (this time against St. Comgall over who owned the church of Colethem), Columba died on June 9, 597.
OK so that’s probably taking the claim too literally.. but I’m not convinced we need another reminder of that “historic shared Christian heritage” on this island.. nevermind one that ignores other historic, or emerging, heritages.. although the exiling does have some modern parallels.. probably best not to mention those though..
Rocky, I could go for that! It’s a lot shorter than 160 feet, and actually should go on the steps of the Council Building (doen’t have exterior steps I think, but never mind) on the side facing Magee. If you’re going to muck up the river with something huge, shouldn’t it be Elvis at least? Ben(n)
Rocky XXXVII …… The Legend Continues.
why not make the statue out of wicker, and put the members of the City Council into it, light the match, step back, and enjoy……
But the plan to build and artificial island and put a statue on it is taken as a seriously good thing for the City.
I thought that the City was established by the City of London Company. And they left us with some quite nice walls – it might be a good idea to do something with them – increase the budget for the walled city festival/Hallowe’en events. These are things that we can be proud of – do we really need a large statue to make Derry worth visiting?
The idea that people would want to come see this statue is not realistic in my opinion – do many people go out of their way to see the Angel of the North on the Mainland
“The bigots on the Catholic side (like P. O’Neil) are going to claim this guy as theirs, and as soon as they do that the bigot element of the ‘Brit Prods’ that P.O’Neil doesn’t like are going to see it as not theirs.”
St Columcille was a Prince of the House of Ui Niall, so I don’t have to claim him as ‘one of mine’ he already is. Can you please explain how the Brits can claim him? Other than the whole he brought the ‘true faith’ (Protestanism) bullshit. This is not bigotry, but rather a statement of fact. The Prods claiming St Columcille as their own is like the Catholics claiming Knox or Clavin as theirs. Protestantism is only just over 400 years old, so how can it claim as Saint from 1500 years ago??
There is no hope of any shared Christian tradition thinking becoming widespread so long as attitudes like that shown by P. O’Neil still exist.
How dare you, if it weren’t bad enough that you Prods stole our lands, churches, abbeys etc, now you now want to steal our Saints as well..
Besides, I always thought veneration of Saints was prohibited by the Protestant churches (idolitory), or is this just as selective as your perspective on history?
the truth , of course pee, is that Protestants don’t venerate saints because so many of us come into that category
It’s all a bit tragic that we are trying to decide which side of the house Colmcille was on, or should that be which side of the river…He was from a time when their was only one brand of Christianity and he can only be called Irish.
Paddy ‘Bogside’ Doherty’s latest vanity project has at least got Derry’s humour muscles working.
Some I’ve heard:
Column Cille
The Greek in the Creek
The Million Dollar Scholar
The Giver in the River
“Saint to reside with pride in the tide” – Derry Journal
“the truth , of course pee, is that Protestants don’t venerate saints because so many of us come into that category.”
In order to first become a Saint, you have to be dead.
Meanwhile, good to see the mayor of Londonderry SDLP’s Helen Quigley, receiving the freedom of the City of London and commenting “it signifies the strong historic, cultural, and economic links that exist between our two cities”.
As she proudly fondles her ceremonial scroll and contemplates the perks appending thereto , she will no doubt reflect on the waste of ratepayers’ money on attempting to remove the most obvious manifestation of that link…er, heartily supported by the SDLP
Has anyone ever read a picture book called ‘The Tin Pot Foreign General and The Old Iron Woman’ by Raymond Briggs?
There is a great bit where they fight about which one ‘bagsied’ the (Falkland)islands first and they shout ‘mine!’ at each other.
It reminds me a bit of the debate going on here now.
Darth, I thought that was a bit ironic too ;P