Friday, February 02, 2007
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. Columba
From 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..
Pete Baker @ 07:00 PM
Life moved at a slower pace when Columba roamed the glens. From Pete’s last link:
CHAPTER XVIII.
Of the Book which fell into the Water-vessel, as the Saint had foretold.
IN the same way, on another day, as he was sitting by the hearth in the monastery, he saw at some distance Lugbe, of the tribe Mocumin, reading a book, and suddenly said to him, “Take care, my son, take care, for I think that the book thou readest is about to fall into a vessel full of water.” And so it soon happened, for when the same youth rose soon after to perform some duty in the monastery, he forgot the word of the blessed man, and the book which he held negligently under his arm suddenly fell into the water-pot, which was full of water.CHAPTER XIX.
Of the Inkhorn, awkwardly spilled.
On another day a shout was given on the other side of the Sound of the Iouan island (Sound of Iona); the saint hearing the shout, as he was sitting in his little hut, which was made of planks, said, “The man who is shouting beyond the Sound is not of very sharp wit, for when he is here today he will upset my inkhorn and spill the ink.” Diormit, his minister, hearing this, stood a little in front of the door, and waited for the arrival of this troublesome guest, in order to save the inkhorn. But for some cause or other he had soon to leave his place, and after his departure the unwelcome guest arrived; in his eager haste to kiss the saint, he upset the inkhorn with the hem of his garment and spilled the ink.Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 09:38 PMNow susan, you wouldn’t be belittling Saint Columba’s PROPHETIC REVELATIONS.. ;o)
Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 09:41 PMWho, me? I think you’ve unearthed the earliest known example of Bloglaigh na hEireann.....fame and riches await!
Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 09:44 PMHeh.
Next post:
“Of the coffee, awkwardly spilled on the keyboard.”
Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 09:51 PM‘where both Catholics and Protestants together can meet and appreciate historic shared Christian heritage’
I don’t believe that any folks of that thinking need a dirty great statue to meet at. Surely they are all getting along fine and meeting in whatever way suits them at present.
That would refer to genuine Christians.
The problem is that most Protestants and Catholics that he refers to are nominal members of those denominations at best. Most don’t actually practice Christianity, never mind ever see the inside of a church.
I don’t think any of them are going to be drawn to some giant statue to ponder what heritage they supposedly share with the other denomination. Some of them will be much more interested in meting at interfaces to beat the crap out of each other.
When are politicians in NI going to get over this Catholic and Protestant obsession? Never mind that it’s only for Christians (and thus not for Jews or Muslims or non-believers) - it just isn’t going to appeal to the great mass of nominal Catholics and Protestants. It’s just another half-assed attempt to force the 2 nominal sides together.
I’m no Wolfe Tone fan, but when is thinking going to move onto one title of ‘citizen’ rather than this constant obsession of herding everyone into one of the 2 ‘Protestant’ and ‘Catholic’ buckets, and then trying to force them together? ‘Dissenters’ don’t even get a look in here.
I used the word ‘citizen’ instead of ‘Irishman’ to avoid the baggage around what ‘Irishman’ means.
But you get the point.
How about something for everyone, instead of a Christian symbol that ignores the dissenters and is still thought of as somewhere that the 2 sides can be brought together? Perpetuating the thinking that there are 2 sides.
I propose a statue of Darth Vader. Or one of the nice Jedi.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 10:09 PMLooks like a perfect spot for spides to battle it out with their empty bottles. How about fixing the derry train line with the money. The last time I was on it the train nearly tipped into the sea.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 10:43 PMIf this stupid gimmick is really meant to be representative of the city would they not be better errecting a 160 foot statue of the following.
A drunken 45 year old apprentice boy with a Rangers scarf
A pregnant unmarried mother of 4 with tatoos
A badly made shirt with buttons missing
A pile of 13 coffins with a millionaire barrister on top of them
A paratrooper behind a white screen
Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 11:30 PMI think Harpo is on to something here.
I have long harboured a most irrational, almost tribal hatred for “Star Warsie” wankers and I defo wanna get them together in a tightly enclosed space for a righteous meeting with my posse, who are much more into excellent music, fine art, high literature and kicking the living shit out of “StarsieWarsie” plonkahs!!
Right?
Peace and love and Columwossits, man. Whatever.
Posted by on Feb 02, 2007 @ 11:58 PMI quite like statues and fountains and public spaces but what on earth is a 160ft statue of St. Columba supposed to stand for? What higher principle? It is hardly the Statue of Liberty. Very second rate, they would do well to kick this one around a bit and come up with a really good idea.
Aquifer
How about fixing the derry train line with the money.
I agree; it’s a disgrace.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 12:29 AMNow then - there is an idea - something similar to Columkille statue at the mouth of Belfast Lough, big statue of Columbanus holding a torch representing Bangor as the light of the world reminding the role played by Christian Ireland in keeping learning and civilisation in Europe alive after the disaster wreaked by pagan invaders.
Truly one of the greatest episodes of Irish and world history
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 02:03 AMUtah State, Pedro?
Utah State?
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 02:15 AMIt’s not a bad plan. Apart from being locally relevant and attractive, it also looks outward to a shared European heritage and across the waters to places like the Jesus statue of Rio, Brazil and the Marian statue of Maasin, Philippines and many more i’m sure.
Of course with any monument, there will be people who say “it’s not for me”. Que Sera Sera.
Congrats to (London)Derry city council.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 08:07 AMOr should that be the Derry City council of the city of Londonderry ? :o)
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 08:19 AMThis has got to be some sort of sick joke. Derry has plenty of deprived areas and high unemployment, and they’re talking about spending a pile of cash on this flipping monstrosity.
I’d much rather see a 100x blow-up photograph of JR “Bob” Dobbs.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 12:25 PMLondonderry City Council tells us “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.”
Protestant and Unionists are not interested in this statue. Good try at spin from the council. Let’s have a more appropriate statue that will really attract tourists and have the support of both communities. We don’t want this pile of rubbish.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 12:31 PMIt’ll probably look nothing like him.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 01:16 PMThis is terrible, but when I first saw the artist’s sketch my immediate concern was trying to count exactly how many fingers Saint Columba was holding up with each hand, and trying to figure what direction he was pointing at. Later I saw it was actually a cross and a Bible he was holding up, but my first panicked reaction was that there would soon be two 160 foot statues on two separate islands squaring off against each other forever more.
I’m sure the plans were devised with the best will in the world, but a 160 foot colossus glaring down on all seems in the opposite spirit of what they are trying to do. There’s so much creative work being done the world over with new ideas of interactive, public memorial gardens and contemplative green spaces, and as many have pointed out so many more pressing, practical crying out to be addressed right now.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 01:26 PMIt does seem like a colossal waste of money, then again this particular council have been fairly good at that recently. Then again at least it’s only wasting a 10th of the amount of money the white elephant at the Maze is going to cost.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 01:35 PMI for one think that it is a good idea that Columcille is being honoured in this way. However, the only thing that sickens me is how the Brit Prods have attached themselves to St Columcille, especially with him being an Ui Niall Catholic, and if just another example of the Brits cherry-picking history. It wasn’t until I was in St Anne’s Cathedral (to appropriately christen Carson’s gravestone) that I overheard the Proddy spin being relayed to some ignorant tourist. Now, according to this ‘tourguide’ St Columcille followed the ‘true faith’ ie Protestantism, however, because of Irish ineptitude, the true faith had become bastardised into Catholicism. I also discovered the same story in an old book called ‘The Red Hand’ (sorry can’t remember the author) which covered the history of Protestantism is Ulster. According to this book, most Prod Ministers etc seem to believe this as well as their descent from the Lost Tribes of Israel due to the symbolism associated with the Red Hand.
What is needed from the Irish Nationals etc, is to reclaim our Saints, Patrons, Symbology and History as our own, and has nothing at all to do with filthy British Protestantism. In reality how can the Huns claim these as their own, even more so as the true inheritors contiune to be trampled by British jackboots. For truth be told, if St Columcille was to walk our glens today, the Brits would have him killed.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 02:20 PMAnd you’ll be able to drape a candy stripe scarf from one hand to the other for home games.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 02:57 PMA third bridge across the Foyle would be useful.
I can’t understand on why 18million is planned to be wasted on a statue that will not become a tourist attraction - and will never pay for itself.
Could something else be done with this money?
Do we really need it?Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 03:18 PM“A pile of 13 coffins with a millionaire barrister on top of them”
ouch.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 03:25 PMOn top of all the previous grousing, which I agree with, why mess up a fairly attractive river? There are nice views upstream and downstream, and with half of that money there could be some beautification projects that would really stimulate the city instead of this eyesore. We already have the Foyle bridge to block the view, and the seagulls already have “Hands Across the Divide” to “roost” on, no need for further binding monuments at this time!
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 04:13 PMNot into the prod v mick stuff but 2/11 EU peace money for three interface areas was 3 million over 3 years AN iconic statue would be nice in the city but there are much better uses for 15 million.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 04:14 PMYes - money into services would be very welcome, however I feel that building great works of public art - a very Catholic thing - is also wothwhile. What would be better than a statue of Colmcille in the town he established. It would be a tremendous site and something all foylesiders could be proud of, you do not want a dour utilitarian protestant town with no personality?
Let us celebrate or culture and the great contribution it made not only to Europe but the world in keeping alight the flame of the Gospel when dark clouds of paganism roled over Europe. Colmcille, alongside Colmbanus and many other great Irish Catholic saints are reknowned as great missionaries and their toils are celebrated throughout Christendom.
Yes - let us have this. This is a great message to announce to the world, we kept civilisation and the faith alive when evil invaded Europe. And also let us have another at Bangor - the Copelands would be good, it could also serve as a lighthouse, symbolising the light of the world, then one on the Blaskets for Brendan the Navigator. Yes we should be shouting this around the world and unashamedlypromoting it.
Posted by on Feb 03, 2007 @ 04:50 PM
