Heroes of the Faith: 2021 marks 1500th birthday of Irish abbot, evangelist Columba

Columba (521–597), an abbot and missionary evangelist, studied under prominent monastic teachers in Ireland and founded several monasteries there. He is known for spreading Christianity in present day Scotland. He founded the important abbey on Iona. This year is the 1500th anniversary of his birth. He was born Dec. 7, 521, to Fedlimid and Eithne in Gartan, Ireland. When baptized,…