''Amra Choluim Chille'' or ''Amra Coluimb Chille'' is an Amra (, ; ) or panegyric relating to

Colmcille Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

. According to the traditional account the ''Amra Coluim Chille'' was composed about the year 575 by

Dallán Forgaill Eochaid mac Colla ( 560 – 640), better known as Saint Dallán or Dallán Forgaill (; ; Primitive Irish: ''Dallagnas Worgēllas''), was an early Christian Irish poet and saint known as the writer of the "'' Amra Coluim Chille''" ("Elegy of Sai ...

, the

Chief Ollam of Ireland Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

of that time, in gratitude for the services of

Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

in saving the bards from expulsion at the great assembly of Druim Cetta in that year. "The Amra is not", says Whitley Stokes, "as Professor Atkinson supposed, a fragment which indicates great antiquity."

John Strachan John Strachan (; 12 April 1778 – 1 November 1867) was a notable figure in Upper Canada, an "elite member" of the Family Compact, and the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto. He is best known as a political bishop who held many government posit ...

, however, on linguistic grounds, assigns it in its present form to about the year 800 (Rev. Celt., XVII, 14). Stokes, too, seems to favour this view (ibid., XX, 16). But Strachan adds "perhaps something more may be learned from a prolonged study of this and other such as the Amra Senain and the Amra Conroi." Dallan was the author of the former, "held in great repute", says

John Colgan John Colgan, OFM ( Irish ''Seán Mac Colgan''; c. 1592 – 15 January 1658), was an Irish Franciscan friar noted as a hagiographer and historian. Life Colgan was born c. 1592 at Priestown near Carndonagh, a member of the Mac Colgan sept of ...

, "on account of its gracefulness", and also of another Amra on St. Conall Cael of

Inishkeel Inishkeel () is a small tidal island and townland off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland. The closest village on the mainland is Narin. The island is in a civil parish of the same name. Geography The island is located in Gweebarra Bay arou ...

in Donegal, with whom he was buried in one grave.

Editions

The ''Amra Coluim Chille'' was printed with a translation by John O'Beirne Crowe in 1871 from the imperfect text in the

Lebor na hUidre (, LU) or the Book of the Dun Cow (MS 23 E 25) is an Irish vellum manuscript dating to the 12th century. It is the oldest extant manuscript in Irish. It is held in the Royal Irish Academy and is badly damaged: only 67 leaves remain and many ...

; also in his edition of the "

Liber Hymnorum The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Britain, Ireland and Brittany and the monasteries founded by St. Columbanus and Saint Catald in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the ...

" by Robert Atkinson, and in his "Goidelica" by Whitley Stokes, from an imperfect text in

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. The

Bodleian The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

text (Rawlinson B. 502) was edited, with a translation, for the first time (Rev. Celt., vols. XX-XXI) by Stokes. The standard modern edition of the Amra is the 2019 work by Jacopo Bisagni. rit. ed. r.Bisagni, Jacopo, Amrae Coluimb Chille: a critical edition, Early Irish Text Series 1, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2019

References

External links

Saint Dallán Forgaill (c.560 -c.640), alias Eochaid Éices

Sources

{{Catholic, wstitle=Amra Christianity in medieval Ireland Christian hagiography Christian poetry