Saints are humble people. They know that whatever gifts and graces they have come by the goodness of God, not by any merit of their own. They are extraordinarily fearful of their own pride, and consequently do not like to talk about their own mystical or miraculous experiences. Those who do – like St. Therese of Lisieux – often do so only under obedience. It is thus very mysterious, from a layman’s perspective, what it is really like experientially to receive these special charisms from God – what it is like “behind the veil” for those who truly receive prophetic revelations and visions.
One such look behind the veil comes from the Life of St. Columba, written by St. Adamnan. St. Columba (d. 597) was one of the great Irish missionaries; he is commonly listed as one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Columba eventually settled on Iona in the Inner Hebrides in Scotland, from whence he spent many years laboring among the Picts and Irish settlers in the region. After Patrick, he was probably one of the greatest Irish saints and a renowned thaumaturgist with dozens and dozens of miracles recorded. He was also a wonderful prophet, such that an entire book of St. Adamnan’s hagiography is dedicated to the prophecies of St. Columba.
Like many other saints, Columba was much more interested than doing the work of God than explaining or discussing it. Adamnan’s Life reveals a saint who performs miracles as if they were everyday occurrences and who, like the Judges of the Old Testament, occasionally has the Spirit fall upon him to deliver some sort of prophetic message. Typically Columba simply delivers the message and moves on. As we said above, no saint really likes to talk about the spiritual graces God has given them; a supernatural humility precludes that. But every now and then the saints open up a bit and we can (continue reading)