As it’s St Fillan’s 900th anniversary I’m looking at Rev. Rutherford’s children’s address, where he talks about the history of the church, this one is for 29th October 1967, here he is talking about the St Columba window.
It is an attractive window full of meaning. It shows the island of Inchcolm and the stone roofed little cell in which the hermits spent there time. And in front a coracle – a small boat and St Columba and one of his monks from Iona. We don’t know if Columba ever came to this part of Fife, but the island has always been connected to his memory. He was the favourite saint of the hermits and of Alexander I who founded the monastery.
The coming of Columba to Scotland marked a new era, and the artist drew a rising sun behind the island. There are two other details you may miss. One is that Columba carries a book with a cross on it, the other is that above the rays of the sun there are five doves.
the artist clearly knew the story of the saint. His father called him Crimthan, which means ‘The Wolf’, and his followers called him Columba, which means ‘The Dove’.
He was a bit of both. He secretly coveted a copy of the gospel by St Jerome that his teacher had just brought from Rome, and secretly at night he copied it which in those days was cheating and it led to a battle where 3,000 men were killed. He was a Wolf all right, but in the years that passed, it was the Dove that triumphed – making peace among the tribes.
Most of us has a bit of a wolf and a bit of a dove in us. The important thing, is which triumphs.
See Stained Glass