So, according to the tradition, cried one of the early Middle Ages' most fascinating and multi-faceted personalities as the warriors of his great clan swung into action in the Battle of Culdrevny. He is a man whose death 14 centuries ago this year (597) is being commemorated internationally in the light of the growing recognition of his pivotal role in the creating of Christian civilization in the West and in laying the spiritual foundation for Anglicanism in the English-speaking portion of the British Isles. He was born Crimthann mac Ferdlimid in Donegal, Ireland, but he is known to history by his ordination name: Columba.

St. Columba was the child of a time of change, of transition, of much that was dying and more that was being born. His own country was passing from its ancient pagan ways of human sacrifice and the dark underworld to a new and vibrant Christianity. Beyond, across the sea, the native Celtic peoples of the British Isles were being subjugated by the heathen barbarian English.

Out of the swirl and chaos of change arose the Celtic saints - Ciaran, Brigid, Columbanus, Cuthbert and Columba himself - who thrived on transitions, who derived spiritual sustenance from the new, who saw only challenge and not despair in the passing of the old. Columba's battle cry reflects the shape-shifting world of his time, with its oscillation between the world of ancient magic and the world of the Incarnation.

Many today see Columba as the quintessence of the Celtic saint. Indeed, the salient characteristics of Celtic Christianity are reflected in his life and mission or flow from his activities:

* seeking and serving the image of Christ in others

* embarking on the peregrinatio, the physical or spiritual pilgrimage of exile, for the love of God

* treasuring a powerfully incarnational sense of the presence of God

* loving simplicity, solitude and silence, especially in communion with God's creation

* believing that the kingdom of God has already begun to dawn and transform ordinary activities and actions into sacred liturgies

* offering and receiving brotherly and sisterly hospitality as a fervent duty

* adoring the saints and the angels and an assured belief in their active presence in life

* and above all, celebrating a joyous sense of community emerging from extraordinary veneration of the Trinity

Today, interest in the Christianity and spirituality of Columba and the other Celtic saints is burgeoning all over the English-speaking world. A growing stream of books, pamphlets, videos, retreats and conferences demonstrate that many individuals and organizations throughout the Anglican world and elsewhere are attempting to incorporate the lessons of Celtic Christianity into new patterns and forms of personal devotion.

One recently formed organization has embarked on a different path under the inspiration of Celtic spirituality. It seeks to apply the Celtic model to congregational development. This new entity, the St. Columba Center for 21st Century Christianity, has begun to have an impact at its founding church, St. James', in Wichita, Kan. The organization was created early this year as an outgrowth of the parish's congregational development program by the rector, the Rev. Ronald L. Reed, and others, in order to find ways to translate the Celtic sense of congregation into appropriate forms for contemporary church life. It has set itself the task of exploring, experiencing and documenting how the faith experiences of the Celtic peoples, and especially their saints, can be a model for contemporary congregations.

The St. Columba Center is shaped by and responds to two principal forces:

The core of the St. Columba Center is a group of Christians who take formal vows to participate regularly for one year in the exploration of congregational development following the Celtic model. The members of this group are called the Companions of St. Columba. Others, who are actively exploring the center, the Companionship and the related activities prior to deciding whether or not to take the formal vows themselves, are called Friends. Guided by the writings of Celtic experts, each month the Companions and Friends of St. Columba gather for a two-hour session featuring worship, study and fellowship. Each session focuses on a particular Celtic saint, chosen according to the liturgical season, and on one or more of the unique characteristics of Celtic spirituality which that saint exemplifies.

St. Columba was of royal lineage: He gave up the near certainty of becoming the high king of Ireland for a life of renunciation and pilgrimage. He was famous for his love of learning and as a revered poet in his own right was a member of the prestigious Guild of Bards. It is no coincidence that three well-known masterpieces of early medieval times (Book of Kells, Book of Durrow, Lindisfarne Gospel) were created in monasteries founded by Columba or by his spiritual heirs.

He began a career of founding great monasteries at the age of 25, with more than 300 said to owe allegiance to him, of which by far the most important was that of Iona on a small island off the western coast of Scotland. From Iona a host of missionary saints extended his work to England and the continent, helping to preserve the cultural and spiritual heritage of the dying Roman Empire and building a new Christian civilization.

The watershed of his life, and the deciding early moment in Anglican history occurred in 563, when Columba is said to have shouted his battle cry at the battle of Culdrevny, which was fought over a copy of a New Testament manuscript Columba had, in effect, pirated so that the new (to Ireland) Vulgate of Jerome might be disseminated widely. He may have taken a leading role in the battle, in which some 3,000 warriors were slain. For this he was apparently condemned by the church to permanent exile from Ireland. Setting forth on a voyage of penance that was to last a lifetime, he, along with 12 companions, landed on the tiny island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides, and the rest is history. The planting of faith communities through the British Isles was his legacy.

The St. Columba Center already has experienced blessings from being in communication with like-minded individuals and organizations. That deep channel of spiritual freedom dug by St. Columba and his fellow missionaries, long flowing underground, has begun to well up again.

James Lewis is executive director of the St. Columba Center