The ongoing conflict in Iraq, the wave of killings in Darfur and the recent slaughter of the innocents in Beslan are among many reminders that violence and war respect no human life, no matter how young or tiny, writes Brian Maye.
The fate of non-combatants has been exercising minds for many centuries, and one of the earliest to give his attention to the problem was the Irish monk Adomnán, who died just over 1300 years ago, on September 23rd, 704.
The known details of his life are sparse enough but he was born around the year 627, probably in Drumhome, Co Donegal, and he came from the same family as Colm Cille. In line of succession to his illustrious predecessor, he became the ninth abbot of Iona in 679, which gave him responsibility not just for Iona itself but also for a family of monasteries in Scotland and Ireland.
Adomnán - also known as Adamnán, and as St Eunan, first Bishop of Raphoe - is best remembered for his life of Colm Cille, Vita Sancti Columbae. Although a hagiography, it is a very sophisticated example of the genre and has been described as such a masterpiece of Hiberno-Latin prose that many are inclined to take it as straightforward biography. The Vita is an important source for the history of Iona and indeed that of insular monasticism.
Adomnán also wrote De Locis Sanctis (On the Holy Places), which treats of places mentioned in the Scriptures. The book purports to be a journey to places associated with Jesus's life and teachings and the history of the early church - locations such as Jerusalem, Nazareth, Constantinople and Alexandria. The journey was supposed to be undertaken by a pilgrim "Gallic bishop" called Arculf.
But De Locis is really an attempt by Adomnán to solve scriptural interpretation problems using geographical knowledge. "Among the many attempts to reconcile such conflicting statements, his is one of the most competent and original in method," according to the historical theologian Thomas O'Loughlin. The book ensured Adomnán a reputation as a scholar during the medieval period and it was also one of the first early Irish manuscript works.
As abbot of Iona, he engaged in much political, diplomatic and legal work but this is less well known than his writings. When King Oswy died, the throne of Northumbria was in dispute and the well-being of his son Aldfrid was threatened. Adomnán gave Aldfrid sanctuary and when the new king finally ascended his father's throne, Adomnán used his friendship with him to secure the release of 60 Irish prisoners captured by King Egfrith, Aldfrid's brother, who had ruled before him.
Adomnán was a kinsman of the king of Tara and close to secular power and influence, which he knew how to use. But he was also concerned with people who had no access to power. In his life of Colm Cille he often showed the saint siding with the poor, needy and powerless in a world where violence was a central feature of life.
He tells the dramatic story of Colm Cille witnessing the murder of a young woman who had sought his protection. Her attacker killed her with a spear and left her lying at the saint's feet. Colm Cille called on God to punish the killer, who fell dead on the spot.
Adomnán was a central figure at the Synod of Birr in 697 which produced the Lex Innocentium or Law of the Innocents, also known as the Cáin Adomnáin. Its purpose was to protect women, children, clergy and other non-combatants - in other words, all those who did not carry arms. The particular focus of the Lex was women, perhaps because the killing of children was unheard of or very rare at the time.
Women were not to be counted as combatants; they were not to be killed, assaulted or abused. The Law of the Innocents bound rulers, secular and ecclesiastical, to protect women from all these dangers. It prescribed the penalties that would be imposed on those who assaulted women, and it laid down the rules for its own administration and enforcement.
According to later tradition, Adomnán used his bell to curse the kings who rejected his law. As well as the secular fines which criminals must pay, the law also described the ritual curses to which they were subject - one of the earliest accounts of such curses known to us. The authority of Iona was constantly invoked as the ultimate source of the law and as the monastery which was to receive the fines of the lawbreakers.
The Law of the Innocents has been categorised as a genuinely international law, formulated and promulgated by several nations and binding on them all. In the context of the Gaelic legal tradition, Adomnán was giving expression to a wider Christian movement to restrain violence. The idea of a just war, which had earlier been put forward by St Augustine, was part of the same process. The modern Geneva Convention stands at the end of a long struggle through history for justice in war. Adomnán played an important part in that vital struggle.
From the 10th or 11th century dates the story in Irish known as Fís Adomnáin (The Vision of Adomnán). The work is a precursor of Dante's Divine Comedy. In the story, Adomnán is the protagonist who tells the reader about the wonders and beauties of Heaven and the terrible sufferings of the condemned in Hell.
There are many reasons why this remarkable ninth abbot of Iona should be recalled 1,300 years after his death; but, amid the mercilessness of modern violence in pursuit of various political goals, his zeal in defence of non-combatants is perhaps the greatest.