Formation at Iona and the See of Lindisfarne
Colman received his monastic training at Iona, the Hebridean monastery founded by St. Columba, which had become the chief center of Irish monastic mission to northern Britain. The bishops of Lindisfarne in this period were drawn from that community, and Colman stood in the line of St. Aidan and St. Finan, both of whom had likewise come from Iona to serve the Northumbrian church.
On the death of Finan in 661, Colman succeeded him as bishop of Lindisfarne. Sources recall his episcopate for its frugality and simplicity, qualities he sought to encourage among his clergy in keeping with the ascetic temper of the Iona tradition.
The Synod of Whitby
The defining event of Colman's episcopate was the Synod of Whitby in 664, summoned by King Oswiu of Northumbria to settle the long-running disagreement between the Celtic and Roman parties over the calculation of the date of Easter and the form of the monastic tonsure. Colman spoke for the Celtic usage, appealing to the tradition received through Iona and ultimately, as the Celtic party held, from St. John the Evangelist.
When King Oswiu ruled in favor of the Roman reckoning, Colman did not accept the change. Rather than conform against his conscience, he resigned the see of Lindisfarne and prepared to leave Northumbria, an episode that came to mark the close of the dominant phase of the Columban mission in northern England.
Return to Ireland and Monastic Foundations
Leaving Lindisfarne, Colman took with him the Irish monks of the community together with a number of English brethren. After a period spent in Scotland and at Iona, he returned to his native Ireland. He brought with him relics he held in honor, which the sources identify as the bones of St. Aidan together with a portion of the True Cross.
Around 668 he settled on the island of Inishbofin, off the coast of County Galway, where he established a monastery and school. Tensions arose between the Irish and English monks of the community, and to resolve them Colman founded a separate house on the mainland at Mayo for the English brethren. This foundation, long known as Mayo of the Saxons, came to be esteemed as a center of learning and monastic life.
Relics and Veneration
Colman reposed at Inishbofin and is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican traditions. His principal commemoration falls on February 18, with additional feasts recorded on August 8 and November 13. The relics he is said to have carried from Lindisfarne, including those of St. Aidan, linked the Irish foundations he established to the Northumbrian mission he had served.
