Welcome to Black Powder Incense!
Although St. Moses the Black is the official patron of Black Powder Incense, and he is featured heavily on our website, Columbina, the artist would like to share information about her personal patron Saint with you.The Life of our Holy Father Columba of Iona:
Troparion of St Colum Cille tone 5
By Thy God-inspired life thou didst embody/ both the mission end the dispersion of the Church,/ most glorious Father Colum Cille./ Using thy repentence and voluntary exile,/ Christ our God raised thee up as a beacon of the True Faith,/ an Apostle to the heathen and an indicator of the Way of salvation./ Wherefore O holy one, cease not to intercede for us that our souls may be saved.
He was born to Fedhlimidh and Eithne of the Ui Neill clan in Gartan,
near Lough Gartan, Donegal. On his father's side he was
great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish king of
the fourth century. He became a monk and soon rose in the church hierarchy to the rank of priest. Tradition asserts that, sometime around 560, he became involved in a copyright wrangle with St. Finnian of Moville over a psalter.
The dispute eventually led to the pitched Battle of Cul Dremhe in 561,
during which many men were killed. (Columba's copy of the psalter has
been traditionally associated with the Cathach of St. Columba.) As penance for these deaths, Columba was ordered to make the same number of new converts as had been killed. He was also ordered to leave Ireland and move such that he could not see his native country.
Columba is known as the "Warrior Saint" , owing to his princely birth and his position within the house of the Ui Niall. He is also one of very few Saints, in the entire Christian hagiography, to have experienced the "uncreated light" of God and to have been able to manifest the uncreated light, at will. He is known to have literally walked the grounds of his monastery in the company of the Theotokos, as well as heavenly angels and was gifted by God to be able to communicate with all non-human creatures. Druids were mortally afraid of him and one of my favorite stories tells how Columba gave a Druid the "thrashing" of his life, and thereby freed a little slave girl:
"Once he visited a Pictish ruler who was also a druid, or pagan priest. When he was there he noticed a thin little girl with a face like a ghost. He asked who she was and was told that she was just a slave from Ireland. The way it was said seemed to mean: 'Why do you ask such silly questions? Who cares who she is, as long as she brushes and scrubs and does what she is told?'"Columcille was troubled; he could see plainly that the little girl was miserable. So he asked the druid to give her freedom and he would get her home to Ireland. The druid refused. Columcille went away with a picture of an unhappy little girl in his mind.
"Shortly afterward, the important druid became ill; there was nobody near to tell him what to do to get well so he sent for the Abbot of Iona, who had a great reputation for curing people. Columcille did not leave Iona but sent a message back that he would cure the druid if he let the little girl free.
"The druid was angry and again refused. 'What on earth is he troubling himself for about that little bit of a good-for-nothing?' grumbled the druid as he tossed about in bed. But the messenger had hardly left for Iona with the refusal when the druid got worse; he had much pain and he thought he would die. So he sent off another message to Columcille: 'Yes, you can have the slave-girl, only come and do something for me. I am very bad and will die if you don't come soon.'" Columcille, however, did not trust the priest, so he sent two of his monks to bring the girl back. When the girl was safe, Columcille set out for the druid's house and cured him of his sickness (Curtayne).
He travelled to Scotland, where it is reputed he first landed at the
southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula, near Southend. However, being
still in sight of his native land he moved further north up the west
coast of Scotland. In 563 he founded a monastery on the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland which became the centre of his
evangelising mission to Scotland. There are many stories of miracles
which he performed during his mission to convert the Picts.
He is personally described as "A man well-formed, with powerful frame; his skin was white, his face broad and fair and radiant, lit up with large, gray, luminous eyes. . . ." (Curtayne). Saint Adamnan, his biographer wrote of him: "He had the face of an angel; he was of an excellent nature, polished in speech, holy in deed, great in counsel . . . loving unto all." It is clear that Columba's temperament changed dramatically during his life. In his early years he was intemperate and probably inclined to violence. He was extremely stern and harsh with his monks, but towards the end he seems to have softened. Columba had great qualities and was gay and lovable, but his chief virtue lay in the conquest of his own passionate nature and in the love and sympathy that flowed from his eager and radiant spirit.
On June 8, 597, Columba was copying out the psalms once again. At the verse, "They that love the Lord shall lack no good thing," he stopped, and said that his cousin, Saint Baithin must do the rest. Columba died the next day at the foot of the altar. He was first buried at Iona, but 200 years later the Danes destroyed the monastery. His relics were translated to Dunkeld in 849, where they were visited by pilgrims, including Anglo-Saxons of the 11th century.
The year Columba died was the same year in which Saint Gregory the Great sent Saint Augustine of Canterbury to convert England. Perhaps because the Roman party gained ascendancy at the Synod of Whitby, much of the credit that belongs to Saint Columba and his followers for the conversion of Britain has been attributed to Augustine. It should not be forgotten that both saints played important roles.
Saint Columba is also important as patron of the Knights of Saint Columba, known in the United States as the Knights of Columbus and by other names in various parts of the world. Like Saint Malachy, whose apocryphal prophecies concerning the succession of popes are universally known, Saint Columba left a series of predictions about the future of Ireland. These were published in 1969 by Peter Blander under the title, The Prophecies of Saint Malachy and Saint Columbkille (4th ed. 1979, Colin Smythe, Gerrards Cross Buckshire)
(Webmaster's note: It must be noted that many of St. Columba's prophecies have in fact already come true. A few, pertaining to the Apocalypse have yet to come to pass, but St. Columba's "record" in so far as this writing in 2010, is 100 percent. Of note, in particular, are his prophecies which seem to have predicted the 9/11 tragedy of New York in 2001. More must be read for oneself, in the book aforementioned.)
(From the website: http://www.propheties.it/saintcolumba.htm)
Columba is also the source of the first known reference to the Loch Ness Monster. According to the story, in 565 he came across a group of Picts who were burying a man killed by the monster, and brought the man back to life. In another version, he is said to have saved the man while the man was being attacked, driving away the monster with the sign of the cross.
St. Columba's feast day is June 9, and with St. Patrick of Ireland (March 17) and St. Brigid of Kildaire (February 1) is one of the three patron saints of Ireland. The three are buried together in Downpatrick in County Down, deep within the famous Hill of Down.
The Life of our Holy Father Columba may be more properly appreciated by reading the book written by his nephew, one of the oldest and most accurate historical hagiographies of all time. The book is called:
The Life of Columba by St. Admonan and can be ordered through Amazon.com.
Click here to order: Life of Columba
The Life of Our Holy Father St. Moses the Ethiopian
St. Moses the Ethiopian was a former gang leader, murderer, and thief in ancient Africa. However, he became a model of transformation. His is one of the most inspiring stories among the African saints. Moses, an escaped slave, was the leader of a group of 75 robbers. He was a large and powerful man, who with his gang terrorized the entire region. Moses was transformed after he and his group attacked a monastery, intending to rob it. He was met by the abbot, whose peaceful and warm manner overwhelmed him. He immediately felt remorse for all his past sins, sincerely repented, and begged to remain at the monastery. Moses was tortured by his past and for years was tempted to return to his old ways.
One day, as he was confessing his sins to St. Macarius, an angel appeared to him in a vision with a tablet full of his sins. As he confessed, the angel began wiping the tablet clean. The more he confessed, the more the angel wiped, until by the end it was completely clean. After meeting St. Macarius and St. Isidore, he com- pletely left his old ways behind him and became a monk. Later, St. Moses was ordained to the priesthood -- a rare honor among the Desert Fathers, because most of them were simple hermit monks -- and founded a monastery of 75 monks, the same number as his former group of thieves. He was known for his wisdom, humility, love, and non-judgment of others.
Once a brother had been caught in a particular sin, and the brothers asked St. Moses to come to the church and render judgment. He came reluctantly, carrying on his back a leaking jug of sand. When he arrived, the brothers asked him why he was carrying such a thing. He simply said, "This sand is my sins which are trailing out behind me, while I go to judge the sins of another." At that reply, the brothers forgave the offender and returned to focusing on their own salvation rather than each other's sins and failings. In 405 A.D., at age 75, the same number as his gang of thieves, and later, his "gang of monks", St. Moses suffered a martyr's death, when his monastery was attacked by a group of barbarians.
He is remembered on the 28th of August and he is the patron Saint of Black Powder Incense. His body is now located at Virgin Mary's Coptic Orthodox Monastery of El-Baramous in Egypt.
