Baithene

Saint Baithene (Baithéne mac Brénaind, also known as Baithin or Buadán) was an Irish monk, one of the followers who went with Saint Columba to Scotland around 563, and his first successor as abbot of Iona. The Annals of Tigernach give his birth as 534, and his death was most likely between 596 and 598. According to the genealogies he was the son of Brendan, of the Cenél Conaill, a branch of the northern Uí Néill.

The earliest testimony about him is in the Life of Saint Columba written by Adomnán of Iona, where he appears as Columba's trusted companion and chosen successor; he is called Columba's alumnus, that is foster-⁠son or disciple. Several incidents are told. When Baithéne set out for Tiree, though he had been told that a huge whale would rise from the water, he took the direct route and blessed the sea and the whale with his hand, and the whale sank. On another occasion he asked Columba to give him a monk to help him go through the psalter for mistakes, and Columba told him there was no mistake except a missing letter in one place, which proved true. He was prior of a monastery dependent on Iona on the island of Tiree, a house of penitents for the monks of Iona, and he was also prior at Hinba.

He ruled Iona only a short time, for Columba died around 597 and Baithéne in 598, aged sixty-⁠six according to the Annals of Clonmacnoise. He is still venerated in Ireland, above all in County Donegal, at Taughboyne and Culdaff, where in the year 2000 the 1,400th anniversary of his death was celebrated. In Scotland he is honoured as Saint Bathan, and the village of Abbey St Bathans in Berwickshire bears his name. Four Irish martyrologies commemorate him on 9 June, the same day as Columba; the Orthodox calendar lists him on the same date, by the New Calendar.