Ségéne of Iona

Saint Ségéne of Iona (Ségéne mac Fiachnaí) was the fifth abbot of Iona Abbey in Scotland (623 to 652). Of the Cenél Conaill, the same kindred as Saint Columba, he was the nephew of a previous abbot, Lasrén. He reposed on 12 August 652.

During his long abbacy the controversy over the dating of Easter first made itself properly felt. He received a letter on the dating of Easter, dated to about 632 or 633, vigorously defended the Gaelic dating, and put his name to a letter written by the Gaelic clergy to Pope Severinus in 638. He established the first Gaelic missionaries among the English, sending Corman and then Áedan, who, with the help of King Oswald of Northumbria (who had himself spent time in exile at Iona), established the monastery of Lindisfarne. It is not known whether Ségéne ever met Columba, but he was a vital collector and transmitter of stories about the saint. He is commemorated on 12 August as a saint of the undivided Church, by the New Calendar.