{"id":2968,"date":"2021-09-22T16:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/?p=2968"},"modified":"2022-01-19T11:50:29","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T11:50:29","slug":"st-adhamhnan-and-the-geneva-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/st-adhamhnan-and-the-geneva-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"St Adhamhn\u00e1n and the Geneva Conventions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Mainistir-Cholmcille-Oilean-I-New-1024x658-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Mainistir-Cholmcille-Oilean-I-New-1024x658-1.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/colmcille.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Mainistir-Cholmcille-Oilean-I-New-1024x658-1-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/colmcille.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Mainistir-Cholmcille-Oilean-I-New-1024x658-1-768x494.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 23 September is the feast-day of St Adhamhn\u00e1n. A century after the death of St Colmcille, or Columba, Adhamhn\u00e1n was the 9th abbot of Iona. It was he who wrote the<em> Life of Columba <\/em>or <em>Vita Columba<\/em>e and gave an account of how St Colmcille brought the kings of the <em>Cine\u00e1l Chonaill <\/em>and <em>Dalriada<\/em> together at the &#8216;Convention of Drum Ceat&#8217;, making an alliance between them and achieving the release of a prisoner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adhamhn\u00e1n communicated with people from many kingdoms and visited their kings and clergy. Between diplomacy and prayer, he developed a new approach to dealing with violence. It is still relevant over 1400 years since his death. A new book by lawyer and historian James W. Houlihan tells the story and of the similarities with the &#8216;Geneva Conventions&#8217;, which provided a basis for international law after the two world wars of the twentieth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the time of Adhamhn\u00e1n, kings were still making war. Adhamhn\u00e1n understood that war could not be ended altogether but wished to restrain violence against women and children and non-combatants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 697 Adhamhn\u00e1n succeeded in bringing kings, abbots, bishops and religious leaders together at Birr in Offaly. He was supported by the king of Tara. The convention of kings and clergy promulgated a new law, &#8216;<em>C\u00e1in Adhamhn\u00e1in<\/em>&#8216; or the &#8216;Law of Innocents&#8217; between kingdoms throughout Ireland and Scotland and even the to the abbey of<em> Lindisfarne<\/em> in Northumbria. 91 kings and church leaders put their names to the law. Among them were the abbot of Armagh, the king of Tara, the kings of Dalriada in Ireland and Scotland, and Bruide, the king of the Picts. There is no real parallel until the &#8216;Geneva Conventions&#8217; when nation states came together after the two world wars, over 1400 years later. A similar approach underlies the conventions on climate change. May Adhamhn\u00e1n\u2019s influence go further still!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>James W. Houlihan (2020): Adomn\u00e1n\u2019s Lex Innocentium and the Laws of War, Dublin, Four Courts Press<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 23 September is the feast-day of St Adhamhn\u00e1n. A century after the death of St Colmcille, or Columba, Adhamhn\u00e1n was the 9th abbot of Iona. It was he who [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-news","entry"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Maolcholaim Scott","author_link":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/author\/maolcholaim\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2968"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3651,"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions\/3651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/colmcille.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}