Ségéne mac Fiachnaí (or Ségéne of Iona) (died 12 August 652) was the fifth

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

of the

Iona Abbey Iona Abbey is an abbey located on the island of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast of Scotland. It is one of the oldest History of early Christianity, Christian religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

(623–652). Ségéne was of the

Cenél Conaill Cenél is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Cenél Conaill, the name of the "kindred" or descendants of Conall Gulban, son of Niall Noígiallach defined by oral and recorded history *Cenél nEógain (in English, Cenel Eogan) is ...

, the same kindred as

Columba Columba () or Colmcille (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey ...

, and he was the nephew of a previous abbot, Lasrén. It was during Ségéne's long abbacy that the famous controversy regarding the dating of

Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...

first made itself properly felt. Ségéne was the recipient of a letter on the dating Easter which has been dated to ''c''. 632/3.Ó Cróinín and Walsh, 1988, pp. 3-7. Ségéne is known to have vigorously defended the Gaelic dating, and put his name to a letter written by the Gaelic clergy to

Pope Severinus Pope Severinus (died 2 August 640) was the bishop of Rome elected in October 638. He was caught up in a power struggle with Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, who pressured him to accept Monothelitism. Severinus refused, which for over eighteen month ...

in 638. Ségéne also established the first Gaelic missionaries amongst the English, sending Corman and then Áedan, the latter of whom, with the help of King

Oswald of Northumbria Oswald (; c 604 – 5 August 641/642Bede gives the year of Oswald's death as 642. However there is some question of whether what Bede considered 642 is the same as what would now be considered 642. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology and H ...

(who himself had spent time in exile at Iona), established a daughter house and

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th centu ...

. It is not known if Ségéne ever met Columba, but he was a vital collector/transmitter of stories about the saint. He died on 12 August 652.

References

Bibliography

*Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí and Maura Walsh, ''Cummian's Letter De Controversia Paschali'' (Toronto, 1988). * Sharpe, Richard, ''Adomnán of Iona: Life of St. Columba'', (London, 1995). 652 deaths Abbots of Iona 7th-century Irish abbots Irish expatriates in Scotland Year of birth unknown 7th-century Christian abbots {{Ireland-reli-bio-stub