The Journal of Theological Studies Advance Access originally published online on May 28, 2008
The Journal of Theological Studies 2008 59(2):696-702; doi:10.1093/jts/fln072
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St Columba, Silnán, and the Male Bovine (VC 2.17)
University College Cork, Ireland
Correspondence: d.woods{at}ucc.ie
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At VC 2.17, Adomnán has severely misunderstood a written source which originally described how Columba ordered one party to a dispute, an alleged maleficus evil-doer called Silnán, to milk a sick cow in order to settle the dispute by demonstrating that its contaminated milk was the real, hidden cause of the harm which had occasioned the dispute. Adomnán misread a description of a bos maculosus pock-marked bovine to refer to a bos masculus male bovine, and proceeded to misunderstand the story as the description of some form of contest between Columba and a maleficus sorcerer.