Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of

unchanging truth. Sitting in for John Stone Street, I'm Dr. Glenn Sunshine. This month,

1,460 years ago, was the first recorded encounter with the Loch Ness monster. According to

his biographer Adomnon, Irish monk Colombe was conducting missionary work in Scotland in 8565

when he encountered pagans burying someone who had been killed by a huge aquatic beast.

Colombo ordered one of his fellow monks to swim across the Loch to fetch a boat.

The monk quickly obeyed but his swimming attracted the monster.

As it closed in on his colleague, Colomumba made the sign of the cross and said,

Thou shalt go no further nor touch the man. Go back with all speed.

According to Adonan, quote, at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes.

When the monk returned safely to shore, even the pagans gave glory to God.

Even if this particular story is legend, Colombo was real, and a very important figure in

Christian history. Born into a royal Irish family, he could very well have become High King of

Ireland. Instead, he joined the church and received the kind of top-flight education that was distinctive of Irish Christianity.

As the Irish Church was then centered on monasteries, he then became an abbot.

After founding a monastery at Derry, and possibly others, Colombo left Ireland to establish a monastery at Iona,

an island in the inner Hebrides of Scotland. From there, Columbah, his monks and their successors,

evangelized the Picts and other people, groups living in Scotland. Later, they knew south into

Northumbria and England. Columbo often faced opposition from druids who opposed them with magic and incited

local rulers against him. Columbus' political skills were tested, but he managed to impress the king of

the northern Picts. This ensured safe conduct as he evangelized to that part of Scotland.

Columbus monasteries were epicenters of education in the arts. He himself copied manuscripts and

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