The English Easter battle

	St. Colman When: c. 605-76 Where: Northumbria, England, and western Ireland What: Bishop and abbot Feast: Feb. 18

Viewing other people's disputes as an outsider often can leave us scratching our heads. "What was the big deal?" we may wonder.

One such example is the controversy over the date to celebrate Easter, a battle in which this week's saint, Colman of Lindisfarne, played a leading role.

The question dates back to the second century. One group of Asian Christians said the date of Easter should be tied to the Jewish feast of Passover, celebrated on the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan. The problem, said other Christians, was that Easter would often be celebrated on a weekday, rather than on a Sunday.

By the end of the second century, most Christians, under the leadership of Pope Victor (189-99) accepted celebrating Easter on a Sunday. The question of which Sunday was resolved at the Council of Nicaea (325), which mandated the observance as held on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring.

That rule applied throughout the Christian world -- except in Ireland and the British isles, which used Celtic rules to set the date of Easter (the method they used is unclear).

The matter came to a head in 660 when St. Wilfrid returned to Northumbria from studies in Rome intent on enacting Roman traditions, particularly concerning the date of Easter. A complicating factor was that because King Oswy of Northumbria could not agree with his wife, Queen Eanfleda, on the date, he sometimes celebrated Easter during her Holy Week fast.

In 664, the Synod of Whitby was called at the monastery of St. Hilda at Whitby or Streanoeshalch to resolve the dispute. Arguing for the Celtic tradition were King Oswy and Bps. Colman and Chad; arguing for the Roman rule were Oswy's son Alchfrid, and Bps. Wilfrid and Agilbert.

Colman argued that the tradition he followed was passed down by his elders and came from St. John the Evangelist.

Wilfrid responded that the Roman rule had been approved by the pope, the successor of Peter to whom Jesus had given the keys to the kingdom, and was being observed everywhere else in the church.

Upon hearing that, Oswy ordered observance of the Roman rule.

Colman, native of Ireland and a monk at Iona under St. Columba, until being appointed third bishop of Lindisfarne, resigned his post. He started a monastery that followed the Celtic rules on the Isle of Inishbofin, off the coast of Ireland at Galway with a group of Irish and English monks from Lindisfarne.

All went well until the Irish monks left the monastery one summer during harvest, but then expected part of the produce. Colman resolved the dispute by starting a monastery for the English monks known as Mayo of the Saxons. Venerable Bede said the monks owned only their cattle and gave to the poor any money they received from the rich. Colman was the abbot of both monasteries.