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Died April 24, 729. Saint Egbert was a Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne who migrated to Ireland and lived at Rathelmigisi (Rathmelsigi) in Connaught. In 684, he unsuccessfully tried to dissuade King Egfrith from invading Ireland. At Rathelmigisi Egbert trained several bands of monks for the German missions that included Saints Wigbert (f.d. April 12) and Willibrord (f.d. November 7). When his companion Aethelhun died of the plague and he contracted it, too, Egbert vowed voluntary exile for life if he recovered. Although he wanted to join the missionaries, his vow and a vision instructing him otherwise, led Egbert to become an admirable monk on the island of Iona in Scotland. There he attempted to induce the monks to adopt Roman liturgical practices.* He succeeded at last: in fact, on the day of his death, Easter was celebrated at Iona for the first time according to the reckoning established by the Council of Nicea in 325AD. Egbert's feast is found in both the Roman and Irish martyrologies and in the metrical calendar of York (Benedictines, Encyclopaedia, Farmer, Gill).


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