In the life of St. Columba, too, it is recorded that one day an Irishman from Connaught, by name Ildran, landed on the beach of Iona and proceeded to the guest-house of the monastery. On the following morning he made known to the saint the object of his journey, viz.: to do penance for his sins, and “at the same hour he confessed all his sins and promised to fulfil the laws of penance”.(27) On another occasion St. Columba was visited by a person named Fiachna, who, being touched with remorse for some crime, fell at the saint’s feet and “confessed his sins before all that were there present”, whereupon the holy man weeping embraced him, and said, “Arise, my son, and be comforted; thy sins are forgiven thee, for, as it is written, the contrite and humble heart God doth not despise”.(28) In the case of a chieftain named Suibhne, it is mentioned that, though truly penitent, he was ordered by St. Pulcherius to confess his sins.(29) We find also St. Maidoc of Ferns earnestly soliciting to have a wise confessor divinely destined for his guidance. St. Molua of Clonfert-molua was the person chosen by him, and hence, amongst other titles given to this last-named saint, is “Father of the Confession of Maidoc”.(30) Again, in the life of St. Finbar it is mentioned that a young man from Leinster went to Iona to be guided by Columba: being obliged soon after to return to his native country, he thus affectionately addressed the holy abbot: “O sancte Dei! quomodo in patria mea vivam et tibi confitear peccata mea?”(31) In the _Martyrology of Donegal_, St. Meallan of Loch Oirbsen, in Connaught, is styled the _Anmehara_ of St. Furse, who since the middle of the seventh century is venerated as patron of Peronne in France (pag. 40, I.A.S., 1865). In the _Felire_ of Aenghus, St. Donnan of Eigg is also said to have gone to St. Columcille “to make him his soul’s friend” (Reeves’ _Columba_, p. 305). This title of _Anmchara_ is given to the divine Redeemer himself by St. Aileran, in the beautiful prayer printed in the _Record_, pag. 64, and, as we have already said, was the name given by the faithful in our early Church to those who in the Latin records are styled _Confessarii_, or _Patres Confessionis_. The _Book of Fenagh_ in one of its most ancient records states, that “Columba plus venit ad S. Kilianum et ei confessus est peccata sua” (I.A.S. _Miscellany_, vol. i., pag. 118). Of St. Finbarr it is also recorded that, on the death of his spiritual director, he went to St. Olan to make him _patrem confessionis suae_, or at least to be directed by him as to the person whom he should select; and the legend adds that St. Olan replied: “Christ Himself will be your confessor, and He will receive your hand”; meaning, probably, that the hour of his death was come, for the next fact mentioned in St. Finbarr’s life is his happy passage to eternity (_Life of St. Finbarr_, edited by R. Caulfield. London, 1864, pag. 21).