After leaving Durrough, which took place immediately, it would seem, on the dissolution of the synod, our holy Columba exercised his zeal by erecting monasteries in several parts of the kingdom, similar to those already established in Durrough and Tyrconnell. "The rule which he gave to his monks, has not been transmitted to us by any Latin writer; and the Irish copies of it which have been preserved, have hitherto eluded the skill of the most patient antiquary. Venerable Bede, in various parts of his works, has borne most honorable testimony to their virtue. In glowing colors he paints their chastity, their poverty, their obedience, the essential virtues of the monastic state, as well as their patience and indefatigable efforts to attain the summit of Christian perfection. No motives but those of charity could induce them to leave their cells, except at the hours appointed for religious duties and manual labor. If they ever appeared in public, it was to reconcile enemies, to instruct the ignorant, to extirpate vice, and plead the cause of the unfortunate. [1] That much of their time was devoted to prayer and contemplation, there is good reason to believe, as well as that their repasts were few and exceedingly austere, their holy founder himself being of such mortified habits, that his fast was continual, and that when he reposed the floor was his bed and a hard stone his pillow. He must, moreover, have taught his children to love well that prop, that necessary bulwark, that _sine qua non_ of the monastic state, _holy silence_, except in time of recreation, or when duty or necessity required the contrary; otherwise the happy consequences which resulted, the glorious fruits which were produced by his conventual establishments, would never have consoled his piety and crowned his labors. Unhappily for the glorious cause in which St. Columba was so engaged, the party feuds and dissensions which disturbed the peace of his own kinsfolk, interfered with the ulterior designs which his zeal meditated. So long as he could hope that his influence would conduce to the termination of the hostilities carried on between the chieftains and princes of his family, he was willing to labor for the restoration of union and peace; but when the continued renewal of contests and disputes which he thought had been composed by his decisions, taught him how unavailing had been his efforts, he resolved to leave Ireland and thus set aside a hindrance which could not fail to mar his exertions in the cause of heaven.