Son of Colla Mac Erc and Forchella; related to Irish royalty, and to Saint Aidan of Ferns. Noted student who went blind as a young man; some said it was due to too much reading. Chief bard and poet of Ireland in 575; he reformed the Bardic Order, thus helping preserve the Gaelic language and literature. His most famous work is Ambra Choluim Kille (Eulogy of Saint Columba) after Columba had defended the institution of the bards; legend says that upon its recitation, his eyesight was restored. He is generally considered a martyr, having died in an attack on a monastery.
