Our name reveres and joins us across the centuries with the incomparable Christian community of Iona. The Abbey on that island off the coast of Scotland nurtured a spark of pure Apostolic Gospel tradition unique in all the world. Kindled into flame, it was carried by missionaries to barbarous and pagan lands, first uniting Scotland then converting England. Carried to the Continent the tradition of Iona delivered the light of Faith, Literacy, Knowledge, Industry and Progress that illuminated a darkened world bringing forth the new dawn of Western Civilization.