Wednesday, November 22, 2023

St. Columban, Abbot



During his General Audience on 11 June 2008, Pope Benedict XVI gave an extended talk on the life, teaching, and importance of the great St. Columban, who lived from 543 to 615. The Holy Father then offered brief remarks in various languages, and this was his message to the English-speaking pilgrims:

“In today's catechesis we turn to Saint Columban, one of the many Irish monks who contributed to the re-evangelization of Europe in the early Middle Ages. Columban made his monastic profession in Bangor and was ordained a priest. At the age of fifty, he left the monastery to begin missionary work in Europe, where entire regions had lapsed into paganism. Beginning in Brittany, Columban and his companions established monasteries at Annegray and Luxeuil. These became centers for the spread of the monastic and missionary ideals brought by the monks from their native Ireland. Columban introduced to Europe the Irish penitential discipline, including private confession. His stern moral teachings led to conflict with the local Bishops and the Frankish court, resulting in the exile of the Irish monks, first to the Rhineland and then to Italy. At Bobbio, where he established a great monastic center, Columban worked for the conversion of the Arian Lombards and the restoration of unity with the Bishop of Rome. It was there that he died, leaving behind not only the example of an austere monastic life, but also a corpus of writings which shaped the monastic culture of the Middle Ages and thus nourished the Christian roots of Europe.”


O God, who in Saint Columban wonderfully didst join the work of evangelization to zeal for the monastic life: grant, we pray, that through his intercession and example, we may strive to seek thee above all things, and to bring increase to thy faithful people; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.