COLUMBANUS

Also known as

Columba; Columban; Columbanus of Bobbio; Columbanus of Luxieul

Memorial

23 November; formerly 21 November; 24 November (Benedictines and Ireland)

Profile

Well-born, handsome and educated, Columbanus was torn between a desire for God and easy access to the pleasures of the world. Acting on advice of a holy anchoress, he decided to withdraw from the world; his family opposed the choice, his mother going so far as to block the door. Monk at Lough Erne. He studied Scripture extensively, and wrote a commentary on the Psalms. Monk at Bangor under abbot Saint Comgall.

In middle age, Columbanus felt a call to missionary life. With twelve companions (Saint Attala, Columbanus the Younger, Cummain, Domgal, Eogain, Eunan, Saint Gall, Gurgano, Libran, Lua, Sigisbert and Waldoleno) he travelled to Scotland, England, and then to France in 585. The area, though nominally Christian, had fallen far from the faith, but were ready for missionaries, and they had some success. They were warmly greeted at the court of Gontram, and king of Burgundy invited the band to stay. They chose the half-ruined Roman fortress of Annegray in the Vosges Mountains for their new home with Columbanus as their abbot.

The simple lives and obvious holiness of the group drew disciples to join them, and the sick to be healed by their prayers. Columbanus, to find solitude for prayer, often lived for long periods in a cave seven miles from the monastery, using a messenger to stay in touch with his brothers. When the number of new monks over-crowded the old fortress, King Gontram gave them the old castle of Luxeuil to found a new house in 590. Soon after, a third house was founded at Fontaines. Columbanus served as master of them all, and wrote a Rule for them; it incorporated many Celtic practices, was approved by the Council of Macon in 627, but was superseded by the Benedictine.

Problems arose early in the 7th century. Many Frankish bishops objected to a foreign missionary with so much influence, to the Celtic practices he brought, especially those related to Easter, and his independence from them. In 602 he was summoned to appear before them for judgment; instead of appearing, he sent a letter advising them to hold more synods, and to concern themselves with more important things than which rite he used to celebrate Easter. The dispute over Easter continued to years, with Columbanus appealing to multiple popes for help, but was only settled with Columbanus abandoned the Celtic calender when he moved to Italy.

In addition to his problems with the bishops, Columbanus spoke out against vice and corruption in the royal household and court, which was in the midst of a series of complex power grabs. Brunehault stirred up the bishops and nobilty against the abbot; Thierry ordered him to conform to the local ways, and shut up. Columbanus refused, and was briefly imprisoned at Besançon, but he escaped and returned to Luxeuil. Thierry and Brunehault sent an armed force to force him and his foreign monks back to Ireland. As soon as his ship set sail, a storm drove them back to shore; the captain took it as a sign, and set the monks free.

They made their way to King Clothaire at Soissons, Neustria and then the court of King Theodebert of Austrasia in 611. He travelled to Metz, then Mainz, Suevi, Alamanni, and finally Lake Zurich. Their evangelization work there was unsuccessful, and the group passed on to Arbon, then Bregenz, and then Lake Constance. Saint Gall, who knew the local language best, took the lead in this region; many were converted to the faith, and the group founded a new monastery as their home and base. However, a year later political upheaval caused Columbanus to cross the Alps into Italy, arriving in Milan in 612. The Christian royal family treated him well, and he preached and wrote against Arianism and Nestorianism. In gratitude, the Lombard king gave him a track of land call Bobbio between Milan and Genoa. There he rebuilt a half-ruined church of Saint Peter, and around it he founded an abbey that was to be the source for evangelization throughout northern Italy for centuries to come.

Columbanus always enjoyed being in the forests and caves, and as he walked through the woods birds and squirrels would ride on his shoulders. Toward the end of his life came word that his old enemies were dead, and his brothers wanted him to come back north, but he declined. Knowing that his time was almost done, he retired to a cave for solitude, and died as he had predicted. His influence continued for centuries as those he converted handed on the faith, the brothers he taught evanglized untold numbers more, and his brother monks founded over one hundred monasteries to protect learning and spread the faith.

Miracles ascribed to Columbanus include

to obtain food for a sick brother monk, he cured the wife of the donor
once when he was surrounded by wolves, he simply walked through them
at one point he needed a cave for his solitary prayers; a bear lived there; when Columbanus asked, the bear left
when he needed water in order to live in the cave, a spring appeared nearby
when the Luxeuil monastery granary ran empty, he prayed over it and it refilled
he multiplied bread and beer for his community
he cured several sick monks, who then got straight out of bed to reap the monastery's harvest
gave sight to a blind man at Orleans
he destroyed a vat of beer being prepared for a pagan festival by breathing on it
when the monastery needed help in the fields, he tamed a bear, and yoked it to a plough

Born

543 at West Leinster, Ireland

Died

21 November 615 in a cave at Bobbio, Italy of natural causes; interred at the abbey church of Bobbio; miracles reported at his tomb; relics re-interred in a new altar there in 1482; altar and shrine were refurbished and the relics re-interred in the early 20th century

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Patronage

against floods, motorcyclists

Representation

bearded monk in the midst of wolves holding a book and Irish satchel; bearded monk taming a bear; bearded monk with sunbeams over his head; Benedictine monk holding an abbot's staff, a missioner's cross, and wearing the sun on his chest; Benedictine monk with a missioner's cross with a bear nearby; monk in a bear's den with a fountain springing while he prays

Additional Information

For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
Columbia Encyclopedia
Catholic Online
The Boat Song of Saint Columbanus
The One Year Book of Saints, by Father Clifford Stevens
Faith and Reason, by Sister Madeleine Grace, CVI
Catholic Encyclopedia, by Columba Edmonds
Ecole Glossary, by Karen Rae Keck
The Life of Saint Columban, by the monk Jonas

Works

Penitencial
Seventeen short Sermons
Six Epistles
Latin Poems
A Monastic Rule

Readings

A man more holy, more chaste, more self-denying, a man with loftier aims and purer heart than Columbanus was never born in the Island of Saints.

- Archbishop Healy

All we Irish dwelling on the edge of the world are disciples of Saints Peter and Paul and of the disciples who, under the Holy Spirit, wrote the Sacred Canon. We accept nothing outside this evangelical and apostolic teaching. There was no heretic, no Jew, no schismatic, but the Catholic Faith, as first delivered to us by you, the successor of the apostles, is kept unshaken.... We, indeed, are, as I have said, chained to the Chair of Saint Peter; for although Rome is great and known afar, it is great and honored with us only by this Chair.

- Saint Columbanus

American Cathlic's Saint of the Day

November 23

St. Columban

(543?-615)

Columban was the greatest of the Irish missionaries who worked on the European continent. As a young man he was greatly tormented by temptations of the flesh, and sought the advice of a religious woman who had lived a hermit’s life for years. He saw in her answer a call to leave the world. He went first to a monk on an island in Lough Erne, then to the great monastic seat of learning at Bangor.

After many years of seclusion and prayer, he traveled to Gaul with 12 companion missionaries. They won wide respect for the rigor of their discipline, their preaching, and their commitment to charity and religious life in a time characterized by clerical slackness and civil strife. Columban established several monasteries in Europe which became centers of religion and culture.

Like all saints, he met opposition. Ultimately he had to appeal to the pope against complaints of Frankish bishops, for vindication of his orthodoxy and approval of Irish customs. He reproved the king for his licentious life, insisting that he marry. Since this threatened the power of the queen mother, Columban was ordered deported back to Ireland. His ship ran aground in a storm, and he continued his work in Europe, ultimately arriving in Italy, where he found favor with the king of the Lombards. In his last years he established the famous monastery of Bobbio, where he died. His writings include a treatise on penance and against Arianism, sermons, poetry and his monastic rule.

Comment:

Now that public sexual license is approaching the extreme, we need the Church's jolting memory of a young man as concerned about chastity as Columban. And now that the comfort-captured Western world stands in tragic contrast to starving millions, we need the challenge to austerity and discipline of a group of Irish monks. They were too strict, we say; they went too far. How far shall we go?

Quote:

Writing to the pope about a doctrinal controversy in Lombardy, Columban said: “We Irish, living in the farthest parts of the earth, are followers of St. Peter and St. Paul and of the disciples who wrote down the sacred canon under the Holy Spirit. We accept nothing outside this evangelical and apostolic teaching.... I confess I am grieved by the bad repute of the chair of St. Peter in this country.... Though Rome is great and known afar, she is great and honored with us only because of this chair.... Look after the peace of the Church, stand between your sheep and the wolves.”

Troparion of St Columbanus. Tone 8.

Rome was shocked by the severity of your Rule, O Father Columbanus, but never daunted you did not waver in your condemnation of spiritual and moral laxity. / Standing firmly in the tradition of the fathers of the Thebaid, / you are a tower of strength to us sinners, / wherefore O Saint, entreat Christ our God that He will grant mercy to our souls.Rome was shocked by the severity of your Rule, O Father Columbanus, but never daunted you did not waver in your condemnation of spiritual and moral laxity. / Standing firmly in the tradition of the fathers of the Thebaid, / you are a tower of strength to us sinners, / wherefore O Saint, entreat Christ our God that He will grant mercy to our souls.

Sorry, but I can't find an icon for him, though they do exist nor can I find the Apolytikion or the Kontakion.

St. Clement of Rome

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

O God of our Fathers, ever dealing with us according to Thy gentleness: take not Thy mercy from us, but by their entreaties guide our life in peace.

Kontakion in the Fourth Tone

O divine unshakeable towers of Christ's Church, pillars of true piety who are most mighty and divine: Clement and Peter, ye all-acclaimed, by your entreaties, protect and guard all of us.

Synaxarion:

Saint Clement was instructed in the Faith of Christ by the Apostle Peter. He became Bishop of Rome in the year 91, the third after the death of the Apostles. He died as a martyr about the year 100 during the reign of Trajan.

In Orthodoxy we celebrate his feast tomorrow on the New Calendar.

St. Columban, Abbot

Saint Columban, abbot
Optional Memorial
November 23rd

unknown artist

(545-615) An Irish monk, he went to France and founded many monasteries which he guided with strict discipline. Soon his followers were also building monasteries in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Forced into exile by the Frankish King, he went to Italy and founded there the monastery at Bobbio, which was a center of culture and learning as well as spirituality.

Source: Daily Roman Missal, Edited by Rev. James Socías, Midwest Theological Forum, Chicago, Illinois ©2003

Collect:
Lord,
you called St. Columban to live the monastic life
and to preach the gospel with zeal.
May his prayers and example
help us to seek you above all things
and to work with all our hearts for the spread of the faith.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
First Reading: Isaiah 52:7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Gospel Reading: Luke 9:57-62
As they were going along the road, a man said to Him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to Him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head." To another He said, "Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

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