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On St. Columban "A Tireless Builder of Monasteries" VATICAN CITY, JUNE 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered during today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, on the Irish monk St. Columban. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to speak of the holy Abbot Columban, the most famous Irishman of the early Middle Ages. With good reason he can be called a "European" saint, because as monk, missionary and writer, he worked in several countries of Western Europe. Along with the Irishmen of his time, he was aware of...

November 23, 2005Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Wednesday 50 Reading IDn 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords,with whom he drank.Under the influence of the wine,he ordered the gold and silver vesselswhich Nebuchadnezzar, his father,had taken from the temple in Jerusalem,to be brought in so that the king, his lords,his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.When the gold and silver vesselstaken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in,and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainerswere drinking wine from...

November 23, 2002Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Saturday Week 49 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel Reading IRev 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:Here are my two witnesses:These are the two olive trees and the two lampstandsthat stand before the Lord of the earth.If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouthsand devours their enemies.In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.They have the power to close up the skyso that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.They also have power...