Saint Columban was an abbot and writer, one of the greatest missionaries of the Celtic church, who initiated a revival of spirituality on the European continent.
Background
Columbanus was born in the Kingdom of Meath, now part of Leinster, in Ireland in 543, the year Saint Benedict died at Monte Cassino. Prior to his birth, his mother was said to have had visions of bearing a child who, in the judgement of those interpreting the visions, would become a "remarkable genius".
Education
Columbanus was well-educated in the areas of grammar, rhetoric, geometry, and the Holy Scriptures. He was educated in the Abbey of Bangor, in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Career
About 574 he led a group of twelve young followers, one of whom was later to become known as St. Gall, to the Continent, where he preached in Upper Burgundy. He founded monasteries and abbeys at Arnegray, Luxeuil, Fontenoy, and elsewhere, and revitalized the teaching of Christianity in many places. Columban constantly attacked the laxity and impiety which he found prevalent in the Frankish and Burgundian lands, especially in the courts, going so far as to rebuke Thierry II, king of the Franks, and Brunehaut, the queen mother, for their vices. Ecclesiastical and civil authorities turned against him, and he was forced to flee to Switzerland, and then to Italy, where he settled in 612 on a grant from Pope Boniface IV in Bobbio. He founded a monastery there in 614. Columban died at Bobbio, November 23, 615. Columban was celebrated as a scholar in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, and as a poet as well as a missionary. His writings, published in Latin, included extremely austere rules for monastic life that were widely adopted. The order which he founded, the members of which were called Columbans, was incorporated under Benedictine rule in the eighth century. Columban's saint's day is November 23.
Personality
Columbanus did not lead a perfect life. According to Jonas and other sources, he could be impetuous and even headstrong, for by nature he was eager, passionate, and dauntless. These qualities were both the source of his power and the cause of his mistakes. His virtues, however, were quite remarkable. Like many saints, he had a great love for God's creatures.