St Columban.
540-615 ~ Columban was born in the year 540 in Leinster, Ireland. When he was young, he said he wanted to serve God. His mother was against this and tried to dissuade him. He received a good education, learning Latin and the Scriptures as well as the other basic subjects. When he finished school, he went to live for a while on an island in Lough Erne to think about what he was to do. He decided to join a monastery in Bangor, Northern Ireland and the abbot of Bangor St Comgall, allowed Columban with twelve of his friends, to go to Europe to preach the gospels. They were immensely successful in France and in no time, founded three monastic centres at Annegray, Luxeuil and Fontaine each with a good following. Over the years, he established more monasteries in many cities in France and spread out into the rest of Europe. The monasteries were governed by Columban, using the Celtic Liturgy and his own rules, which were very harsh. The local bishops did not approve of Columban’s rule and his use of the Celtic ways. Columban was loyal to the Pope, but at the same time, he persuaded him to carry on the Celtic Liturgy. He had many disputes with the authorities and one time he fell out with King Theodoric II of Burgundy for refusing to bless his illegitimate sons.
Columban was banished and sent back to Ireland, but on his journey, a storm blew up and his boat had to go back to France. He went on to Austrasia (now part of modern day Switzerland), but Theodoric hearing of this, came after him so Columban fled to Lombardy in Italy. There he built, at the old age of seventy, the famous monastery at Bobbio near Genoa. This grew to become a great house of learning and spirituality and housed one of the finest libraries in Europe. Columban died at Bobbio in 615.