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The saints

St. Columban

An Irish monk who crossed to Europe, founded monasteries, and told kings off.

Feast: 23 November · 543 to 615 · The early Church · Ireland, Gaul and Bobbio, Italy

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Stained-glass window of St. Columban in a white habit, holding a book.

Unknown author. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Columban

Luxeuil, Gaul, about 590

Columban was a monk at Bangor in Ireland when, already in middle age, he set out for the Continent with twelve companions.1

He founded monasteries in Gaul, including Luxeuil.1

He criticized a king’s immoral life and was expelled.

Patronage No official patronage we can cite yet. The Church remembers him as the greatest of the Irish missionary monks on the Continent.

01St. Columban

Bobbio

After years on the road he crossed the Alps and founded the monastery of Bobbio in Italy, where he died.1

Live it this week

Leave your comfort zone for God

Columban left Ireland in middle age. Do one thing this week for God that is outside your normal routine: a new ministry, a new parish event, a new person.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Columban”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.