November 23rd. St. Columbanus.

Born in Ireland in 543, he was a monk of Bangor in County Down until in 590 with 12 others he set out on a mission to France; this took him to the Vosges mountains of Eastern France, where at Luxeuil he established a centre of the ‘Irish monastic tradition abroad’ – not without causing friction with the local Frankish Christian tradition. Eventually the order was given for his deportation back to Ireland; the journey was prevented by a storm at sea, and Columbanus was able to head in other directions, first to the Rhine valley, and then over the Alps to Bobbio in Italy where a large new foundation was made in 613. Some of his poems, and his monastic Rule, have survived. His Rule was too strict for most, who preferred the greater flexibility offered by St. Benedict. Although the form of monasticism which he introduced did not survive, Columbanus may be reckoned the greatest of the Irish missionaries to the mainland of Europe. He died in 615.