Book Reviews and More: Columbanus

Columbanus

Bangor - Luxeuil – Bobbio

Desmond Forristal

Messenger Publications

ISBN 9781872245294

ISBN 1872245293

This is the second volume I have read by Desmond Forristal, but it will not be the last. I keep stumbling across other works he has written I want to track down and read. I do not recall how I stumbled across this volume. I have not been able to find a description of this volume, and the back cover of the edition I read does not have a description. Some online descriptions have the subtitle Bangor - Luxeuil – Bobbio.

The sections in this book are:

Preface

Columbanus

Leaving Home

The Life Of A Monk

A Greater Place Of Pilgrimage

Into The Unknown

Annegray

Director Of Souls

New Foundations

A Place Apart

Opposition

Journey Into Exile

The Rhine Voyage

Mission To The Pagans

The Parting Of Friends

Among The Lombards

The Last Monastery

Death Of Columbanus

Notes On Further Reading

I highlighted a number of passages while reading this volume, some of them are:

“The name and influence of Columbanus live on not only in the places he visited, but in other countries and continents as well. Endowed with the same pioneering spirit as their patron, the Columban Fathers and the Missionary Sisters of St Columban have helped spread the Gospel as far afield as China, New Zealand and South America.”

“Columbanus was our first great European. He was the first Irishman to become known throughout the whole of the western world. He wielded immense influence through his travels, his preaching, his writing. Popes listened to his wise advice. Kings trembled before his eloquence. In an age of barbarism, the monasteries he founded became centres of learning and civilization. During his lifetime and for many centuries afterwards, Europe continued to feel the force of his towering personality.”

“Even during his lifetime, Patrick saw monasteries and convents being founded in Ireland. A hundred years later, the religious life was flourishing in every part of the country. This was the life to which young Colm now felt himself strongly drawn.”

“The day came that he had set for his departure. She still refused to accept his decision and begged him tearfully to stay. He refused. In a moment of high drama, she threw herself across the threshold of the door to prevent him leaving. He made what must have been the hardest decision of his life. He told her not to weep for him. Then he stepped over her prostrate body and firmly walked away from his home, never to return.”

“His first stopping-place was the monastery of Cleenish on Lough Erne in the north of Ireland. The monastery had been founded a few years earlier by St Sinell, a man renowned for his scholarship as well as his holiness. It was an ideal place for a young man to continue his education. Under Smell's guidance he deepened his knowledge of Scripture and mastered the Latin tongue. His very name was translated into Latin, and from now on he was to sign himself Columba or Columbanus, from the Latin word for dove.”

“Like the other great Irish monasteries of the time, Bangor was not only a place of prayer. It was a seminary, it was a university, it was a centre of arts and sciences, it was a town.”

“The rule prescribed the prayers that were recited each day in the monastery. The Divine Office, made up largely of psalms sung in Latin, was prayed in common by all the monks each day. There were three short periods of prayer during the daylight hours: morning, midday, and afternoon. These were interspersed with the daily work of the monks: manual work in the fields or workshops, copying manuscripts in the scriptorium, leaching and studying in the class-halls. There were three longer periods of prayer after work was done. Vespers was sung at dusk. Matins al midnight. Lauds al dawn.”

“This seamless web of prayer, work and penance structured every day of the monk's life. This was the rule of Bangor, which Columbanus grew to love and which he brought with him to the monasteries he founded abroad. It was clear and firm, a rock-like foundation on which to build the life of the spirit.”

“Soon after his arrival in Bangor, Columbanus was allowed to make his vows, and was admitted to full membership of the community. Some time later he was ordained to the priesthood, an honour which was granted only to a selected few. His qualities of mind and spirit were becoming recognised and he was taking an increasingly important part in the life of the monastery.”

“It took all of Columbanus’s powers of persuasion to make the old man change his mind. Eventually he yielded, acknowledging that the needs of the Church in Europe were greater than those of Ireland. More than that, he allowed Columbanus to choose twelve companions for his mission, twelve men who shared his vision, twelve of the monastery’s finest monks. Among them was a man named Gall, who was to become almost as famous as Columbanus in years to come. The twelve bade farewell to the abbot and the monastery, and made their way to the sea-shore, where they invoked God’s blessing on the venture they were about to undertake. Then they went aboard their little boat, cast off the moorings and left their homeland for ever. It was about the year 591.”

“His journey led him into Burgundy to the wild and desolate Vosges Mountains. It was an area of dramatic cliffs, of gorge-like valleys, of forests haunted by bears and wolves. Here in a place called Annegray he found what he was looking for. It was an old Roman castle, long since abandoned and falling into decay. But the Romans built to last, and the foundations were solid and on them he decided he could build the monastery of his dreams.”

“In the pages of Jonas’s book we see the qualities that made Columbanus great. We see his courage, his perseverance, his steadfastness, his passionate concern for the Church of God. We see him in relation to his fellow-monks, a man who exercised his authority and expected to be obeyed, and yet was prepared to undertake the hardest and most menial work alongside the youngest brother. We see the life of prayer and penance that he lived himself and expected his monks to live, while at the same time caring for each one of them with the tenderness of a father. And we see what is perhaps most unexpected of all: his love for the world of nature, and his friendship with every creature that God has pul upon the earth.

“Stories like these spread rapidly through the surrounding countryside. Other visitors found their way through the woods, asking Columbanus to pray for their intentions. Time after time his prayers were granted. The sick were healed, the troubled were consoled, the childless were blessed with children. The crowds grew steadily, and the tracks through the forest became well-beaten roads.”

“In the days of the Roman Empire, confession of sins was a public act, and was followed by public penance. In Ireland a different practice was followed. The penitent confessed to the priest in private, heard the priest’s advice in private, received absolution in private, and carried out the penance prescribed by the priest in private. Some of the penances laid down by Columbanus may now seem harsh, but it has to be remembered that it was a lawless and violent age, and that the law of the Church was often the only defence for the poor and the weak. Here is an example of Columbanus's prescriptions.”

“The Irish approach to the sacrament of reconciliation was eventually adopted by the whole Church. The sacrament became something more than an absolution from sin. It became an opportunity for penitents to discuss their problems with the priest and receive advice and guidance. It was one area in which the influence of Columbanus has lasted down to the present day.”

“Be that as it may, the central fact is crystal clear. Despite the king’s orders, Columbanus and his monks were not forced to return to Ireland. They were now free and could go wherever they wanted outside the kingdom of Burgundy.”

“Columbanus was mourned throughout Europe. From Rome to far-off Bangor, they grieved for his passing and gave thanks for his achievements. From an island on the edge of the world, he had brought new hope and life to a broken continent. There was a symbolism in the fact that so many of his monasteries had been founded on the ruins of Roman buildings. He was constructing a new Europe on the shattered remains of the old empire, a work which is still going on today.”

And the last page or back cover of the booklet has this quote from Saint Columbanus:

“The Church our common mother is indeed torn asunder and grieves for the strife and civil warfare of her sons and in sorrow bewails the discord of her dearest... Then quickly my dearest friends, agree and meet together and refuse to argue over ancient quarrels, but rather hold your peace and commit them to eternal silence and forgetting: and if any things are doubtful, reserve them for God's judgement; but the things that are clear, on which men can take decision, decide these justly without favouritism, and let there be peaceful judgement in your gates, and pardon one another, that there may be joy in heaven and on earth for your peace and concord.”

I hope those quotes give you a feel for this Saint. I have stumbled upon Saint Columbanus in a few collections of stories about Irish Saints. This longer volume dedicated to him was a fascinating read. As seen by the quotes above. He is also sometimes referred to by various Latinised or Irish versions of his name including: Colmán, Columbán, Columbanus, and Columba.I did not know much about Columbanus before reading this volume. But after reading this volume he has been added to my long list of favourite Irish saints.

This book was inspiring. The life this monk, priest and Saint lived is incredible. And the time in which he lived and did it, it boggles the mind. It was a fascinating read from beginning to end.

I have tracked down a few other volumes from Desmond and plan to read all I can lay my hands on. Unfortunately most are out of print and never had eBook editions. I hope they will be back in print soon and that digital editions will be made available.

A fascinating read I can easily recommend to any Catholic!

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by Desmond Forristal:

Black Man's Country

Columbanus

Colum Cille: The Fox and the Dove

Edel Quinn, 1907-1944

Maximilian of Auschwitz

Newman In Dalkey

Oliver Plunkett

Seventeen Martyrs

Superstar or Son of God?