Columbanus of Bobbio - The
founder of several European monasteries, St. Columbanus was born c. 543 in
Leinster, Ireland, and was educated at Bangor. Late in life (c. 590), he left
Ireland to establish, at the invitation of King Childebert of Burgandy, a
monastery at Annegray. He founded monasteries at Luxovium (Luxeuil) and at
Fountaines as well. In 603, a synod accused him of keeping Easter by the Celtic
date, although the real charge seems to have been criticizing the lax morals of
the Burgundian court.
Columbanus appealed to Gregory the Great, but nothing is
known of the outcome of this act. Seven years later, Columbanus left Burgandy
to preach to the Allemani of Switzerland; when Burgandy captured Switzerland,
he fled to northern Italy, where he established a monastery at Bobbio in 613.
His monasteries were known for the strictness of their rules (which the
Benedictines later ameliorated) and their emphasis on corporal punishment. In
addition to his rule for monks, Columbanus wrote a peneteniary and poems. He
died in 615 at Bobbio.[1]
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