Columbanus ( 540 – 23 November 615 ;, meaning " the white dove ") was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil ( in present-day France ) and Bobbio ( Italy ), and stands as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.

Columbanus ( the Latinised form of Columbán ) was born in Nobber, County Meath, Ireland, in the year Saint Benedict died, and from childhood was well instructed.

On his arrival at Milan in 612, Columbanus met with a kindly welcome from Lombard King Agilulf and Queen Theodelinda.

Chapter X regulates penances ( often corporal ) for offences, and it is here that the Rule of St. Columbanus differs so widely from that of St. Benedict.

The example, however, of Columbanus in the sixth century stands out as the prototype of missionary enterprise towards the countries of Europe, so eagerly followed up from England and Ireland by such men as Saints Killian, Virgilius, Donatus, Wilfrid, Willibrord, Swithbert, Boniface, and Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne.

As the Celtic world established renewed contact with the Continent it became aware of the divergence ; the first clash over the matter came in Gaul in 602, when Columbanus resisted pressure from the local bishops to conform.

While in Gaul, Wilfrid absorbed Frankish ecclesiastical practices, including some aspects from the monasteries founded by Columbanus.

The party was socially conservative, compared to similar European parties, and its leaders from 1932 to 1977 ( William Norton and Brendan Corish ) were members of the Knights of Saint Columbanus.

Saint Gall, Gallen, or Gallus ( c. 550 – c. 646 ) was an Irish disciple and one of the traditionally twelve companions of Saint Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent.

In 610, he accompanied Columbanus on his voyage up the Rhine River to Bregenz but when in 612 Columbanus traveled on to Italy from Bregenz, Gall had to remain behind due to illness and was nursed at Arbon.

* The Saint Columbanus Abbey: Open to the public the long ground floor corridor, the main cloister ; the service yard ; the Abbey Museum, recently restored and enlarged, collects remarkable works and art objects of Roman, Medieval and Renaissance Age, and Town Museum is a sort of didactic journey, whose admittance is from the southern wing of the cloister, the only one that guards the original portico.

The manuscript comes from Bobbio Abbey, which was founded by Saint Columbanus in 612.

Most of the earliest rule that was observed at Luxeuil derived from Celtic monastic traditions, whether or not written down by Columbanus, supplemented increasingly by the more formalized Benedictine Rule that was followed throughout the West, which provided for the abbot's orderly election, his relations with his monks, and the appointment of monastic officials and their delegated powers.

Columbanus was exiled from Luxeuil by Theuderic II of Austrasia and the dowager Queen Brunehaut.

Columbanus, an abbot from a Leinster noble family, traveled to Gaul in the late 6th century with twelve companions.

While the inspiration for these religious houses came from Columbanus ’ missions in Gaul, he himself never established female religious institutions.

He was abbot of the monastery for forty years, during which the school of Luxeuil trained the Frankish aristocrats who became bishops in the Frankish kingdoms ; Waldebert oversaw the move of the monastery from the Rule of St. Columban to the Benedictine Rule, though in the rule he drew up for the convent of Faremoutiers he drew upon the rules of Columbanus as well as Benedict, but made no mention whatsoever of a ritual of either profession or oblation.

It was from here that St. Columbanus set out on his famous missionary journey to Europe.

This, however, is not conclusive, since Columbanus might have derived inspiration from the Benedictine Rule then widely spread over South-Western Europe.

The first monks came from Luxeuil Abbey, which had been founded by Saint Columbanus in 590, and the Irish respect for classical learning fostered there was carried forward at Corbie.

Columbanus made his way to the friendly King Clothaire at Soissons in Neustria where he was gladly welcomed.

Columbanus left Neustria in 611 for the court of King Theodebert of Austrasia.

According to medieval legend, Constantine, a 7th-century King of Strathclyde, founded a monastery under the rule of Columbanus in Govan.

There King Agilulf and his wife Theodolinda granted Columbanus land in the mountains between Genoa and Milan, where he established the monastery of Bobbio.

Looking for a more permanent site for his community, Columbanus decided upon the ruins of a well-fortified Gallo-Roman settlement, Luxovium, about eight miles away.

St. Columbanus is named in the Roman Martyrology on 23 November, but his feast is kept by the Benedictines and throughout Ireland on 24 November.

Around 613 an Irish monk named Gallus, a disciple and companion of Saint Columbanus, established a hermitage on the site that would become the Abbey.

As we hear no further accusation on the Easter question — not even in those brought against his successor at Luxeuil Abbey, Eustasius of Luxeuil in 624 — it would appear that after Columbanus had moved to Italy, he gave up the Celtic Easter ( cf.

* Columbanus arrives in Gaul where he founds Luxeuil Abbey.

Gall and his companions established themselves with Columbanus at first at Luxeuil in Gaul.

It has also been suggested that Fredegar's sources may have been the reports of Christian missionaries, especially disciples of Columbanus and the Abbey of Luxeuil.

Luxeuil sent out monks to found houses at Bobbio, between Milan and Genoa, where Columbanus himself became abbot, and monasteries at Saint-Valéry and Remiremont.

This brought her into conflict with Columbanus, abbot of Luxeuil, whom she eventually exiled to Italy, where he founded Bobbio.

By the seventh century, Irish missionary St. Columbanus had established his most famous monastery in Gaul, Luxeuil.

Regardless of Columbanus ’ own involvement, that of his successors, Eustace and Walbert of Luxeuil, is well-documented.

This monastery practised according to the Rule of Saint Columbanus of Luxeuil.

They told Columbanus it was intended as a sacrifice to their god Wodan ( Illi aiunt se Deo suo Vodano nomine ), whom they identified with Roman Mercury.

A number of works by Columbanus survive, including a monastic rule ( the Regula monachorum ), a number of letters, and some poetry ( see Columcille the Scribe ).

* Michael Lapidge ( ed ), Columbanus: Studies in Latin Writings ( Woodbridge, Boydell, 1997 ).

* Columbanus, ( 540 – 615 ), Irish monk and missionary

In the sixth and seventh centuries, Irish monks established monastic institutions in parts of modern-day Scotland ( especially Columba, also known as Colmcille or, in Old Irish, Colum Cille ), and on the continent, particularly in Gaul ( especially Columbanus ).

The Ionan Easter had already resulted in conflict in Gaul, in the early seventh century, between Frankish monasteries and Ionan monasteries ( the latter had been founded there by the Ionan abbot St. Columbanus ), and the Ionan tables had been rejected.

At the same time, good knowledge of Latin and even of Greek was being preserved in monastic culture in Ireland and was brought to England and the European mainland by missionaries in the course of the 6th and 7th centuries, such as Columbanus ( 543 – 615 ), who founded the monastery of Bobbio in Northern Italy.

* James O ' Neill ( priest ) ( died 1922 ), founder of the Knights of Saint Columbanus

* Columbanus ( d. 615 ), Irish missionary