Material taken and adapted from Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae: Saint Gall of Switzerland, October 16
Gall was a missionary companion of Columbanus, and they were to have a disagreement. It was a little bit like St. Paul and Barnabas in the book of Acts.
Acts 15: 36, 39 recounts a strong disagreement among two evangelisers, Paul and Barnabas. It says: ”Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”… They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company”.
Now at the time of the Irish mission in Europe, St. Columbanus was the most outstanding monk in Europe. He brought with him many disciples into the continent to reclaim the Word of God. This was during the era of the declining roman empire, when the Barbarians began to make incursions into the former roman territory. Columbanus left the monastery at Bangor, County Down, with twelve other monks, of whom St. Gall is the most notable; he was a type of right hand man in the missionary expedition. Gall had the unique ability to communicate in a German dialect, enabling him to communicate with German speaking nobles and Barbarians.
On their peregrinatio pro Christo, they crossed over to Europe, and found themselves as a group, arriving onto the shores of Lake Zurich. It was here that Gall gained notoriety. Having witnessed idolatry by a Germanic tribe to Woden, one of the Norse gods. Woden is known as a deity of war, of human wisdom, and of poetry; influencing Anglo-Saxon culture as well as that of the Vikings. Gall not only preached against such idolatry, but set fire to the temple, and threw sacrificial material into the lake. For that reason there was a plan to murder Gall.
The team of Irish monks had to flee and they made for Lake Constance, where they then journeyed more until they encountered a priest at Arbon, by the name of Fr. Willimar. This hospitable priest gave counsel as to where the Irish group could settle. The Irish monks then found themselves, heading across the lake at Bregenz in Austria, on the fertile mountainside plains. There they encountered more Germanic barbarians offering worship to false gods. Again, St. Gall did the same as before; preaching against idolatry, and smashing the statues of the temple. All the idolatrous imagery were thrown to the bottom of the sea. The temple was a former Christian church, and now Barbarians were unhappy. Reprisal was on the cards, but Gall won many converts, and St. Columbanus rededicated the Christian church, with holy water, holy oils and holy relics, before celebrating mass there.
St. Gall was a good fisherman and mender of nets, providing well for the community. The barbarians seeing this, hatched a plan. They hoodwinked Gunzo the local Duke to expel the Irish monks for interfering with fishing and gaming rights. At around the same time, two other of the Irish monks were looking for a lost cow. They were assassinated, and so the monks had to once again take flight.
At this point Gall and Columbanus have their disagreement. They part company, under difficult circumstances. Gall felt unfit and sick and would not continue the journey across the alps, with Columbanus to Italy. Gall was thus forbidden to celebrate Mass as a rebuke, and for as long as Columbanus lived. It was a painful obedience, and Gall returned to Fr. Willimar at Arbon, and recovered his health. Gall was given a suitable hermitage on fertile land and he built there a chapel in honour of the Blessed virgin Mary.
Later the local clergy in that region unanimously chose St. Gall to be the succeeding Bishop of Constance, under the promotional influence of Gunzo the local duke. It was the Duke’s way of returning a big favour, as Gall healed his daughter, Fridaburga. The episcopal offer was declined, as Gall could not celebrate under obedience the Holy Mass, and he was not a native to the land. Gall proposed a native deacon who served him well, and a reverend John was elected as bishop.
Within a few short years, St. Gaul had a premonition of St. Columbanus’ death at Bobbio in the north of Italy. Columbanus had already regretted his former heated dispute with Gall and his prohibition of celebrating the Holy Mass. Columbanus therefore sent some monks from his death bed with his staff to gift to St. Gall. Because of the premonition, Gall had already celebrated Mass for the repose of the soul of late Columbanus, before the monks arrived.
The hermitage of St. Gall grew into a monastery with the passing of time, then a city, and then a diocese, and finally the Canton of St. Gallen. Today the monastic library boasts a collection of mediaeval Irish manuscripts. The Irish monk who left Bangor so many years before, became St. Gall of Switzerland. His memory is celebrated on the 16th of October. St. Gall died in 630 A.D.
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