Bl. Columba Marmion was a Dubliner, born on 1 April 1858. His Irish father was William Marmion and his French mother was Herminie Cordier. Blessed Columba Marmion’s original name was Joseph Aloysius. He became a seminarian at Clonliffe College, Drumcondra in 1874, and completed his studies in Rome where he was ordained on 16 June 1881.
He paid a visit in 1881 to Belgium on his return to Ireland, and was enamoured with the liturgical ambience of the Abbey of Maredsous. In Ireland his Bishop appointed him curate of Dundrum parish, and then professor at the major seminary in Clonliffe (1882-86). He was chaplain at the nearby convent of Redemptorist nuns and at a women’s prison in Drumcondra and Phibsborough.
With the Bishop’s permission set out to become a monk. He returned to the Abbey of Maredsous and was received by Abbot Placidus Wolter in 1886. His novitiate year was difficult, due to linguistical, cultural and regimental challenges. However, Blessed Columba was there to learn obedience, and to be moulded by a a life of prayer.
He first mission, with a small team of monks was to found the Abbey of Mont César in Louvain. It was a huge challenge for him, that required sacrifice. He became the Prior and served as spiritual director and professor to the monks studying philosophy or theology. He also preached retreats in Belgium and the UK, and gave spiritual direction to the Carmelite nuns.
Dom Columba Marmion was elected the third Abbot of Maredsous on 28 September 1909. He was abbot of more than 100 monks, and together they ran a humanities college, a trade school and tended to a farm. His main concern however was giving spiritual retreats. He helped Anglican monks of Caldey (off the coast of south Wales), to convert to Catholicism. During the Great War, Blessed Columba sent many monks to Ireland to complete their studies in a more peaceful environment. This decision coupled with other more difficult ones led to many anxieties in the community, between diverse nationalities who found themselves sometimes close to the frontier of war… far from a tranquil place.
Blessed Columba has written a trilogy spiritual works including: Christ the Life of the Soul (1917), Christ in His Mysteries (1919) and Christ the Ideal of the Monk (1922). One of his more notable clients was Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. His spiritual works were influential in the twentieth century and they are still studied in the present time by religious around the world.
We too can benefit from these spiritual writings; where people are brought to God, and God is brought to people. We too can go on retreats to nourish our souls. We too can seek out a spiritual director to steer on the path to greater perfection in our lives. Sure we have plenty of Dublin priests in this parish!
Blessed Columba Marmion passed away during a flu epidemic on 30 January 1923. He was beatified in Rome on the 3rd September 2000. The liturgical day of memory in his name is on the 3rd October.
Nb* much of the material found here (though not all), has been sourced from the Vatican Website by a sermon given by St. John Paul Magno.
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