Tag Archives: Irish monks

Posted in Irish church history

St. Ciarán of Saighir – the austere abbot and premier Irish born saint – 5th March

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St. Ciarán of Saighir, alongside Ailbhe, Iban, and Declan were the four pre-patrician Irish Saints. That is, they were evangelising in Ireland before St. Patrick began his Irish mission. St. Ciarán of Saighir is also one of the twelve Irish apostles who studied under St. Finnan of Clonard. He is also known as St. Ciarán the Elder, and he is considered “the first-born of the Irish saints”. Ciarán’s father was Luaigne, a noble in Ossory. Ciarán’s mother was Liadan whom was from Cork. During her pregnancy, she had a dream of a star falling from the sky and resting on her. It was a prelude for her child to be, as Ciarán was to be specially gifted. Ciarán grew up bright & holy being loved by all. He was fond of animals, but most of all he treasured God. Ciarán met St. Patrick in Rome, and he was to become Patrick’s precursor in Ireland. In effect he was a type of John the Baptist figure. St. Patrick gave him a bell to help him on his Irish mission as when the bell sounded, it would mark the spot where God desired the foundation of a great spiritual centre. This eventually happened at Saighir.

Initially at Saighir, by a water spring, Ciarán built a hermitage of wattle, thin branches and mud plaster. The roof was thatched with grass and leaves. In his early days at his hermitage in the woods, injured wild animals such as wolves, deer and the like, would seek Ciarán’s help, having no fear for their lives in his presence. They in turn would help him too. Often doing tasks, difficult for a mere man. In this way Ciarán of Saighir is similar to St. Kevin of Glendalough. 

His strict diet was herbs and barley bread, with a drink of only water. Ciarán imitated the spiritual life of the Desert Fathers, and modelled himself on St. John the Baptist, wearing animal skins and sleeping on the ground. He had angels minister to him from childhood. He lived a life of prayer, fasting and abstinence.

With this austere life style, he attracted a following of disciples. He became the first Abbot at his large monastery at Saighir beside this hermitage in present day Co. Offaly. The monastery became a centre of learning and preaching. His mother Liadan, with other holy women, came to live nearby in a convent.

One day St. Patrick visited St. Ciarán’s monastery with a few of his men. Ciarán was not expecting such a visit, and food was scarce at the monastery. This pre-patrician saint, prayed to God to provide, and his supplies of food multiplied miraculously, for he knew a great patron for Ireland had arrived.

On his deathbed, Ciarán predicted to his monks that in the future, the faith in Ireland would be distorted and the monasteries supressed. This was fulfilled with the advent of the Anglo-Norman invasion and at the protestant Reformation. The monastery at Saighir became the seat of the Diocese of Ossory for several centuries. Today the monastic ruins can be visited in the village of Clareen, in Co. Offaly. The water there has miraculous medicinal properties as Local residents say that the water that gathers around the cross cures warts.

Ciarán of Saighir reposed in the Lord around 530 A.D. The church celebrates Ciarán the elder on the 5th of March.

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St. Fintan of Clonenagh; the austere Irish monk – 17th February

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Fintan of Clonenagh was born about 524. He studied under St. Colman in Terryglass in north Tipperary. The Irish for Terryglass is Tír Dhá Ghlas, (which means ‘land of the two streams’). In 550 Fintan settled along the Slieve Bloom Mountains in the solitude. His dwelling was near present day Portlaois town. Fintan set up an oratory which attracted numerous disciples, and formed his own austere rule. Such austerities along with miracles recalled the apostolic ages. Fintan founded his monastery at Clonenagh in Co. Laois. Among his disciples were St. Comgall of Bangor, St Colmán of Oughaval, and St Aengus the Culdee. Culdee in Irish is Céile Dé which in Irish which means spouse of God.

A thaumaturge, Fintan was a prophet, and performed miracles. For his austere living Fintan is considered an Irish equivalent to St. Benedict. Fintan is also considered as the “Father of Irish Monks”. According to a disciple Oengus, Fintan lived on “bread of woody barley and clayey water of clay”. Despite the hardships, Fintan’s monastery flourished with young monks from all over Ireland. The monastery of Clonenagh was an important seat of learning with students coming from all over Europe. Among the disciples at Clonenagh was St Comgall, founder of Bangor moastery. There was Oengus, the disciple of Fintan, who became an associate of St Maelruain of Tallaght and was also a member of the Céilí Dé reform movement. Fintan was succeeded by Fintan Maeldubh at the Abbey of Clonenagh.

At St. Fintan’s Tree in Clonenagh, there is a well that sprung up in in a field and the farmer who lived close by, refused people a visit to this holy well. So much so, that the well miraculously transferred itself to St. Fintan’s tree. It became known as “The Money Tree” as people hammered coins into its bark with prayerful intentions. This tree was blown down in a storm in 1994.

The lost Book of Clonenagh is a source cited by Geoffrey Keating in his Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (The General History of Ireland) regarding the Synod of Rath Breasail which was to lay the foundations stones for the current diocese structure in Ireland.

Fintan died on 17th February, around the year 603.

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St. Flannan the baker saint and patron of Killaloe – 18th December

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St Flannan is patron of Killaloe (Cill Dalua) diocese which extends between areas of Co. Clare and Co.  Tipperary, as well as areas of Co. Offaly, Co. Laois, and Co. Limerick. The name Flannan is a diminutive of flann which means ruddy.

The Killaloe monastic connection

St Lua (554-609) is considered the founding abbot of the Killaloe monastic centre. He was from Ardagh, in Limerick. Lua (Lughaidh) was to studied in Clonard and later in Bangor for the religious life and was ordained a priest. This came about after an encounter of St. Comgall. His name became more familiarly known under the affectionate name of Molua. He later returned home and he was to found a few monasteries, as well as at Killaloe, at Friars’ Island near Ardnacrusha. Killaloe means the church of Lua.

St Flannan succeeds St Molua at Killaloe monastery

St Flannan was the son of Turlough, King of Thomond, and also Molua’s nephew. In his younger days Flannan studied under St. Blathmet who was well versed in Sacred Scripture.

Interestingly, in Ireland’s royal history, kings and queens would keep a biographer and an account of family and political life. There is an account given that Flannan studied to “till, sow, harvest, grind, winnow, and bake for the monks.” Tradition will add to this, that one day, while baking continuously for long and extended hours, his left hand became transfigured. There was enough light to enable him to continue baking right through the night. Molua, learnt of this incident, and felt it was opportune for him to consider retiring with the view that Flannan could be the new abbot.

Travels to Rome
Flannan was a hospitable man and his people in Thomond were in accord that he should be consecrated. On a trip to Rome, he received consecration from Pope John IV (640-2).

How Killaloe became a significant diocese from its monastic beginnings

Killaloe owes its existence as a diocese thanks to the vision of Brian Ború high King of Ireland. Brian wished to have a church independent of Norman influence. Between 1002 and 1014, the Irish High King had a palace in Killaloe on the grounds of the present-day Catholic church. On the other hand, Lanfranc, the Archbishop of Canterbury, desired to extend Norman influence over Irish ecclesiastical affairs. But when Lanfranc died in 1089, Canterbury’s foothold on Irish ecclesial affairs waned, particularly on the diocese of Killaloe which enjoyed the patronage of the Dalcassian Kings. Muirchertach Mor O’Briain was by now King of the Dal gCais.

After the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1111 in which king Muirchertach was present, Killaloe became formally recognised as a major diocese. At the synod of Kells in 1152, Killaloe as a diocese shrunk, as Roscrea monastery founded by St. Crónán, as well Scattery island monastic centre founded by St. Senan became small diocese. Today the Killaloe diocese has absorbed them both.

We celebrate the noble St. Flannan on the 18th December

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Saint Finnian of Clonard, the maestro of Irish disciples and the ascetic father – 12th December

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St. Finnian (‘Fionáin’ in Irish), was an early monastic saint. He lived from about 470 to 549.

St. Finnian of Clonard is considered the maestro of the Irish saints; notable students include Colmcille of Iona, Ciarán of Clonmacnois and St, Canice (Kenneth). His monastic foundation at Clonard (Cluain Eraird in Irish) was very influential as a centre of theological learning, before the invasion of the Vikings and before the synods of Cashel, Rathbreasail and Kells, that changed the monastery centre into a diocese.

Finnian was born at Myshal in Carlow, at the foot of Mount Leinster. His father, called Rudraigh, was a noble  Ulsterman. His Leinster mother was called Telach. While she was pregnant, she had a vivid dream of a bright flying flame that drew very near to her, entering one moment in her mouth, before flying away gloriously, to all the corners of Ireland Ireland, attracting a huge flock of birds that followed. Telach told Rudraigh of the vivid dream, and he predicted that Finnian would become an influential professor and mentor. Finnian later became one of the greatest fathers of the Irish monasticism.

The boy was educated first by Bishop Fortchernn of Trim, a disciple of St. Patrick. Finnian proceeded to Wales to grow in virtue and study spirituality under the great saints of Wales; his teachers included great fathers such as St. David, St. Gildas the Wise, and, especially, St. Cadoc. Finnian spent thirty years in Wales according to the Salamanca MS. He also studied for awhile in the French monastic centre of St. Martin in Tours in Gaul. Here Finnian learned the life of ascetic austerity for spiritual gain.

Finnian returned to Ireland, first to Aghowle near Shillelagh in County Wicklow, where King Oengus of Leinster gave him a site to build a church. He traversed Ireland, preaching, teaching, and founding churches, as far south as Skellig Michael islands, eight miles off the coast of Co. Kerry. He went north eastwards to Dunmanogue on the river Barrow, in Co. Kildare. He stopped by the town of Kildare, visiting at St Brigid’s monastery. St. Finnian was esteemed by St. Brigid, who gifted him with a gold ring on his departure.

By the year 520 Finnian arrived at Clonard, (Erard’s Meadow in English). He was led to this place by an angel. Clonard, which is situated on the River Boyne in present day Co. Meath. It was between the former royal province of Meath and the province of Leinster. Here Finnian received a large tract of land and built monastic site, entering into a life devoted to study, mortification, and prayer. He had a big following of monks. They include the “twelve apostles of Ireland”,

Finnian had a strong theological reputation and the Clonard monastery became a centre of Biblical studies, becoming the largest and the most important in Ireland. He became the first abbot and organized life according to the Welsh monastic model. This form of monasticism was based on the traditions of the holy fathers of the East. This may explain somewhat how the Celtic liturgical observance came to Ireland. St. Patrick having permission from the Pope to evangelise Ireland, brought with him the roman rite, and later through the influence of St. Finnian, the Celtic observance may have come the norm.

”The Penitential” compiled by St. Finnian, roots out sin and bad habits while cultivating virtue. Under the influence of Welsh saints and, originally, St. John Cassian in France, Finnian compiled the first known Irish Penitentiary, which later influenced St. Columbanus in his written works. St. Finnian himself slept on the bare earthen floor in his cell without anything for a pillow, to prop his head. One of his disciples recounts that the venerable abbot became emaciated from a prolonged and extreme ascetic life. So much so, his ribs could easily be seen protruding the lining of his tunic.

The site of the former monastic centre of St. Finnian is located in the grounds of the Church of Ireland at Clonard. St. Finnian is said to have died in the great plague of 549-550. He is celebrated on 12th December in the Catholic liturgy.

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St. Virgil, the Irish abbot and cosmologist in Germany – 27th November

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St. Fergal of Salzburg (his Latin name = “Virgilius”)

He was an eighth-century Irishman, an accomplished learner who rocked the boat, particularly with his contemporary, Saint Boniface. Both of these saints evangelised the Germanic people. St Fergal (or Virgil, or Feargal) moved from Ireland to France and then onto Bavaria in Germany. Fergal was abbot of Aghaboe, in Co. Laoise, Ireland. He was a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages. He had mastered mathematics to the point of being considered a Geometer.

“Peregrini pro Christo“

In 743 he sojourned the Continent and became a voluntary exile for love of Jesus. In France met Prince Pippin the Short. The prince took to the learned monk and kept him in his palace for two years. Virgil had companions; Dobda, an Irish Bishop, and Sidonius. In Bavaria, Virgil founded the monastery of Chiemsee at the invitation of Duke Odilo. Virgil (Fergal) became abbot of St. Peter’s at Salzburg.

The Sparring match with St. Boniface

St. Boniface had already organized the Bavarian Church. He had created four dioceses in Bavaria. A synod at Ratisbon in 740, made official such reform. Boniface was a perfectionist, and took no prisoners if the clergy were seen to be of disedification to the faithful. For example, one unlettered priest under Virgil’s care, (out of ignorance) baptised in a Latin formula mixing up the words, translated from ‘’in the name of the Father, and of the Son…’’, to ‘’in the name of the Fatherland, and of the daughter’’. In Latin, the error is not extremely obvious, but Boniface, was scrupulous, declared the baptism invalid, and sought a rebaptism. From this incident, a sparring match began between the two saints. For the Germans, there is no plan B… for the Irish, there no Big Deal!

Virgil was more down to earth and understanding of the human error. He saw that the unlearned priest pronounced the baptism formula in Latin incorrectly, but without bad intentions. Virgil then sought a verdict on the matter from the Pontiff, who ruled in Virgil’s favour. Pope Zachary saw that there was no intention to deform the formula, but was due to a human pronunciation error. The pope wrote to Boniface explaining his decision on I July, 746. No error nor heresy was behind the words pronounced but it being the result of difficulty of proper pronunciation. Boniface submitted, but a frothy relationship developed between him and Virgil. It’s all good, as iron sharpens iron.

When a Bishop of Salzburg in Bavaria died, Duke Odilo self appointed Virgil to succeed him without recourse to the pope, nor Boniface. Virgil deferred his episcopal consecration, and his friend Dobdagrec looked after the administration for the time being. Boniface however, contested Virgil’s position, but Virgil replied that he held it with the sanction of Pope Zachary. The pontiff denied doing this… It seems that Vigil was misled by Duke Odilo, into believing that the matter had been arranged with the Holy See.

Boniface lodged a complaint against Virgil in Rome because of his uncanonical position in Salzburg. He lodge another complaint as he felt Virgil was turning Duke Odilo against him. Boniface complained also that Virgil was a teacher of heresy in cosmology.

To understand the context, the earth, anciently believed to be a flat surface. but it was to become known as a globe. This was already known to the educated Greeks and Romans. In the eighth century many analphabetic people believed the earth was flat. Being a great scholar, Virgil, believe the earth to be a globe. In his lectures to the monks of St. Peter’s, in his conversations with his friends, he spoke of things that in no way be a matter of faith. But Virgil may have theorised on another separate human race, and this caused him problems. Pope Zachary wrote to Duke Odilo, requesting him to send Virgil to Rome to be examined. A war that broke out between the Franks and the Bavarians after the death of Duke Odilo in the summer of 748 and ended in the defeat of the latter. This probably made the holding of a synod impossible. At any event, Virgil’s subsequent career precludes the possibility of his having been deposed from his office or subjected to any ecclesiastical penalty.

Episcopy

At Salzburg, Virgil received episcopal consecration on 15 June, 767. He ruled his diocese with wisdom and energy. He began the erection of a cathedral church, completed in 774 and dedicated to St. Rupert, the Apostle of Bavaria, Virgil took an active part in the ecclesiastical life of Bavaria. In 774 he was present at a synod at Dingolfing in Bavaria. The acts of the synod show how zealously the bishops insisted on strict observance of Sunday, on discipline in the monasteries, for example. It was at this synod, that the bishops and abbots of Bavaria formed a confraternity, of prayer.

Apostle of the Slavs

Virgil turned his attention to the pagan nations settled on the borders of his territory.  These people were the Slavs, and with difficulty, Virgil with help from his missionaries won them over to Christianity.

Virgil’s book of life.

Virgil gave up his speculations in cosmography. Instead, he took a lively interest in the preservation of the historical traditions of the Bavarian Church. He gathered the materials for a life of St. Rupert, patron of the diocese of Salzburg. Another important historical document is the Salzburg Liber Vitae (Book of Life). This work began after the death of Virgil, and It contains the names of all persons, clerical and lay, living and dead, who were in spiritual communion with the monks of St. Peter’s monastery in Salzburg.

Among the thousand names entered on the lists are those of all the Abbots of Iona (Hy) from 597, the year of the death of St. Columkille, to 767. Among the living potentates we find the name of the Pictish King Cinadhon.

On 5 April, 1167, the Cathedral of St. Rupert in Salzburg was destroyed by fire. In 1181 some restoration workmen, discovered Virgil’s tomb with an image of the saint bearing the inscription:

‘’Virgilius templum construxit scemate pulchro’’.

He was canonized by Gregory IX in 1233. His feast is celebrated on the 27th of November.

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St. Columban, the Irish Saint who saved Europe – 23rd November

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The holy Abbot Columban, was a widely known Irish monk in mainland Europe in the early Middle Ages. He is Europe’s missionary Saint, with experience in France, Switzerland and Italy. He coined the phrase ”totius Europae” with relation to Europe’s Christian identity. This phrase he penned in one of his epistles to Pope Gregory the Great around 600 A.D.

Columban was born in 543 A.D, and was home schooled in the liberal arts. He later went to boarding school under the stewardship of Abbot Sinell in Cleenish which is in the old Tyrkennedy country in present day Fermanagh in Ireland’s mid Ulster. Under the abbot, Columban studied scripture, before going on to enter into the monastic life in Bangor under abbot Comgall. Bangor was an ecclesial centre in the north of Ireland, and was known for prayer, study and an ascetic life. It was at Bangor, where Columban was ordained a priest. He would later bring christianity back to mainland Europe, at a time when the Roman empire had collapsed. This was a difficult and dark time in Europe, with pagan worship on the rise.

Columban was to become a missionary while on ”Peregrinatio Pro Christo”. Around the year 590 A.D, he left Bangor with twelve companions, and set out for the Breton coast of France. The Breton coast is present day Brittany or ”Bretagne” where St. Patrick would have grown up. “Bretagne” was the land that was historically known as British Armorica. Patrick was Roman British… but in the present day, Britany is a reclaimed French province. The Roman empire in Patrick’s days still held sway in Western Europe, when he was born in 386 A.D. Now however in 590 A.D. the King of the Franks of Austrasia granted to Columban and the monks some uncultivated land at the old Roman fortress of Annegray which now lay in ruins. Within a few months the monks managed to cultivate the land, and convert the ruins into a hermitage. From Annegray their re-evangelization of Europe began to take root. Living in great austerity, they managed to build up the monastery, attracting pilgrims and those looking to do penitence. They cultivated the land and they cultivated the souls of those seeking spiritual nourishment. They built another monastery nearby at Luxeuil. It became an Irish cultural monastic centre. They also build a monastery at Fontaine.

After about twenty years at Luxeuil, Columban wrote his Columban monastic rule: ”Regula Monachorum”. In another writing called ”De poenitentiarum misura taxanda”, Columban introduced Confession and private penance to France and beyond. This involved a type of tariffed penance, whereby there was a proportion of penance according to the gravity of the sin. Columban practice the Celtic Easter practice in France which became disputed at the Synod at Chalon-sur-Saône in 603. Columban played it down at the Synod, seeking to address more serious ecclesial matters. Columban had already requested support of his practice of the Celtic Easter observation, in his epistles to Pope Gregory the Great.

It was when Columban reprimanded King Theodoric of France for adultery, that he found himself and his monks exiled from France in 610. They were put on a ship destined to cross the English Channel, but the winds kept pushing their ship to the French coast. So the ship sailed up the coast and entered the Rhine river. Columban and his companions ended up near Zurich in Switzerland for quite a number of years. It was at Bregenze where St. Gall and St. Columban parted company after many years on mission together, evangelizing the Alemanni, near Lake Constance. St. Gall was Columban’s right hand man, but preferred to stay in Switzerland instead of continuing on the ”Peregrinatio pro Christo” to Italy.

Having arrived in Italy, Columban and his companions met with a warm welcome at the Lombard Royal Court despite the considerable difficulties in Italy. The Arian heresy was prevalent, and northern Italy was in schism with Rome. At around 613 A.D. the King of the Lombards granted a plot of land in Bobbio, in the Trebbia Valley to Columban, who founded a new monastery and a reputable cultural centre. Here Columban lived out the remainder of his days.

Columban and his monks cultivated the land wherever they went and from there they cultivated the souls of those seeking spiritual nourishment. Thus Columban and his companions saved Europe. He died on 23rd November 615 and he is remembered by the church on this day.

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St. Otteran (Odhran) one of the original monks of Iona – 27th October

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Image Source from Roaringwater Journal

Material taken from Saint of the Day and also from St. Eunan’s writing on St. Columba.

According to tradition, Otteran lived more than forty years at Silvermines, in Tipperary, erecting a church there in 520. He also served as abbot of Meath, and founded Lattreagh. He was one of the twelve who travelled with St Columba to Iona.

Otteran was of royal Irish lineage and was a kinsman of St. Columba of Tír Conaill (Donegal) in the 5th century. He may have visited Iona before Columba and before the mission there had properly begun. The island of Iona would have been part of the Irish Dál Riada kingdom. The Dalriada colony stretched from western Scotland known as Argyll today, and extended over the Irish sea into Antrim and Down Patrick. Iona would have been reasonably central in this colony, via the sea to its borders which included north eastern Ireland & parts of western Scotland.

The oldest remaining church on Iona is named after St. Otteran located by his tomb, called Reilig Odhráin. He worked in Iona evangelising the people of Scotland. An Irish Calendar from 800 A.D. written by Oengus the Culdee testifies his death. Otteran or Oran (Odhran, = `the pale faced one’) is mentioned to be the first monk who died on the missionary island.

Columba is said to have seen devils and angels fight over Odran’s soul before it ascended into heaven. A popular legend says that Otteran consented to being buried alive beneath a chapel that Columba wanted to build. It was part of an omen that the walls of the chapel would collapse unless a living man was buried below the foundations. So Otteran was consigned to the earth, and the chapel was erected above him.

Otterran is ‘’Titular Guardian’’ of Viking ancestors’ ashes

Otteran was the first Christian to be buried in the old pagan cemetery on Iona. The vikings had long carried their deceased leaders to be buried there.  Iona is the place of repose for over fifty kings and a handful of princes. The norsemen chose Otteran (the viking pronunciation), with the titular guardian of their ancestors’ ashes, and patron of Waterford city in 1096. Also in Iona, began the beginning of that wonderful manuscript the Book of Kells. With the invasion of the vikings, as described in “An Leabhar Breac” this book project had to be moved to Kells in Ireland for completion.

The Irish Martyrologies tell us that saint Otteran is honoured on October 27th as a monk of Hy, a kinsman of St. Columba. Otteran’s died in 548 AD and his tomb is greatly revered in Iona. He is recognised as a saint through the process of Cultus confirmation (equipollent canonization) since 1902 by Pope Leo XIII

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An Irish Monk who became a Saint in Switzerland: St. Gall – 16th October

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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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