The Way of San Colombano

Born around 540 AD, Columbanus was one of the most influential spiritual and cultural figures of the Middle Ages. In 591 AD, he set sail from Bangor in Northern Ireland with 12 disciples, of whom the best known is St. Gall.

For over 30 years they traveled across Europe, founding communities and monasteries in those territories that would become seven modern European states: Ireland, Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.

Columbanus and his disciple Gallus were fundamental figures of Irish monasticism, the first great monastic movement in Europe, which promoted literacy and education, anticipating the great monastic movement of the Middle Ages.

Colombano was the first, in one of his writings, to express the concept of Europe as a single entity, united by common Christian roots and which overcame individual ethnic and cultural barriers.

St. Columba's travels were amply documented by the monk Jona, who wrote immediately after his death in 615. In his writings he is presented as a strong-willed but deeply human individual with a great sense of justice and touching compassion for his fellow men. Columbanus was considered as an example of determination and reconciliation by politicians of all convictions and religious creeds. He has been called "The Patron Saint of Europe".

The exact date and place of birth of Columbanus are not known, but he was probably originally from the Leinster region and left his home as a young man to join the great Irish monastic movement which was then in its infancy.

On his journey north, he passed near Navan, where today the international association of the Colombanian Fathers is based, and then reached Cleenish Abbey, near Enniskillen in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, where he received his first instruction as a monk .

In Ireland the memory of his work is celebrated by "The Knights of St. Columba".

From Cleenish, Columbanus moved to Bangor, a coastal town not far from modern Belfast, where he lived and studied under the rigorous rule of St. Comgall. The abbey founded by Comgall himself in 558 became a European center of culture.

Columbanus and his companions landed on the coast of Brittany at Saint Coulomb, near Saint Malo, and continued east before returning to Brittany a few years later, after being exiled by Luxeuil.

Although his passages were brief, Colombano's memory still lives on in the names of many churches and villages and is preserved and celebrated.

Having crossed the whole of France, the monks reached the southern mountains of the Vosges, founding the great Annegray Abbey, which is currently the subject of archaeological excavations and is about to be brought to light.

They later founded Luxeuil Abbey, now the spa town of Luxeuil -Les-Bains and where a 6th century burial site was recently discovered.

Columbanus spent 20 years of his life in Luxeuil and its surroundings and here today the visitor can find a large amount of archaeological and historical remains.

After the exile and other journeys (Paris, Soissons, the Rhine Valley) Colombano and Gallo moved east, to found communities also on the southern shore of Lake Constance: in particular Bregenz (Austria), Rorschach (Switzerland) and San Rooster.

Colombano then left the region to continue his journey towards Italy, while San Gallo stayed there until his death. The legacy of St. Gallen is still alive in many places and churches present in the territories bordering the lake, of which the most famous is the great Abbey with the magnificent library of St. Gallen.

After crossing the Alps, Colombano arrived in Milan where the Lombard rulers directed him to the small town of Bobbio located at the northern end of the Apennines.

Here he founded his last abbey which would become the center of stability and culture in a period of violence and turmoil and would remain for centuries the most influential institution from a religious and cultural point of view in all of northern Italy.

Colombano died in 615, his mortal remains are kept in the crypt of the Basilica of the Abbey and thousands of people go there every year to venerate his memory. Many continue to celebrate its greatness.

THE STAGES:

• IRELAND

Leinster
Cleanish Island
Bangalore

• GREAT BRITAIN

St. Columb Minor
St. Columb Major

• FRANCE

St. Coulomb
Rouen
Soisson
Reims
Chalon sur Saone
La Voivre (Annegray)
Sainte Marie-en-Chanois
Noroy-les-Jussey
Luxeuil-les-Bains
Fontaine-les-Luxeuil
Trevilly
Epoisses
Besancon
Autumn
Avallon
Saint More
Auxerre
Nevers
Orleans
Tours
Nantes
Soisson
Paris
Meaux
Poincy
Ussy-sur-Marne
Metz
Strasbourg

• GERMANY

Koblenz
Mainz

• SWISS

Basel
Zurich
Tuggen
Arbon
St. Gallen
Chur
Blenium
Septimer pass
Casaccia
Disentis
Blenium
Bellinzona

• AUSTRIA

Bregenz

• ITALY

Novate Mezzola
Coat
Traona
Vaprio d'Adda
How
Milan
San Colombano al Lambro
Bobbio
Coli