Saint Columban, Abbot

Columban was born about 543 in Leinster in Ireland and became a monk at Bangor under Comgall. About 590 he sailed for Gaul with twelve companions and, with the support of a Frankish king, founded the monasteries of Annegray, Luxeuil and Fontaine in the Vosges, under a strict rule. He kept the Irish date of Easter, which brought him into conflict with the Frankish bishops, and he rebuked King Theuderic II and his grandmother Brunhild for the king's life, and in 610 was expelled. Travelling up the Rhine, he preached near Lake Constance, where his companion Gall stayed behind, then crossed the Alps to the Lombards, who gave him land at Bobbio. There he founded a monastery that became a great centre of learning, and died on 23 November 615.