Columban Father's House

St. Columban, the patron of the Columban Fathers founded in 1918, lived from 543 to 615 A.D. A monk and a missionary, he is recognized as one of the great pioneers of western European civilization. He left Ireland to proclaim Christ and His Gospel to the peoples on the continent of Europe who had fallen into barbarism.

Amid hardships and persecutions, he and his followers founded monasteries throughout France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Described as "travelling through Europe like a flaming torch enkindling the fire of God's love in the hearts of men," his greatness stems mainly from the fact that he established a new spirit in European monasticism, a spirit ot total commitment to Christ and to Gospel values. His denunciations of the immoral practices of the royal court and the general populace led to his being exiled from France and Switzerland.

He founded his last monastery at Bobbio in Italy where he died on November 23, 615. In the words of Pope Pius XI, "Columban is to be reckoned among those exceptional people whom Divine Providence is wont to raise up in the most difficult periods of human history to restore causes almost lost."