BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
IF YOU want to know about a fearless and outspoken defender of human dignity and rights, you have to know about the life of a man known as Columban. He was a true Christian, an Irishman who dedicated his life to the service of others. He was a missionary, a fiery preacher, fearless and dedicated.
Columban went on mission with his band of Irish priest-monks. They were greatly welcomed, admired and honored by the ordinary people as they travelled by foot throughout Europe, stopping in towns and villages, teaching and preaching the good news of Jesus of Nazareth.
He and his group brought education and learning to the people. He and his growing band of enlightened and educated followers civilized communities in the Dark Ages of Central Europe. He was criticized, rejected and falsely accused by jealous clergy and deported. He and his followers suffered harassment by the authorities but he endured it all and built monastic communities around Europe of learning and prayer and provided service to the poor.
He was a writer of sermons, a poet, and he defended his rights when he appealed for justice to the Pope. He was a poet and a campaigner for social justice and called for the reform of a wayward clergy.
It all started when he was a young man, sometime around the year 560 AD, Columban became a monk in a famous monastery in Bangor Ireland and was a born leader. Europe was in the dark ages and there was civil strife and corruption in the Institutional Church. In Ireland an island, was somewhat isolated at the time, true Christianity flourished in the many monasteries that were communities of ordinary folk living in villages clustered around a central monastery.
Together, the monks worked the farms and fields around the monastery with the people and they all shared in the harvest. It was the center of their life. The monastic communities at the time were centers of learning, agricultural development and innovation and produced fantastic works of art such as the Book of Kells.
Columban was inspired by the story of the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and the monks strove to imitate him in his teaching and life. Columban eventually became the Abbot of the monastery in Bangor and in 590 he was inspired to carry the message of the gospel to the people of Gaul in central Europe.
With determination and mission in his heart, he chose to leave the monastery in Ireland and with his band of fellow monks, he travelled throughout what is now France and Germany, then known as Gaul, and inspired many to follow his example.
He was outspoken and unafraid of the tribal leaders, kings, authorities, lords and bishops that ruled society at that time of great poverty and inequality. Columban preached the Good News to them all. He had many hundreds of followers and together they built a monastery at Annegray, Luxovium and Fontaines to accommodate the many new believers and missionaries. Their fame spread throughout Gaul, what is now modern-day Europe. (To be continued)/PN
