Fr Seán McDonagh discusses the significance of the celebrations of the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St Columban
On November 23, 2015, many Christian communities right across Europe will celebrate the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St Columban in Bobbio, Northern Italy, in 615AD. The name Columban is derived from Columba, the Latin word for dove. Columban is often called Columbanus and he is sometimes mistaken for Columba or Colmcille, who founded a monastery on the island of Iona, in Scotland.
Rebuild
The 1,400th celebration of Columban’s death takes place in Ireland against the back of other commemorations. During 2013, celebrations have marked the 100th anniversary of the famous Lockout of workers in Dublin. In 2014, the focus turns to Europe and the carnage of the First World War. In 2016, we are back again in Dublin for the 100th anniversary of the uprising. Sandwiched between these anniversaries of pain, carnage and death, we have the 1,400th anniversary of the death of Columban who, according to the author Francis MacManus, was “trained to rebuild rather than to destroy”.
St Columban is considered to be the most important Irish person ever to have lived in mainland Europe and his memory is still very much alive in many places from Brittany in France to Bobbio in Italy. He is also the first Irish person from whom we have a substantial body of writings. Therefore he is the first Irish ‘man of letters’.
Profound impact
Fr Aidan Larkin in his book St Columbanus: A Pilgrim for Christ gives a thumbnail biographical sketch: “The child would grow to manhood and become first a monk, then a priest, a distinguished scripture teacher, a master of Latin prose style and rhetoric, a competent versifier, an abbot, a founder of monasteries and monastic lawgiver, notably in Annegray, Luxeuil and Fontaines, in Burgundy, France, from where he would be expelled, and then in Bregenz, Austria, and finally in Bobbio.
The monasteries he founded had such a profound impact on early Medieval Europe that Robert Schuman, one of the architects of the EU, said in 1950 that St Columban was the patron of all those who were working for a united Europe…Unfortunately, while St Columbanus is the best known and best loved of the Irish saints in continental Europe, especially in France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Switzerland… sadly, he is less well known in Ireland.”
*
Pope Francis on ecology
St Columban was fearless in his day in challenging leaders who did not care about the welfare of their people. He also had a great love for God's creation.
These are attributes we find in the ministry of Pope Francis. On a trip to Sardinia in September he stressed the importance of jobs and environmental protection.
"If there's to be authentic promotion of the person, work has to be guaranteed," the Pope said, insisting that work and human dignity are closely intertwined.
The Pope also stressed ecological sensitivity, which is very important on the island of Sardinia since it relies so much on tourism and agriculture as the primary areas of economic life.
The Pope argued that one area in which societies ought to be investing in job creation is precisely in eco-friendly enterprises.
Sardinia has been especially hard hit amid the Eurozone crisis, with its physical isolation compounding the challenge of kick-starting recovery.
The Pope shared with his audience in the city of Cagliari his own experience in Argentina when the economy went into meltdown in the late 1990s.
Francis argued today that such implosions are not merely a technical or economic problem, but also have an ìethical, spiritual and humanî dimension.
*
Justice within the Church
Pope Francis, who is committed to challenging economic and political structures which are impoverishing people, knows that, if the structures of the Catholic Church are themselves not just, we are open to the charge of hypocrisy. In his interview with La Civilt· Cattolica he concedes that some of the organs of the Roman Curia are not working well and that ìthey run the risk of becoming institutions of censorshipî. This is exactly what happened to Fr Tony Flannery when he met with his Superior General in Rome. He was presented with two A4 pages with extracts taken, out of context, from his writings by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Whoever chose these extracts seemed unaware of what was written in the Synod of Bishopsí 1971 document Justice in the World.
Number 44 states that, ìeveryone has a right to suitable freedom of expression and thoughtî including ìthe right to be heard in a spirit of dialogue which preserves legitimate diversity with the Churchî.
Furthermore, ìthe form of judicial procedure should give the accused the right to know his accusers and also the right to a proper defense" (No 45).
