The Irish standard., 1916-01-15

Prudentius, Sedulius and Fortunatus
furnish him with phrases and
thoughts. But his poetical thought
was above all that of Christian poet,
of sacred poet.
The outstanding merit of St. Co
lumbanus consists precisely in his
having impressed on his disciples
strong and fruitful leaning towards
Latin culture. The monastery of Bob
bio-where St. Columbanus, born in
542, died on Nov. %, 615-arose few
lustrums after the flames kindled by
Lombard rascality had reduced to
ashes the monastery of Monte Cas-
sino $500; hence up yonder, amongst
those inaccessible mountains of Bob
bio, the few and mangled remains of
Latin culture and civilization seemed
to betake themselves as to secure
asylum. And from the spells of Bob
bio were afterwards at various times
enriched our greatest sanctuaries of
science, the Ambrosian Library of Mi
Ian, the National Library of Turin,
the Vatican Library of Rome, not to
mention some fragments of this pre-
cious treasure which found their way
to Naples, to Vienna, to the Escurial,
to Paris and to Wolfenhuetel.
The celebrated Mabillon said that
Bobbio is at present the shadow of
great name: "magni nominis umbra."
But it is a name-concluded the lee
turer-which little by little goes on
increasing i'm glory in the field of reli
gion, literature and history, because
it drew it's life from a saint who lived
and, died with books about him and
in his hands.
We may perhaps by way of Epi-
logue add few words.
COLUMBIA and Columban-or, as they
are better known, Columcille and Co.
lumbanus-were the two greatest
apostles that Ireland has sent forth;
not improbably the greatest that have
arisen since the Apostolic Age. No
where in his wonderful work is Mon
telembert more impressive, more elo-
quent or more enthusiastic than when
writing of Columbanus, except, FER
haps, when writing of the great foun-
der of Iona. The temptation to whole
sale quotation we must resist, but for
a few brief quotations a place must
be found "He bore with him a
strength" says the great French
Catholic and Academician, (which
nothing has ever surpassed or
equalled, the strength conferred by
faith in the living God, the protector
ard rewarder Of innocence; by con-
tempt of all material joy; and by an
exclusive devotion to the spiritual and
future life. He thus advanced un-
daunted and serene; and often with
out thinking what he did he opened
a road to all the benefits of agricul-
ture, labor and Christian civilization"
And again: I'm that Gaul which had
borne for five centuries the ignomini-
GUS yoke of the Caesars, which had
groaned under barbarian invasions,
and where everything still breathed
blood, fire and carnage, Christian vir-
tue, watered by the spirit of penance
and sacrifice, began to bud every
where. Everywhere faith seemed to
blossom like flowers after winter;
everywhere moral life revived and
budded like the verdure of the woods !;
everywhere, under the ancient arches
of the Druidic forests, was celebrated
the fresh betrothal of the Church with
the Frankish people," And yet again,
speaking of the labor of Columbanus
and his disciples: 1T is at the cost
of this excessive and perpetual labor
that half of our own country and of
ungrateful Europe has been restored
to cultivation and life"
IN ALL" writes Father Roman, zone
hundred and five monasteries were
founded by Columbanus and his monks
in France, Germany, Switzerland
and Italy-and each and every one
was center of sanctity, a shrine of
knowledge, and hive of industry
from which the workers went out to
clear away forests, to drain marshes,
to replace wild vegetation with fields
of waving corn. These monks went
straight and did what the social doc.
trinaires only go and talk about. That
is the vital difference between them.
The companions Of Columbanus, by
their incessant labor, changed one OF
the widest and most deserted regions
in France into fertile cornfields and
luxuriant vineyards; namely the re-
gion of the Vosges, where today a
cruel war is once more laying waste
the beautiful country reclaimed by
Columbanus and his companions "
The enthusiastic language of the
writer has more than ample documen'
tary justification.
l Padre Lugano referred to the Lii
brary of Bobbio. On this subject Fa
Their Roman says: "The library of the
monastery of Bobbio was amongst the
most valuable and most famous of the