COL'UMBAN, or COLUMBANUS, SAINT, one of the most learned and eloquent of the many missionaries whom Ireland sent forth to the continent during the dark ages, was b. in Leinster about the year 545. Having studied under St. Comgall, in the great monastery of Bangor, in Ulster, he passed over to France, in his 45th year, accompanied by twelve companions, and founded the monasteries of Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fon taine. His adherence to the Irish rule for calculating Easter involved him in contro versy with the French bishops about 602; and a few years later, the courage with which lie rebuked the vices of the Burgundian court, led to his expulsion. from France. Pass im= through Switzerland into Lombardy, he founded, in 612. the famous monastery of Robbio, in the Apennines, where he died on the 21st Nov., 615. His life, written within a century after his death, by Jonas, one of his successors in the abbacy of Bobhio, has been repeatedly printed. The writings of St. C., which are wholly in Latin, consist of a rule for the government of his monastery, a few poems, several letters on ecclesiasti cal affairs, and 16 short sermons. His monastic rule has been printed more than once;
but the most complete edition of his works is in Fleming's Collectanea Sacra, published at Louvaine in 1667, and now of such rarity that a copy of it sells for about £35. Of the sermons of St. C., 111. Guizot remarks, that "Alm tlights of imagination, the pious transports, the rigorous application of principles, the warfare declared against all vain or hypocritical compromise, give to the words of the preacher that passionate authority which may not always and surely reform the soul of his hearers, but which dominates over them, and, for some time at least, exercises paramount sway over their conduct and their life." The town of San Colombano, in Lombardy, takes its name from the Irish monk, as the town and canton of St. Gall (q.v.), in Switzerland, perpetuate the name of the most favored of his disciples.