From the Director - Australians set off on Columban pilgrimage

Columban Fr Gary WalkerNext month I am accompanying a group of Columban supporters on a pilgrimage, 'In the Footsteps of St Columban', to commemorate the 1400th Anniversary of St Columban’s death. Our group is made up of 38 pilgrims, with 33 pilgrims from Australia, 3 from New Zealand, 1 from Korea and 1 from Taiwan.  

The response to the pilgrimage has been so positive that we could have taken more pilgrims but there is no accommodation left in Bobbio (where St Columban died), because of the St Columban anniversary celebrations.  

What strikes me as extraordinary is that St Columban died 1400 years ago yet his life still exerts an influence in Europe, where many groups called, 'Friends of St Columban' keep his memory alive.
 
This is the first Australian pilgrimage - 'In the Footsteps of St Columban' - and I hope not the last. Groups from Ireland, America and Korea have gone on the pilgrimage before us, including a pilgrimage made up solely of young Columban priests from our mission countries. In a sense the trail has already been blazed!  

We will follow the trail that St Columban and his band of monks travelled from Ireland to France, to Austria, to Switzerland and over the Alps to Bobbio, Italy.

St Columban and his monks suffered what was referred to as a 'white' martyrdom. They never returned to Ireland but went to Europe to preach the Good News. They walked from Ireland to Italy - they did take a ship to France. We, will travel by bus in Ireland and Europe and fly from Dublin to Luxeuil-les-Bains in France. St Columban was about 70 years old when he and his monks walked over the Swiss Alps into northern Italy and settled in Bobbio. Our age bracket dictates that a bus is the best way to travel with some possibilities for those who wish to walk in the footsteps of the monks.

We will meet some of these 'Friends of St Columban' on the 30th of August in Bobbio where St Columban died and was buried in 615. Dignitaries, both civil and ecclesiastical will celebrate the 1400th Anniversary of St Columban’s life and achievements. 

Fr. Tommy Murphy, a former Columban Superior General, who has studied the life and works of St Columban will lead us into an understanding of St Columban's life and times, his challenges and trials, his powerful mind and personality. Along the way we will learn about Celtic spirituality and visit monastic sites in Ireland. We will visit the headquarters of the Columban Fathers there and also the Columban Sisters, enjoy the beautiful countryside of Ireland, eastern France, Lake Constance, the Swiss Alps, the Apennine Mountains in Italy and wind up our tour in Rome.

Anyone interested in a pilgrimage in 2016?

You can follow the Columban pilgrimage on our website at 'In the Footsteps of St Columban' and/or on Columban social media via Facebook, Twitter or Google+ .


Fr Gary Walker SSC
director@columban.org.au

  LISTEN TO: From the Director – In the Footsteps of St Columban
(Duration: 4:26mins. MP3, 2.08MB) 


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