COLUMBUS
140
COLUMBUS
but his feast is kept by the Benedictines and through-
out Ireland on 24 November. Among his principal
miracles are: (1) procuring of food for a sick monk and
curing the wife of his benefactor; (2) escape from hurt
when surrounded by wolves ; (3) obedience of a bear
which evacuated a cave at his bidding; (4) producing
a spring of water near his cave; (5) repletion of the
Luxeuil granary when empty; (6) multiplication of
bread and beer for his community; (7) curing of the
sick monks, who rose from their beds at his request
to reap the harvest; (8) giving sight to a blind man
at Orleans ; (9) destruction by his breath of a cauldron
of beer prepared for a pagan festival; (10) taming a
bear, and yoking it to a plough.
Like other men, Columbanus was not faultless. In the cause of God he was impetuous and even head- strong, for by nature he was eager, passionate, and dauntless. These qualities were both the source of his power and the cause of mistakes. But his virtues were very remarkable. He shared with other saints a great love for God's creatures. As he walked in the woods, the birds would alight upon his shoulder that he might caress them, and the squirrels would run down from the trees and nestle in the folds of his cowl. The fascination of his saintly personality drew numer- ous communities around him. That he possessed real affection for others is abundantly manifest in his letter to his brethren. Archbishop Healy eulogizes him thus: "A man more holy, more chaste, more self- denying, a man with loftier aims and purer heart than Columbanus was never born in the Island of Saints" (Ireland's Ancient Schools, 378). Regarding his atti- tude towards the Holy See, although with Celtic warmth and flow of words he could defend mere cus- tom, there is nothing in his strongest expressions which implies that, in matters of faith, he for a mo- ment doubted Rome's supreme authority. His influ- ence in Europe was due to the conversions he effected, and to the rule that he composed. What gave rise to his apostolate? Possibly the restless energy of the Celtic character, which, not finding sufficient scope in Ireland, directed itself in the cause of Christ to foreign lands. It may be that the example and success of St. Columba in Caledonia stimulated him to similar exertions. The example, however, of Columbanus in the sixth century stands out as the prototype of mis- sionary enterprise towards the countries of Europe, so eagerly followed up from England and Ireland by such men as Killian, Virgilius, Donatus, Wilfrid, Willibrord, Swithbert, and Boniface. If Colum- banus's abbey in Italy became a citadel of faith and learning, Luxeuil in France became the nursery of saints and apostles. From its walls went forth men who carried his rule, together with the Gospel, into France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. There are said to have been sixty-three such apostles (Stokes, Forests of France, 254). These disciples of Colum- banus are accredited with founding over one hundred different monasteries (ib., 74). The canton and town still bearing the name of St. Gall testify how well one disciple succeeded.
Columbanus has left us his own writings. They demonstrate that his attainments were of no mean order. He continued his literary studies till the very eve of his death. His works (Migne, P. L., LXXX) include: (1) "Penitential" which prescribes penances according to guilt, a useful guide in the absence of elaborate treatises on moral theology; (2) "Seventeen Short Sermons"; (3) "SLx Epistles"; (4) "Latin Poems"; (5) "A Monastic Rule". This last is much shorter than that of St. Benedict, consisting of only ten chapters. The first six of these treat of obedience, silence, food, poverty, humility, and chas- tity. In these there is much in common with the Benedictine code, except that the f;usting is more rigorous. Chapter vii deals with the choir Offices. Sunday Matins in winter consisted of seventy-five
psalms and twenty-five antiphons — three psalms to
each antiphon. In spring and autumn these were re-
duced to thirty-six, and in summer to twenty-four.
Fewer were said on weekdays. The day hours con-
sisted of Terce, Se.xt, None, and Vespers. Three
psalms were said at each of these Offices, except Ves-
pers, when twelve psalms were said. Chapter x regu-
lates penances for offences, and it is here that the Rule
of St. Columbanus differs so widely from that of St.
Benedict. Stripes or fasts were enjoined for the
smallest faults. The habit of the monks consisted of
a tunic of undyed wool, over which was worn the
cuculla, or cowl, of the same material. A great deal
of time was devoted to various kinds of manual labour.
The Rule of St. Cohunbanus was approved of by the
Council of Macon in 627, but it was destined before the
close of the century to be superseded by that of St.
Benedict. For several centuries in some of the
greater monasteries the two rules were observed con-
jointly. In art St. Columbanus is represented bearded
wearing the monastic cowl; he holds in his hand a
book within an Irish satchel, and stands in the midst
of wolves. Sometimes he is depicted in the attitude
of taming a bear, or with sunbeams over his head
(Husenbeth, "Emblems", p. 33).
Mabillon. Acta Sanctorum O. ,S. B„ II; Migne, Palrnlogia Latina. LXXX; Lanig.an, Ecclesiastical Hist, of Ireland (Dub- lin. 1S29). II, IV; MoNTALEMBERT, Monks of the West (Edin- burgh, 1861), II; MoRAN, Essays on Early Irish Ch. (Dublin, 1864); Dalgairns. Aposlles of Europe (London, 1876). I; Mann, Lives of the Popes (London, 1902), I; Botler, Lives of the Saints, IV, 383 sqq.; Healy, Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars (Dublin, 1890); Stokes. Sir Months inthe Apennines (London, 1892); Idem, Three Months in the Forests of France (London, 1895); see Hole in Diet. Christ. Biog., s. v., and Hunt in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v. Martin, Saint Colomban {r,UO- Clo) in Les Saints (Paris, 1908). There is lacking a satisfac- tory edition of the works of Columbanus. Valuable contri- butions have been made in the pages of the Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichle by Seebass. notably his addition of the Pasnitentiale of Columbanus. the rule of the saint (no longer extant in its original form), in same review (Leipzig, 1894, XIV, 441 sqq., and 1895. XV, 360 sqq.). Cf. the dissertation of Seebass, JJeber Columbans Ktostcrregel und Bussbiich (Dres- den, 1883) ; Chevalier, Bio~bibl., s. v., and Topo-bibl., s. w. Bobbio, Luxeuil.
CoLUMBA Edmonds.
Columbus, Christopher (It. Cristoforo Colom- bo; Sp. Cristoval Colon), b. at Genoa, or on Geno- ese territory, probably 1451 ; d. at Valladolid, Spain, 20 May, 1506. His family was respectable, but of limited means, so that the early education of Colum- bus was defective. Up to his arrival in Spain (1485) only one date has been preserved. His son Fernando, quoting from his father's writings says that in Febru- ary, 1467, he navigated the seas about "Tile" (proba- bly Iceland). Columbus himself in a letter to King Ferdinand says that he began to navigate at the age of fourteen, though in the journal of his first voyage (no longer in existence), in 1493, he was said to have been on the sea twenty-three years, which would make him nineteen when he first became a mariner. The early age at which he began his career as a sailor is not sur- prising for a native of Genoa, as the Genoese were most enterprising and daring seamen. Cohmibus is said in his early days to have been a corsair, especially in the war against the Moors, themselves merciless pirates. He is also supposed to have sailed as far south as the coast of Guinea before he was sixteen years of age. Certain it is that while quite young he became a thorough and practical navigator, and later acquired a fair knowledge of astronomy. He also gained a wide acquaintance with works on cosmo- graphy such as Ptolemy and the "Imago Mundi" of Cardinal d'Ailly, besides entering into communication with the cosmographers of his time. The fragment of a treatise written by him and called by his son Fer- nando "The Five Habitable Zones of the Earth" .shows a degree of information imusual for a sailor of his day. As in the case of most of the docinnents re- lating to the life of Columbus the genuineness of the
