“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”

   - Matthew 25.40

While there Columban heard that the prison was full of condemned men awaiting the death penalty. The man of God hastened to them and, having entered the gate without opposition, he preached the word of God to the condemned.

  - Jonas, Life of St. Columban, Italian, 7th century

Columbanus is the greatest of the Irish peregini, those wandering missionaries who faced uncertainty, deprivation, and dangers of all sorts to take the Gospel to places where it had begun to languish or, indeed, had never been before.

I admire this man for so many reasons, not the least of which is the ease with which he moved among and showed compassion for people at all levels of society and in all walks of life.

He was a scholar of the first water, and taught for years at the greatest academy in Ireland. He gathered young men to himself and taught them to live the disciplined life of obedience to Christ. He counseled kings and braved vicious tyrants. And he preached the Gospel to condemned prisoners.

The world was Columbanus’ mission field, and he managed to find a place in his life for just about anyone who came across his path. He was truly all things to all people so that by all means he might win some to Christ.

But he didn’t just win some. He won thousands, and trained missionaries, scholars, and saints by the hundreds from his monastic bases in Anegray, Luxueil, and Bobbio.

And yet who in our comfortable evangelical American church knows even the first thing about Columbanus? He is not a forgotten saint, for he was never known.

We owe him and so many of our Christian forebears an incalculable debt, and yet we hardly think anything of the sacrifices they made so that the Gospel could come down to us in our day.

So take a few moments today and give thanks to God for the great men like Columbanus who cared for the least of Christ’s brethren, even you and me.

Then go thou, and do likewise.

Psalm 78.1-5 (Foundation: “How Firm a Foundation”)
Give ear, O my people, attend to my word,
Dark sayings and parables sent from the Lord,
Things we have before by our fathers been told,
Which we would not dare from our children withhold.

 The glorious deeds of our God in His might,
And all of the works He has done in our sight,
Together with all of the words of His Law,
Would we on ourselves and our children bestow.

Thank You, Lord, for all those like Columbanus who have made it possible for me to know You.