Battle of the Saints!
For the day that’s in it! I first posted this in 2019 but it’s worth a read again.
And as a bonus here is a great article from RTE ; ‘How the Irish helped create Easter Sunday’
I don’t know if their paths ever crossed, but two of our local Saints, Columbanus and Laserian, (Naomh Eoin and Old Leighlin!) were central figures in the debate over the date of Easter back in the 6th and 7th centuries!
St Laserian’s Cathedral, Old Leighlin
St Columbanus, reputedly born on the slopes of the Blackstairs, became one of the great Irish Missionaries in Europe founding many monasteries along with his followers in France, Switzerland and Italy. While located in the area under the auspices of the Frankish Bishops he became embroiled in a major controversy because he and his followers celebrated Easter according to the Celtic Calendar. The Bishops tried to censure him but he refused to cooperate and wrote to Pope Gregory .
There is no record of the Pope replying and Columbanus moved on to eventually settle in Bobbio, Italy.
Bobbio, where Columbanus founded his last monastery. Thrilled to have cycled to here in 2010 and on to Rome along the Via Degli Abati.
St Laserian spent 14 years in Rome where he was educated under Gregory. When he returned to Ireland he took over the monastery at Old Leighlin and became a strong advocate for the Roman method of calculating Easter. A synod was held at Old Leighlin and it agreed to send a delegation to Rome. It still took some time for the change to Roman calendar to be fully adopted.
Isn’t it remarkable how these monks travelled and communicated with far distant lands in the 6th and 7th centuries?
Molaise’s Well and Cross
Front cover of Cardinal O Fiaich’s book
The assertion he may be from Carlow..
Columbanus is known as the first European, as he advocated for a system of federalism and was the first Irishman to have a book written about him some years after his death, by one of his monks, Jonas.
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