St Columbanus Lecture – Columbanus, The Irish, and Rome

Dr Damian Bracken, U.C.C., will deliver a lecture on ‘Columbanus, The Irish, And Rome’. The lecture is presented by Carlow College and Carlow County Museum, which is operated by Carlow County Council. This concludes the Ireland and the Birth of Europe Exhibition that is currently on display in the Museum in partnership with The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. All are welcome to attend the lecture, and admission is free.

St Columbanus was a very important European saint who was born in the shadow of Mount Leinster, near the village of Myshall, County Carlow. Local tradition holds that Columbanus was advised by St. Croine Bheag, a recluse of Carlow Town, to leave home to follow his monastic education. His journey took him from the south to the north of Ireland and eventually to Bangor in Co. Down. After many years of study and living in the monastery of Bangor Columbanus set off on his great missionary journey to the continent in 590AD. He founded many monasteries including Luxeuil in France and Bobbio in Italy. Columbanus was described by the late Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich as ‘Ireland’s first European, a poet, scholar, abbot, preacher and teacher’. Columbanus founded monasteries, associated with kings, and corresponded with popes. Many of Columbanus’ writings survive and they consistently inspire and encourage.

Dr Damian Bracken, from the School of History in U.C.C., Cork, will deliver the lecture ‘Columbanus, The Irish, And Rome’. Dr Bracken’s research includes a focus on Hiberno-Latin literature, especially on the works of St Columbanus, the earliest Irish writer to leave an important body of writings, and the first to explore Irish identity. He is currently working on a book on Columbanus’s and a project on manuscripts associated with his continental foundations.

In the Summer of 2025 County Carlow successfully hosted the International Columbanus Day 2025, the first time this celebration was hosted in the Republic of Ireland. Speaking about St Columbanus, Bishop Nulty said “Why Columbanus, why bother ourselves with a seventh century Irish monk, thirteen hundred years later? In 2024, as part of the International Columban Day, we had the signing of the Columban Charter of Partnership, a public declaration to promote pilgrimage, cultural and scientific activities relating to St. Columbanus and to his travels. This partnership now includes Ireland, Britain, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein and Italy. Myshall holds a central place in the Charter, in the Columban Way and most importantly in the story of Columbanus himself”.

The Columban Way walk, developed in recent years, in County Carlow gives visitors the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of this inspirational sixth century monk. The walk starts at the Nine Stones on Mount Leinster, through Myshall and along the Barrow Way. The Carlow walk joins the finished route at Bangor, County Down as part of a wider national and European Columban Way.