Wisdom of St Columbanus

Excerpts from a "Letter to a Young Disciple"
by St Columbanus

Be helpful when you are at the bottom of the ladder and be the lowest when you are in authority.

Be simple in faith but well trained in manners.

Be demanding in your own affairs but unconcerned in those of others.

Be guileless in friendship, astute in the face of deceit.

Be tough in times of ease, tender in hard times.

Keep your options open when there is no problem, but did in when you must choose.

Be pleasant when things are unpleasant, and sorrowful when they are pleasant.

Disagree when necessary, but be in agreement about the truth.

Be serious in pleasures, but kindly when things are bitter.

Be strong in trials, weak in dissensions.

Be slow to anger, swift to learn, slow also to speak, as St James says, equally swift to hear.

Be up and doing to make progress, slack to take revenge, careful in word, eager in work.

Be friendly with men of honour, stiff with rascals.

Be gentle to the weak, firm to the stubborn, steadfast to the proud, humble to the lowly.

Be ever sober, ever chaste, ever modest.

Be patient as far as is compatible with zeal.

Chapel of St Columbanus in the Vatican Grottoes, Rome

Never be greedy, but always generous – if not in money, then in spirit.

Be timely in fasting, timely in the night-offices, discreet in duty.

Be persistent in study, unshaken in turmoil, joyful in suffering.

Be vigilant in the cause of truth, cautious in time of strife.

Be submissive to good, unbending to evil

Be gentle in generosity, untiring in love, just in all things.

Be respectful to the worthy, merciful to the poor.

Be mindful of favours, unmindful of wrongs.

Be a lover of the ordinary man, and do not wish for riches.

Instead, cool down excitement and speak your mind.

Obey your seniors, keep up with your juniors, equal your equals, emulate the perfect.

Do not envy your betters, or grieve at those who surpass you, or censure those who fall behind, but agree with those who urge you all.

Though weary, do not give up.

Weep and rejoice at the same time, out of zeal and hope.

Advance with determination, for always fear for the end.

Statue of St Columbanus, Bobbio, Italy

A prayer attributed to St Columbanus

'Lord, grant me, I pray thee in the name of Jesus Christ thy Son, my God, that love which knows no fall, so that my lamp may feel the kindling touch and know no quenching, may burn for me and for others may give light. Do thou, Christ, deign to kindle our lamps, our Saviour most sweet to us, that they may shine continually in thy temple, and receive perpetual light from thee the Light perpetual, so that our darkness may be enlightened, and yet the world's darkness may be driven from us. Thus do thou enrich my lantern with the light, I pray thee, Jesus mine, so that by its light there may be disclosed to me those holy places of the holy, which hold thee the eternal priest of the eternal things, entering there in the pillars of that great temple of thine, that constantly I may see, observe, desire thee only, and loving thee only may behold, and before thee my lamp may ever shine and burn. Be it thine, I beg, most loving Saviour, to reveal thyself to us who beseech thee, so that knowing thee, we may love thee only, love thee alone, hold thee in our thoughts; and do thou deign so far to inspire us with thy love, as it befits thee to be loved and cherished as our God; that thy charity may possess all our inward parts, and thy love may own us all, and thine affection may fill all our senses, so that we may know no other love apart from thee who art eternal; that such affection may be in us impossible of quenching by the many waters of this air and land and sea, according to that saying "And many waters are not able to quench love", which in us also can be fulfilled even in part, by the gift of thee our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory unto ages of ages. Amen'.