October 3 - Blessed Columba Marmion

Quick Facts

  • Son of an Irish father, William Marmion, and French mother, Herminie Cordier.
  • He entered the Dublin seminary in 1874, and studied at the College for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome from 1876.
  • Ordained in Rome on 16 June 1881.
  • He dreamed of becoming a missionary monk in Australia, but spent several years as a parish priest in Dublin.
  • Curate in Dundrum, and professor at the seminary at Clonliffe from 1882 to 1886.
  • Chaplain and spiritual director of a Redemptorist convent and a women's prison.
  • In 1886 he renounced his promising ecclesiastical career, and entered the Benedictine Abbey of Maredsous in Belgium, taking the name Columba.
  • Nearly 30 at the time of his noviate, and forced to learn a new language at the same time, he persevered and made his solemn profession on 10 February 1891.
  • Helped found the abbey of Mont César at Louvain; served as its prior, spiritual director, and professor of theology and philosophy to younger monks.
  • Began preaching retreats in Belgium and Britain.
  • Spiritual director to communities of Carmelite nuns.Researcher and editor of several publications, including Revue Bénédictine.Elected abbot of Maradsous on 28 September 1909, a position he held the rest of his life.During his time as abbot, Maredsous, famous for its beer and cheese, became a focal point for spiritual thinking in Europe.
  • Worked for the union of Anglican Benedictine houses with Rome, and helped a house of Anglican monks who converted to Catholicism.
  • Counselor to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium.
  • While the walls stood, World War I effectively destroyed his abbey.
  • German lay-brothers, who had been there for years, were expelled from Belgium.
  • Columba sent young monks to study in Ireland; they would be safer there, but the remaining brothers, including Columba, had to shoulder more work.
  • After the war, a group of the brothers were sent to the Monastery of the Dormitian in Jerusalem, which had been left nearly deserted when the British expelled German monks.
  • Amidst it all, Columba continued to preach retreats, guide the lost, and write.
  • The investigation for his Cause began on 7 February 1957, and the healing of a Minnesota woman in 1966 was performed through his intercession.