The Presbyters Project

I.2

Et tu sol vel luna astraque omnia noctem diemque suo nitore nobilitant, ita sanctorum merita sacerdotum ecclesiae monumenta roborant.

In an appendix at the end of Book 1 of the Life:

Incipiunt versus in eius festivitate ad mensam canendi:

Clare sacerdos, clues, almo fultus decore,

Tuis, Columba, decus, quid redoles in orbe.

(Krusch 1902, 67, 109)

I.2

And as the sun, the moon, and all the the stars ennoble the day and night, so the merits of the holy priests strengthen the teachings of the Church.

In an appendix at the end of Book 1 of the Life:

Verses to be sung at table on Columbanus's feast day

Priest, sustained by bountiful grace, you are praised brightly

By your own, you, Columba, who waft glory over all the earth.

(trans. Wood and O'Hara 2017, 98, 170)

Discussion:

As note Wood and O'Hara 2017: 98n58, the passage is probably an allusion to the fact that Columbanus was ordained.

Place of event:

Region

Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

City

Bobbio

About the source:

Author: Jonas of Bobbio
Title: Life of Columbanus, Vita Columbani
Origin: Bobbio (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Jonas was born in Susa (west of Turin) and entered the monastery at Bobbio in 618, a foundation of the famous Irish monk Columbanus. He traveled to Rome in 628 to obtain a papal exemption for the monastery, and he also traveled to the Columbanian monastery at Luxeuil in Gaul. He joined Bishop Amandus in Maastricht in his missionary work in the northern parts of Belgium. Jonas was probably involved in the monastic reform projects that became popular in the circle of King Clovis II and Queen Balthild. Jonas wrote the Life of Columbanus and His Disciples in 642 (Jonas says that he wrote three years after the abbot Bertulf's death that can be dated to 639 and he also alludes to an event from 642).

Edition:

B. Krusch (ed.), Vita Columbani, MGH SRM 4.2 (Hannover, 1902), 1-156

Translation:

I. Wood and A. O'Hara (trans.), Life of Columbanus. Life of John of Reome, and Life of Vedast, Liverpool 2017

Bibliography:

A. O’Hara, Jonas of Bobbio and the Legacy of Columbanus, Oxford 2018.

I. Wood, "Jonas of Bobbio, the Abbots of Bobbio from the Life of st. Columbanus", in: Medieval Hagiography: an Anthology, ed. T. Head, New York 2001.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Monastic or common life - Cenobitic monk

Monastic or common life - Monastic superior (abbot/prior)

Theoretical considerations - On priesthood

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2419, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2419