Columba Marmion
| Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 April 1858 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 30 January 1923 Maredsous Abbey, Belgium |
| Venerated in | Belgium (Maredsous) |
| Beatified | 3 September 2000 by Pope St. John Paul II |
| Feast | 3 October |
Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB, born Joseph Aloysius Marmion (April 1, 1858 – January 30, 1923) was a Roman Catholic Benedictine Irish monk and the third Abbot of Maredsous Abbey in Belgium. Beatified by Pope St. John Paul II on September 3, 2000, Bl. Columba was one of the most popular and influential Catholic authors of the 20th Century. His books are considered spiritual classics.
Bl. Columba was born in Queen Street, Dublin, Ireland on April 1, 1858, into a large and very religious family; three of his sisters became nuns. His father, William Marmion was from Clane, Co. Kildare. His mother, Herminie Cordier was French, prompting his biographer, Dom Raymond Thibaut to remark: "He owes to his Celtic origin his penetrating intelligence, his lively imagination, his sensibility, his exuberance and his youthful spirit. The French blood which ran in his veins contributes to his clearness of mind, his habit of clear perception, his ease of exposition, and his uprightness of character. From the combination of the two he derives his constant gaiety and his generosity of heart with all the strength, devotion, and fine feeling which this noble quality implies." He was baptised with the name "Joseph Aloysius". From a very early age he was seemingly "consumed with some kind of inner fire or enthusiasm for the things of God." He was educated at the Jesuit Belvedere College in Dublin.
He entered the seminary at the age of 16. At the time he entered the seminary, his "faith was very strong"; he perceived "something more than simple theoretical theses" in Catholic doctrine, in particular "that a man's love for God is measured by his love for his neighbor."
A "very important moment in Dom Marmion's inner life" occurred while he was still in seminary.
He completed his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Irish College and was ordained in 1881.
On his journey back to Ireland, he passed through Maredsous, Belgium – a young and dynamic monastery founded 9 years before (in 1872) by Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Beuron, Germany. He wished very much to join the community there. But his archbishop in Ireland refused his request to do so and appointed him as curate at Dundrum, a parish in the south of Dublin. After a year, he was appointed Professor of Metaphysics at Holy Cross College at Clonliffe, the diocesan seminary for Dublin where Marmion himself had studied. For the next four years (1882–1886) he embarked on the education and spiritual direction of others, including his appointment as chaplain to a nearby convent.
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