Columban

(Latinized, Columbanus). Born c. 540; died 615. Irish monk; preacher of Christianity in Western Europe; one of the representatives of the church culture of formative feudal society.

In about 590, along with a group of monks, Columban left Ireland, which at that time was one of the centers for the spread of Christianity and religious enlightenment in the West, and set off for the Continent. He founded a number of monasteries in Burgundy, Neustria, Austrasia, and the kingdom of Lonibardy.