De vita sancti Galli confessoris
The Call and Mission of Gall
Saint Gall is trained by Columbanus and sets out on a missionary journey that leads him to seek a life of solitude in the wilderness.
The life of the most holy Columbanus—also called Columba—was celebrated throughout Ireland, and he drew the love of all people to himself with a unique beauty, like the brilliant light of a fiery sun. His book of deeds shows more fully that this was foreseen even before he was born. Among others drawn by the fame of his virtues, the parents of the blessed Gall, who were religious in the sight of God and noble in the eyes of the world, brought their son to him while he was still in the flower of his youth, offering him to the Lord and entrusting him to his teaching so that he might grow in religious discipline. He was invited to the examples of obedience and the ardor of his purpose by the discipline of his life and by many others who followed the spiritual life. As a man of good character, he was nurtured with deep affection and grew with a great increase in virtue. Supernal grace also went before him, and he studied the divine scriptures with such diligence that he was able to bring forth new things from his treasure as well as old, and he followed the rules of grammar and the subtleties of that art with a capable mind. He opened up the obscure parts of the scriptures so wisely to those who wanted to know them that all who heard his wisdom and his sermons judged him most worthy of admiration and praise. It was because of this maturity of wisdom that, by the common counsel and command of Abbot Columbanus, he reluctantly ascended through the individual steps of sacred promotion to receive the dignity of the priesthood. Therefore, while he was engaged in sacred duties, he appeased the Lord day and night with prayers and tears, and desiring to please the eyes of the One who watches from above, he was loved by all for the merits of his virtue and life. When this was happening daily, the blessed Columbanus, desiring to attain evangelical perfection—that is, to leave everything he had, take up his cross, and follow the Lord naked—took counsel with his brothers, whose hearts had been kindled by the same fervor, so that they might prove the ardor of their minds by their deeds, having spurned the sweetness of their relatives and their estates. They boarded a ship and came to Britain, and from there they crossed over to the Gauls. When the man of God arrived with his followers to King Sigibert, the king asked him to settle within the Gauls and not to leave them to move on to other nations, and he promised that he would provide everything the holy father asked for. Having received permission to choose a place wherever they wished, and after traveling through many areas, they came into the parts of Alemannia to a river called the Lindimacus. Following it toward its source, they arrived at Lake Zurich. The people living there were cruel and godless, worshiping idols, honoring them with sacrifices, observing omens and divinations, and practicing many things contrary to divine worship and superstitious ways. When the holy men began to live among them, they taught them to adore the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to keep the unity of the faith. The blessed Gall, a disciple of the holy man and armed with the zeal of piety, set fire to the shrines where they sacrificed to demons and cast whatever offerings he found into the lake. Moved by anger and envy because of this, they persecuted the holy men and, by common counsel, wanted to kill Gall, while they sought to drive Columbanus, who had been beaten with lashes and treated with insults, out of their lands. After this, he wasn't terrified by the fear of persecution, but persuaded by the love of spiritual gain, he left the stubborn and barren crowd so that he wouldn't wastefully continue to water dry hearts when he could have been of much more use to willing minds in the meantime. He went on from there with his followers and arrived at a fortress called Arbona, where he found a priest of remarkable goodness named Mullimar. The deacon of the aforementioned priest, named Hiltibald, knew all the paths and hidden places of the wilderness. When the holy man had granted him the favor of his familiarity, he asked him if he had ever found a place in the wilderness that was abundant in pure and healthy water, level in the plains, and suitable for human cultivation. He said, 'I am burning with the desire of a fervent spirit, longing to spend the days granted to this life in solitude.' The deacon replied, 'This, Father, is a wilderness with water.'
Founding the Wilderness Hermitage
Gall overcomes the dangers of the wilderness and the doubts of his companions to establish a monastic community in a place chosen by God.
It was filled with thickets, terrifying in its ruggedness, full of towering mountains, winding through narrow valleys, and inhabited by the fiercest beasts. Besides deer and herds of harmless animals, it breeds many bears, countless boars, and wolves that are beyond counting in their singular rage. “I am afraid, therefore, that if I lead you there, you’ll be devoured by such enemies.” To this, the holy man replied: “The apostle’s sentiment is this: If God is for us, who is against us?” And we know how all things work together for good for those who love God. Therefore, the blessed man remained in fasting that day and spent the whole night in prayer until the dawn of the next day. It was fitting, indeed, that he should entrust to the Lord in most earnest prayer what he had begun with divine love. But when the morning star had revealed the hiding places of the night with its progress, and the sun, leaving the lower regions, visited the zones of the upper world in its accustomed course and showed its fiery radiance to mortals from the eastern axis, the athlete of God took with him the things his leader had spoken of. With the blessing of prayer and with his leader going before him, he set out on the way. And when they had been traveling like this all day, around the ninth hour the deacon said: “Father, the hour for refreshment is now at hand; let us take a little bread and water, for once we are strengthened by them, we will be better able to finish what remains of the journey.” The man of God answered: “You take your refreshment according to the needs of the body, my son; I will not taste anything until the Lord shows me the place.” “...show me the place of the desired dwelling.” And he replied: “Just as we are partners in the suffering, so we will also be in the consolation.” With these words, they began to travel in haste, because the day was already declining and the solar heat was approaching sunset. But as the blessed Gall had moved a little apart from him for the sake of prayer, he was walking among the dense thickets of briars and, catching his foot, he fell to the ground. Seeing this, the deacon ran up to lift him up, but the man of God, knowing the future, said: “Leave me be; this is my resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have chosen it.” In the time that followed, this cultivator of virtues began to build an oratory with small cells arranged in a circle, having set aside space for the brothers to live together—of whom there were already twelve, whom he had strengthened in the holiness of their monastic purpose with his teaching and example, and stirred up to desire eternal things. One day, while they were returning to their beds for rest after the labor of the morning office, at the first light of dawn the man of God called his deacon Magnaldus and said to him: “Prepare the ministry of the sacred oblation, so that I may celebrate the divine mysteries without delay.” And he said: “When, Father, will you celebrate the Mass?”
Signs of Grace and Miracles
Gall receives a vision of his master's death and performs a miracle with building materials, demonstrating his deep connection to the divine.
He said to him, "After the vigils of this night, I knew through a vision that my lord and father Columbanus has passed today from the hardships of this life to the joys of paradise; therefore, I must offer the sacrifice of salvation for his rest." When the signal was rung, they entered the oratory, prostrated themselves in prayer, and began to celebrate Masses, persisting in petitions to commemorate the blessed Columbanus. It happened, however, on a certain day while he was working with the brothers to build the oratory, that a board intended for the wall appeared four palm-lengths shorter than the others. While the workmen wanted to throw it away, the blessed Gall, aware of the power he had in the Lord, ordered them to stop working and go inside to eat the meal the Lord had prepared for them. When they did as he instructed, he handed them blessed bread with his own hand. After the meal, when they all returned to the unfinished work, they found the board... because of. which they had previously wanted to discard because of its brevity, they found it half a foot longer than all the others. Wondering at what had happened, they fitted the wood, which had grown in a miraculous way, into its place on the wall. This same wood, sought after by the faithful for a long time thereafter, effectively healed toothaches through the Lord's doing; it is to be honored not only for the memory of the ancient miracle but for the new effects it always produces. In this event, we can weigh the magnitude of his merits and the power of his prayer, because the dry wood grew against nature. To ensure the old miracle would not be forgotten, it is always repeated through the renewed testimony of these things. Not long after, when the author and propagator of all good things wished to lift his athlete Gall from the struggle of the world and crown him with the laurels of his rewards... to adorn him with eternal things, the priest of Arbon came to the holy man's cell and asked him to go out with him to the fortress. When he agreed to his request, he spent two days there, and after preaching to the people, on the third...
A Holy Death and Hidden Penance
After a long life of service, Gall passes away, and his secret life of severe mortification is revealed through the items found in his locked case.
He was struck by a fever and brought low so quickly by its violence that he could neither return to his cell nor take any food. After struggling with this illness for fourteen days, on the sixteenth day— the seventeenth day before the Kalends of November, having lived for ninety-five years, he was freed from the prison of this life in a good old age and returned his soul, full of merits, to the happy, eternal goods to which it would cling. During the very funeral rites of the blessed man, a sign of his holiness appeared that was by no means mediocre. The man of God had a small leather case, carefully locked, the key to which he kept under such vigilant guard that none of his disciples, as long as he lived in the body, could ever know what was kept inside. He used to carry it wherever he went. But after he had passed away, they took the key, opened the case, and found inside a small hairshirt and— a bronze chain stained with blood. Then, as the masters examined his body, they found the place on the chain where he had most often girded himself; the flesh was deeply furrowed by the chain in four places, so much so that blood flowing from those wounds had soaked through the hairshirt in those spots. They placed the case with the hairshirt at his head on the bier and carried it with his body to the place of his burial, and they hung these three signs of his mortification near the tomb at his head. Through these, the Lord thereafter showed many virtues to those who piously sought them, as a manifestation of his merits.
Read the original Latin
io Cmn praeclara sanctissimi viri Columbani, qui et Columba, convers per omnem Hiberniam celebris haberetur et velut splendidnin ignei solis visi jubar singulari decore omnium provocaret amorem, sicuti de eo, prinsqnam nasceretur, provisum esse liber gestorum ipsins plenius indicat, inter caeteros, quos fama virtutum ejus attraxerat, parentes beati Galli, secunduin Deum religiosi, secundnin seculum nobiles filinm suum primae aetatis flore nitentem euim oblatione domino afferentes illius magisterio commeadaverunt, ut in regularis proficeret. vitae disciplina et inter plurimos spiritnalis vitae sectatores ad obedientiae et ardoris propositi invitaretur exempla, Cumque bonae indolis vir caro nutriretur affectu, magno virtutnin crevit augmento, Superna quoque gratia se praeveniente tanto studio divinas enotavit scripturus, ut de thesauro suo nova proferre posset et vetera, grammaticae etiam artis regulas inetrorumque subtilitates capaci sequeretur ingenio, Obscura autem scriplurarum tam sapienter scire volentibus reseravit, ut cuncti, qui ejus prudentimn et sermones audierant, adiniratione eum et laude dignissimum judicarent. Qua sapientiae inaturitate factum est, ut universorum communi consilio et jussione Columbani abbatis per singulos sacrae promotionis gradus adscendens invitus sacerdotii susciperet dignitatem, Ergo dum sacris instaret officiis, die noctuque precibus dominum placavit et lacrymis et superni inspectoris oculis placere desiderans pro virtutun et vitae meritis amnbetur ab omnibus, placuit universis, Cum haec agerentur quotidie, beatus Columbanus evangelicam cupiens assequi perfectionem, wt videlicet omnibus, quae habebat, relictis crucem suam tolleret et nudus dominum sequeretur, consilio suo egit cum fratribus, quorum idein fervor accenderat animos, ut spreta propinquorum et praediorum dulcedine mentis ardorem opere comprobarent, Ascendentes ergo navem venerunt in Britannian et inde ad Gallias transfretarunt, Cumque vir Dei ad Sigibertum regem cum suis pervenisset, rogavit eum rex, ut infra Gallias resideret nec iis relictis ad gentes alins commigraret, se vero spopondit omnia, quae sanctus pater peteret, praebiturum. Accepta ergo licentia eligendi locum, ubicumque voluissent, cum Joca plurima perJustrassent, venerunt infra partes Alemanniae ad fluvium, qui Lindimacus vocatur, juxta quem ad superiora tendentes pervenerunt ad lacum Turicinum, Porro homines ibidem comimnanentes crudeles erant et impii simulacra colentes, ydola sacrificiis venerantes, observantes auguria et divinationes et multa, quae contraria sunt cultui divino, snperstitiosa sectantes, Sancli ergo homines cum coepissent inter illos habitare, docebant eos adorare patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum et custodire fidei unitatem, Beatus quoque Gallus sancti viri discipulus zelo pietatis armatus fana, in quibus daemoniis sacrificabant, igne succendit et quaecunque invenit oblata, demersit in lacum, Qua causa permoti ira et invidia sanctos insectabantur et communi consilio Gallum perimere voluerunt, Colnunbanum vero flagellis caesum et contmneliis affectum de suis finibus proturbare. Post haec non tünore persecutionis perterritus, sed amore spiritualis lucri persuasus contumacium sterilem turbam reliquit, ne inaniter arida corda diutius irrigaret, qui benevolis mentibus quamplurimum prodesse interim potuisset, Fergens ergo inde cum suis pervenit in castrum, quod Arbona vocatur, et invenit ibi presbiterum bonitate conspicuum nomine Mullimarum. Dyaconus supradicti presbiteri nomine Hiltibaldus omnes eremi semitas notas habebat et secessus, Huic cum vir sanctus familiaritatis suae gratiam praestitisset, quaesivit ab eo, an invenisset unquam in solitudine locum aquis abundantem puris et salubribus, in planitie stratum et hunanis cultibus opportanum? Desiderio, inquiens, animi ferventis exaestuo cupiens in solitudine dies ducere huic vitae concessos. Dyaconus respondit: haec, o pater, solitudo aquis est.
infusa frequentibus, asperitate terribilis, montibus plena praecelsis, angustis vallibus flexnosa, bestiis possessa saevissinis. Nam praeter cervos et innocuorum greges animalium ursos gignit plurimos, apros innumerabiles, lupos numerum excedentes rabie singulares. Timeo ergo, ne, si le illnc duxero, ab hujusmodi hostibus devoreris, Ad haec vir sanctus: apostoli, inquil, sententia est: si Deus pro nobis, quis contra nos? et scimus, quomodo diligentibus Demn Omnia cooperantur in bonum, Igitur vir beatus die eodem jejuniis permansit et usque ad alterius diei diluculun in orationibus pernoctavit, Dignum quippe erat, ut, quod divino inchoabat amore, instantissima prece doinino commendavit, Cum autein Lucifer suo processu noctis latibula detexisset et sol inferiora dimittens cursu consuelo superioris orbis plagas inviseret igneumnque jubar ab orientis axe mortalibus demonstraret, athleta Dei ea, quae ductor suus dixerat, secum assumens, cum Orationis benedictione illo praeeunte viam aggressus êst, cumque per totum diem ita agerent, circa horam nonam dixit dyaconus: pater, hora refectionis jam instat, sum:minus ergo paululum panis et aquae, quia ita coufortati, viae quod restat, melius consummare poterimus, Homo Dei respondet: tu juxta necessitatem corporis refectionem percipe, fili, ego nom Buslabo quicquam, antequam dominus mihi locum. desideratae imansionis ostendat, Et ille: sicut, inquit, socii sumus passionis, sic erimus et consolationis. His dictis coeperunt iter agere festinato, quia dies jam declinabat et solaris fervor propinquabat occasui, Beatus aulem Gallus dum orandi gratia modicum ab illo divulsus esset, inter condensa veprium fruticeta ambulans et pede haerens ad terram corruit, Quod dyaconus videns accurrit, ut sublevaret prostratum, Sed vir Dei praescius futurorum: sine me, ait, haec requies inea in saeculum saeculi, hic habitabo, quoniam elegi eam. Tempore subsequenti coepit virtutum cultor exünius oratorium construere mansiunculis per gyrum: dispositis ad commanendum fratribus, qnorum jam duodecim monastici sanctilate propositi roboratos doctrina et exemplis ad aeternorum desideria concitavit, Quadam itaque. die, dum post laborem matutinalis officii quiescendi gratia lectos suos reviserent, prüno diluculo vir Dei vocavit Magnaldum dyaconum suum dicens illi: instrne sacrae oblationis ministerium, ut possim divina sine dilatione celebrare mysteria, Et ille: quando, inquit, tu pater missam celebrabis!
Dixit ergo ad illum: post hujus vigilias noctis; cognovi per visionem dominum et patrem meum Columbanum de hujus vitae angustiis hodie ad paradisi gaudia cominigrasse, pro ejus itaque requie salutis hostiam debeo immolare. Et signo pulsato Oratorinm ingressi prostraverunt se in oratione et coeperunt missas agere et precibus insistere pro commemoratione beati Columbani, Contigit autem quadam die, dum in construendo oratorio cum fratribus laboraret, ut tabula quaedam parieti imponenda brevior caeteris mensura palmarum IV appareret, quam dum ejusdem operis artifices vellent nbjicero, beatus Gallus virtutis, quam in domino habebat, sibi conscias jussit eos ab opere disjungere et domum ad percipiendam secum refectionem, quam dominus praeparavit, intrare, Quibus secundum missionem ejus facientibus benedictum panem manu sua porrexit, post prandium autem, cum Omnes pariter opus repeterent inperfectum, invenerunt tabulam, quiim. propter. sui brevitatem pridem abjicere voluerant, caeteris omnibus longiorem inensnra dimidii pedis et admiratione de e0, quod evenerat, habita lignum, quod mirabili creverat inodo, in loco suo parieti aptaverunt. Quod ipsum longo deinceps tempore a fidelibus expetitum domino faciente dentium doloribus efficaciter medebatar, praeter antiqui come memorationem miraculi novis semper effectibus honorandum. n quo facto meritorum ejus magnitudinem et orationis possumus pensare virtutem, quia et lignum aridum contra naturam incrementis auchun est et, ne vetus aboleretur miraculum, rediviva horum altestatione semper est repetitun, Non multo post, cum jam bonorum omnium auctor et propagator athletam suum Gallum de mundi agone sublatum praemiorum laureis vellet. perennibus adornare, Arbonensis presbiter veniens ad cellam sancti viri rogavit eum, ut secum egrederetur ad castrum. Cujus cum postulationt acquiesceret, biduo ibidem ducto et praedicatione facta ad populum tertia.
die febre correptus tantum in brevi ejus violentia depressus est, ut nec ad cellam redire nec cibi sustentaculum potuisset percipere. Cumque hac infinnitate per dies XIV laborasset, die XVI. mensis Octobris, id est XVII cal, Novembris, expletis XCV annis sune aetatis in senectute bona hujus vitae liberatus ergastulo animam meritis plenam felicibus reddidit bonis inhaesuram perennibus. Inter ipsas qnoque beati viri exsequias non mediocre ejus sanctitatis judicimm apparuit, Habuit vir Dei capsella de corio factam diligenter seratmn, cujus clavem sub tam vigili custodia ipse retinuit, ut nullus discipulorum ejus, quamdiu in corpore vixerat, quid intus servaretur, cognoscere potuisset, Hanc autem ex suis humeris pendentem. ferre solebat, quocumque ambulavit, At ubi de hac vita migravit, sumta clave aperuerunt capsellun et invenerunt in ea ciliciuin modicum et. catenam aeneam sanguine aspersam, Deinde corpus inspicientes magistri invenerunt locum catenae, ubi saepius praecingi solebat, carnemque ipsam in locis quatuor profundius a catena sulcatam, adeo mt de iisdem vulneribus cruor decurrens cilicium per loca perÍuderit. Posuerunt autem capsellan cum cilicio ad caput ejus in feretrum et deportaverunt cum corpore ad locum monumenti et suspenderunt haeo tria mortificationis ejus indicia juxta tumulum ad caput ejus. Per quae deinceps ad ostensionem meritormn ipsius plurimas dominus virtutes pie quaerentibus exhibnit,
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