Saint Columbanos Continued

Saint Columbanos' ministry in France and Lombardy reflects the exterior freedom granted by Constantine to exercise any religion of choice. Traveling from Ireland, Columbanos established monasteries in modern-day Italy and France. He had his own Rule.  Because decreased fears of Red Martyrdom, certain individuals freely abandoned worldly life, knowing that questions about their lifestyle would be within civil law. 

Laymen and Laywomen went to the desert in The East before the Edict of Milan (313) . They went into the deserts of Ethiopia, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. In their suffering, they were to become more inmate with Christ, whipped and crucified. In their self-imposed exile, no relief from Grape Leaves or Olive Oil, their only hope was Hope Itself, Christ, the uncreated creator of all good things. In their exile, beaten from the Sun-drenched journey from city to country, with a decent cave having to be good enough shelter, their only choice was to think of God. The rest was a beige sea of mountain and sand, with perhaps a date tree nearby, with perchance a tributary of the Nile within foot. These first sojourners into the Egyptian desert in the 3rd century were soldiers, reminding us of the militant nature that those in the Judeo-Christian Tradition must go through internally. 

The freedom to choose Christianity followed by a public display of abandoning everything to be with Christ in a very intense way, produced rapid a growth of Christendom.  Below is a link to the next page, Archabbot Justin of Saint Meinrad's Archabbey on monasticism, an abbey from Mount Athos, and a link to the preeminent book on the Desert Fathers. 

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