Today, October 3, is the memorial of Blessed Columba Marmion.
Born Joseph Marion in Dublin of an Irish father and a French mother, he completed his preparation for the priesthood in Rome. He was ordained priest in the Eternal City in 1881 and afterwards was appointed professor of philosophy at Clonliffe Seminary.
Returning from Italy, he dropped by the Benedictine abbey of Maredsous, Belgium where he felt a calling to the monastic life. When he applied to this abbey in 1886 he became a novice, taking the religious name Columba. It was a life so different to him, once describing it as traumatic. After all, he was already a priest and professor, and here he was adjusting as a new member of a monastery.
He later became known for his writings, now considered spiritual classics: “Christ in His Mysteries”, “Christ the Life of the Soul”, and “Christ the Ideal of the Monk.” He espoused a Christ-centered spirituality.
He was appointed Abbot of Maredsous in 1909, where he died of bronchial pneumonia in 1923. Pope St. John Paul II beatified Columba in 2000.