Editing Columbanus (section)

==Rule of Saint Columbanus==
The Rule of Saint Columbanus embodied the customs of [[Bangor Abbey]] and other Irish monasteries. Much shorter than the [[Rule of Saint Benedict]], the Rule of Saint Columbanus consists of ten chapters, on the subjects of obedience, silence, food, poverty, humility, chastity, choir offices, discretion, mortification, and perfection.<ref name="ucc">{{cite web|author=Columbanus Hibernus |editor-last=Walker |editor-first=G. S. M. |title=Monk's Rules |work=Corpus of Electronic Texts |publisher=University College Cork |url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T201052.html |access-date=19 January 2013}}</ref>

In the first chapter, Columbanus introduces the great principle of his Rule: obedience, absolute and unreserved. The words of seniors should always be obeyed, just as "Christ obeyed the Father up to death for us".<ref name="ucc"/> One manifestation of this obedience was constant hard labour designed to subdue the flesh, exercise the will in daily self-denial, and set an example of industry in cultivation of the soil. The least deviation from the Rule entailed corporal punishment, or a severe form of fasting.<ref name="smith">Smith 2012, p. 201.</ref> In the second chapter, Columbanus instructs that the rule of silence be "carefully observed", since it is written: "But the nurture of righteousness is silence and peace". He also warns, "Justly will they be damned who would not say just things when they could, but preferred to say with garrulous loquacity what is evil".<ref name="ucc"/> In the third chapter, Columbanus instructs, "Let the monks' food be poor and taken in the evening, such as to avoid repletion, and their drink such as to avoid intoxication, so that it may both maintain life and not harm".<ref name="ucc"/> Columbanus continues:

{{blockquote|For indeed those who desire eternal rewards must only consider usefulness and use. Use of life must be moderated just as toil must be moderated, since this is true discretion, that the possibility of spiritual progress may be kept with a temperance that punishes the flesh. For if temperance exceeds measure, it will be a vice and not a virtue; for virtue maintains and retains many goods. Therefore we must fast daily, just as we must feed daily; and while we must eat daily, we must gratify the body more poorly and sparingly&nbsp;...<ref name="ucc"/>}}

[[File:Columbanus at Bobbio.jpg|thumb|upright|Fresco of Saint Columbanus in [[Brugnato Cathedral]]]]
In the fourth chapter, Columbanus presents the virtue of poverty and of overcoming greed, and that monks should be satisfied with "small possessions of utter need, knowing that greed is a leprosy for monks". Columbanus also instructs that "nakedness and disdain of riches are the first perfection of monks, but the second is the purging of vices, the third the most perfect and perpetual love of God and unceasing affection for things divine, which follows on the forgetfulness of earthly things. Since this is so, we have need of few things, according to the word of the Lord, or even of one."<ref name="ucc"/> In the fifth chapter, Columbanus warns against vanity, reminding the monks of Jesus' warning in Luke 16:15: "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God's sight."<ref name="ucc"/> In the sixth chapter, Columbanus instructs that "a monk's chastity is indeed judged in his thoughts" and warns, "What profit is it if he be virgin in body, if he be not virgin in mind? For God, being Spirit."<ref name="ucc"/>

In the seventh chapter, Columbanus instituted a service of perpetual prayer, known as {{lang|la|[[laus perennis]]}}, by which choir succeeded choir, both day and night.<ref name="montalembert-405">Montalembert 1898, II p. 405.</ref> In the eighth chapter, Columbanus stresses the importance of discretion in the lives of monks to avoid "the downfall of some, who beginning without discretion and passing their time without a sobering knowledge, have been unable to complete a praiseworthy life". Monks are instructed to pray to God to "illumine this way, surrounded on every side by the world's thickest darkness".<ref name="ucc"/> Columbanus continues:

{{blockquote|So discretion has got its name from discerning, for the reason that it discerns in us between good and evil, and also between the moderate and the complete. For from the beginning either class has been divided like light and darkness, that is, good and evil, after evil began through the devil's agency to exist by the corruption of good, but through God's agency Who first illumines and then divides. Thus righteous Abel chose the good, but unrighteous Cain fell upon evil.<ref name="ucc"/>}}

In the ninth chapter, Columbanus presents mortification as an essential element in the lives of monks, who are instructed, "Do nothing without counsel." Monks are warned to "beware of a proud independence, and learn true lowliness as they obey without murmuring and hesitation".<ref name="ucc"/> According to the Rule, there are three components to mortification: "not to disagree in mind, not to speak as one pleases with the tongue, not to go anywhere with complete freedom". This mirrors the words of Jesus, "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." (John 6:38) In the tenth and final chapter, Columbanus regulates forms of [[penance]] (often corporal) for offences, and it is here that the Rule of Saint Columbanus differs significantly from that of Saint Benedict.<ref name="edmonds"/>

The Communal Rule of Columbanus required monks to fast every day until ''[[Nones (liturgy)|None]]'' or 3 p.m.; this was later relaxed and observed on designated days.<ref name="Frantzen 2014">Frantzen, Allen J. (2014). ''Food, Eating and Identity in Early Medieval England''. The Boydell Press. p. 184. {{ISBN|978-1-84383-908-8}}</ref> Columbanus' Rule regarding diet was very strict. Monks were to eat a limited diet of beans, vegetables, flour mixed with water and a small bread of a loaf, taken in the evenings.<ref name="Frantzen 2014"/><ref>O'Hara, Alexander (2018). ''Jonas of Bobbio and the Legacy of Columbanus''. Oxford University Press. p. 59. {{ISBN|978-0-19-085800-1}}</ref>

The habit of the monks consisted of a tunic of undyed wool, over which was worn the [[cuculla]], or cowl, of the same material. A great deal of time was devoted to various kinds of [[manual labour]], not unlike the life in monasteries of other rules. The Rule of Saint Columbanus was approved of by the [[Fourth Council of Mâcon]] in 627, but it was superseded at the close of the century by the Rule of Saint Benedict. For several centuries in some of the greater monasteries the two rules were observed conjointly.<ref name="edmonds"/>