A FURTHER milestone in this year's celebrations to mark the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St Columbanus was passed when two Down and Connor priests were honoured in Bobbio in Italy, when Columbanus died in 615.
Fr Joseph Gunn, parish priest of Bangor, and Fr Joseph Rooney, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Down and Connor, were invested as honorary canons of the Co-Cathedral of Bobbio by the Bishop of Piacenza-Bobbio, Gianni Ambrosio.
The investiture took place on Saturday August 29 - the eve of the 18th annual celebration of St Columban's Day - within the setting of a prayer vigil held in the Co-Cathedral in the presence of pilgrims from a number of countries throughout Europe as well as from Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Thank to St Columbanus - regarded as the patron saint of Europe - Bobbio and Down and Connor share a deep religious heritage.
In a civic ceremony on Sunday August 30, in the presence of mayors from towns associated with St Columbanus and the Ambassador of Ireland to the Holy See, Emma Madigan, Bishop of Down and Connor Dr Noel Treanor was conferred with the honorary citizenship of Bobbio by its mayor, Roberto Pasquali.
A group of pilgrims from the diocese visited sites across Europe associated with St Columbanus last week. They included the abbey and cloister at Luxeuil, the excavations of the original Columban monastery at Annegray, St Gallen in Switzerland and the Abbey of St Gall which contains the saint's relics and the Austrian town of Bregenz on Lake Constance, where Columbanus founded a monastic community and where there is a modern parish in Bregenz dedicated to St Columbanus.
They also visited the historic centre of Piacenza and its cathedral and the remains of the Abbey at Bobbio, the last foundation of the Irish saint.
Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Archbishop of Milan, Bishop Ambrosio and Bishop Treanor were the papal delegates for the 18th annual celebration of St Columban's Day.
