Overview
Dom Columba Marmion OSB is to be beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000.Columba Marmion (1858-1923) was one of the most influential spiritual writers of the early twentieth century. His trilogy, Christ The Life of the Soul, Christ in His Mysteries and Christ The Life of the Monk, has been translated into thirteen languages. Born and educated in Dublin, Marmion considered himself as being in the long line of Irish missionary priest-monks, such as St Columba of Iona or St Columbanus of Bobbio, who underwent voluntary exile for the love of Christ. His one aim in life was to bring people to God and to bring God to people.
He had been ordained a priest for the Dublin diocese before becoming a monk, and his memory lives on today in Dundrum, Dublin, where he spent some time as a curate, and in Clonliffe College where he was Professor of Philosophy for several years. However, it is as Abbot of Maredsous in Belgium that he is known to most people. Besides governing his monastery, Marmion travelled throughout Belgium, France, England and Ireland preaching retreats. At the same time, he carried on a vast correspondence, offering spiritual advice to those who sought his help.
There was a very human side to this saintly man. Fr Tierney brings him to life again in a book which will interest all those who relish a good mixture of history and spirituality, the human and the divine.