Saint Gall

Life story

Gall was born around 550, traditionally in Ireland, and is counted among the companions who travelled with Columbanus to Gaul. His exact origin is not fully certain. He followed his master through Annegray and Luxeuil and shared the expulsion from the Frankish kingdom around 610.

When the group moved toward Lake Constance, Gall, who knew the local language, helped his master with preaching. Later, when Columbanus went on to Italy, Gall stayed behind because of illness, according to the accounts. He lived as a hermit in a wooden cell beside the Steinach stream, in what is now Switzerland. Later biographies say he declined the bishopric of Constance and the abbacy of Luxeuil in order to keep his quiet life. Tradition also tells of a bear that brought him firewood, a legendary detail often repeated in later pictures.

He died at Arbon, traditionally at the age of ninety-five, around 645 to 650. The place where he lived was organised into a community of monks under Otmar from 719, and from 747 it followed the Rule of St Benedict. The abbey of St Gall went on to become a major cultural centre of Europe with a celebrated library. The city of St Gallen bears his name. The Church keeps his feast on 16 October. His earliest biographies were written long after his death, in the eighth and ninth centuries, so some episodes of his life rest on tradition rather than on contemporary records. Even so, his name has been carried by the abbey and the city ever since.

Works and witness

• Travelled with Columbanus from Ireland to Gaul and the Lake Constance region
• Lived as a hermit by the Steinach stream, in present-day Switzerland
• According to tradition, refused the bishopric of Constance
• Died at Arbon around 645 to 650
• His cell became the abbey of St Gall from the eighth century

Saints from the same country

Saint Nicholas of Flüe, Saint Patrick, Saint Columba, Saint Francis de Sales

References

• Martyrologium Romanum
• Walahfrid Strabo, Vita sancti Galli
• Jonas of Bobbio, Vita Columbani

Written by Anawim from documented history. Some details about ancient saints rest on tradition and are marked as such.