Saint Columbanus, patron Saint of motorcyclist.

 

Saint Columbanus is a remarkably interesting Saint for me.  I stumbled across his existence purely by accident.  I was looking to see who the patron saint for motorcyclists might be if there even was one. I am a rider myself.  Like most bikers I know, we all have some type of superstition.  Some it is a pre-ride ritual.  Others it is gremlin bells.  For me it is a prayer and quietly ask for a blessing for all those riding with me and on the road at the time I ride. 

 It turned out that Saint Columbanus was designated as the patron saint in 2002 by The Vatican.  His patronage was suggested by an Anglican Bishop named John Oliver.  John Oliver was an avid motorcyclist and tied that into his love of traveling.  To him, Saint Columbanus just made sense.

So, who was our patron saint?  That was my question once I found out we had one. 

Let us start with the basics.  He lived between 540 and 615 CE.  He was born in Ireland in the Kingdom of Meath.  He was born to a prominent family.  This allowed him to attend a higher-quality school in what is now Northern Ireland.   According to the legend and history of the church, he was handsome and attracted the attention of the women he was around during his schooling.   This led to a warning by an older pious lady in the city.  He chose to heed this warning from her and chose to forsake his worldly life and became a monk. He entered the Bangor Abbey to study and become more educated.

He left the Abbey after many years and headed to the Burgundy region of France.   Saint Columbanus made his way with a small party to Annegray where they founded a monastery.  This led to him founding several more monasteries.  Do you see the connection between him and traveling?  He eventually ended his traveling in Bobbio Italy where he found his last monastery.  He died at Bobbio and his relics are still maintain at the abbey there.  Of course, he is also buried at the abbey. 

So for me, I see it as another layer of protection during riding.  Everyone out there on their bike, keep your knees in the wind, your heart belonging to God, and thank the traveling monk for become a motorcycle patron.

Wesley, and not being pigeon-holed

 I am just going to say this upfront I am not a pigeon-holed Christian that hate or accuse those from a different branch of thinking to be committing heresy.  That is not my right, only God gets to sit in judgment of other's actions and beliefs.  I find certain historical figures that were and are still influencing the direction of Christianity.  John Wesley is one of those I find fascinating.  If he saw what had become of his thinking in the form of systematic theology, Wesleyan theology, and the Methodists Churchs that claim his teachings as their found dogma, he would be shock and ashamed in large parts of it.

I do not believe in reading about him that he had the intention of his version of learning to study and understanding the Bible to be a theology.  As I understand him, he was writing both to a small elite group of theologians and trying to provide a way for the minimally educated churchgoers to be able to understand and appreciate the bible and learn both the words and the meaning. Let us all be honest.  Luther, Calvin, Arminius, and even Wesley were trying to find ways to give the common person to understand.  Most of those that attended were barely literate if at all.  The learned by memorizing text and scripture, but most did not understand.  They chose to believe what the Priest or clergy told them it meant.  All these theologians wanted that changed.   No one way was wrong.  The systematic way was a direction that felt a system would work better than the others.  In my opinion, it was all that was meant in the way it was done.

The problem with everything, and what we all face now, is that the original intentions are lost throughout time and sides are taken.  That is what I have encountered in just presenting a look at an important figure in the historical development of Christianity. Look how far we have strayed from what Christ was trying to do.  He just wanted to reform the Jewish belief and way of doing business.  He wanted to change his religion, not be the founder of another one.   He failed in his mission to reform but succeeded in finding another based on his teachings.   Instead of celebrating this, we all tend to fight over how to celebrate his teachings, each staking out our own beliefs as a territory and fighting against anything that is not the same.   Why can't we all just celebrate his coming, passing, and resurrection and not get tied down to a singular way to see it?  Just a question that vexes me.  

So when I am talking and researching Wesley, I am not trying to insult anyone or to tell you your belief is wrong.  I am celebrating just another way people have found to praise God and Jesus.  That's is all that is important.

Okay, Soapbox is done.