nus excused himself on the plea
of age and infirmities. He did not fail, however, to send advice for the
government of the monasteries which he had founded, where his rule had
continued to be observed with the utmost fervour.

St. Columbanus died at Bobbio, on the 21st of November, 615, at the age
of seventy-two years. His name is still preserved in the town of St.
Columbano. His memory has been ever venerated in France and Italy.

While the saint was evangelizing in Switzerland, one of his disciples
became seriously ill, and was unable to travel farther. It was a
providential sickness for the Helvetians. The monk was an eloquent
preacher, and well acquainted with their language, which was a dialect
of that of the Franks. He evangelized the country, and the town of St.
Gall still bears the name of the holy Irishman, while his abbey contains
many precious relics of the literature and piety of his native land. St.
Gall died on the 16th October, 645, at a very advanced age. The
monastery was not erected until after his decease, and it was not till
the year 1798 that the abbey lands were aggregated to the Swiss
Confederation as one of the cantons.

Another Irish saint, who evangelized in France, was St. Fiacre. He
erected a monastery to the Blessed Virgin in a forest near Meaux. The
fame of his sanctity became so great, and the pilgrimage to his tomb so
popular, that the French hackney coaches _(fiacre)_ obtained their name
from their constant employment in journeys to his shrine.

About the same period, St. Fursey founded a monastery near Burgh Castle,
in Suffolk, where he was kindly received by Sigbert, King of the East
Angles. From thence he proceeded to Lagny, in France, where his
missionary zeal was long remembered. His brothers, St. Foillan and St.
Altan, were his constant companions. St. Fursey died on the 16th
January, 650, at Macerius. His remains were subsequently translated to
Peronne, in Picardy. The evangelic labours of many of his Irish
disciples, are matter of history in the Gallic Church. It is said that
the fame of the Irish for their skill in music, was so well known on the
Continent at this period, that St. Gertrude, daughter of King Pepin, and
Abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, invited the brothers of St. Fursey to
instruct her community in sacred music. They complied with her request,
and soon after erected a monastery at Fosse, near Nivelle. Nor were the
Scoti without their missionary martyrs, amongst w