Via Columbani News
September/October 2025
Welcome to the Via Columbani Partnership newsletter.
Contacts are multiplying between the many communities across Europe that celebrate the heritage of Saints Columbanus and Gallus. The Partnership facilitates collaboration between these communities through cultural, educational and scientific projects, also helping them to develop exchanges and tourism. This second newsletter presents some of the highlights of the first half of 2025.
New one-day routes in Switzerland
1er semestre 2025
The Via Columbani stretches for thousands of kilometres across nine European countries. For hikers who want to experience the pilgrimage route over shorter distances, the Partnership is setting up a series of hikes or circuits lasting from one to several days.Each offers accommodation options, and walkers can always return to their starting point on foot or by public transport.
These trails are part of the ‘Local and Regional Trails’ offer for walkers, tourist offices, hotels and other service providers.
They are described and mapped in detail and are available to the public via the Via Columbani online application. Circuits are currently being developed in each of the Partnership countries.
Several are already being promoted in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, along the Kolumbansweg. Hikers can now discover four different one-day sections, each combining landscape, culture and history:
Ireland: 26th Columban's Days in Carlow and Myshall
11 to 13 July 2025
For three days, celebrations for the 26th Columban's Day were held in Myshall and Carlow, Ireland. The Myshall area, at the foot of the Blackstairs Mountains, is recognised as the birthplace of Saint Columbanus.
The organising committee, led by Bishop Denis Nulty, brought together many signatories of the Columban Partnership Charter, including County Carlow, Carlow Tourism, the Columban Fathers, the Friends of Saint Columbanus ROI (coordinators of the Turas Columbanus), the Friends of Columbanus Myshall, the Knights of Columbanus and the Carlow Museum.
On Saturday afternoon, Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland, gave an inspiring lecture entitled ‘Columban, the man from Myshall’. She affirmed that Columbanus was deeply Irish, but also a man who was able to transcend clan and national quarrels during his mission. She emphasised the relevance of his life and work in the face of the challenges facing contemporary Europe.
For Bishop Nulty, ‘The celebration of Columbanus Day allows us to bring to life the Partnership Charter, signed in nine countries, which perpetuates Columbanus's legacy on the European continent.’
During the three-day festival weekend, more than 3,500 people took part in thirteen events held at seven different venues in Carlow and around the village of Myshall. Visitors, guests and dignitaries from all over Europe – France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, as well as from all regions of Ireland – were in attendance.
The programme included an exhibition dedicated to Columbanus, a conference and workshop, official receptions at Carlow College, a concert in Carlow Cathedral, ecumenical celebrations and a procession in Myshall.
One of the highlights of the weekend was a 10 km pilgrimage walk, bringing together more than 350 pilgrims, from the Nine Stones viewpoint to Myshall, followed by a well-deserved lunch, prepared and served by the locals, in the village community hall.
The Neolithic site of the Nine Stones marks the official starting point of the Turas Columbanus/Via Columbani, the European pilgrimage route that leads first north from Myshall to Cleenish Island, where Columbanus was trained as a monk, then to Bangor (Northern Ireland), where he studied before setting out on his mission to the European continent.
The events concluded on Sunday with a pilgrims' Mass in Carlow Cathedral, followed by a pilgrims' lunch. The overall theme was ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, a celebration of the legacy of Saint Columbanus and his teaching, through a shared cultural heritage, friendship and spirituality; also a tribute to the many places and communities linked across Europe by the Via Columbani.
Musical exchanges between Ireland and Italy
The international cultural programme of the Via Columbani Partnership continues to expand, thanks to collaboration with the European Peregrinus project.
The municipality of Briga Novarese has been particularly active in recent years. In July 2025, the town welcomed 20 talented young Irish musicians and dancers from Bangor: music students aged 14 to 18, members of Ards Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, a multi-award-winning school and performing arts association. Find out more.
The trip included a visit to Milan, as shown in this dynamic video, and offered many opportunities for exchanges with young Italians from the town and the surrounding area.
For Chiara Barbieri, Mayor of Briga Novarese, "the positive impact of these exchanges is immense for the young people of Briga, both in terms of opening up new opportunities and improving language skills, and in terms of discovering this wonderful music and the culture it represents. The exchanges are reciprocal. Last November, one of our groups was welcomed in Bangor, Northern Ireland, where we signed the Charter and participated in the activities of the Via Columbani Partnership."
The town has deep historical ties with Saint Columbanus. It is located at the foot of a hill dedicated to him, a path that has certainly been used over the centuries by monks and travellers.
The Via Columbani Partners have been collaborating with the Peregrinus project for many years. A formal agreement has now been signed, establishing Peregrinus as the Partnership's main instrument for the development of cultural and educational projects at European level. Already in 2025, half a dozen Peregrinus projects involving the Partners have been launched and bear the Partnership logo.
This collaboration has also made numerous educational exchanges possible. Emma Coulter, from Bangor Academy, has worked for several years with Manuela Bertoncini, coordinator of the Peregrinus project, on educational projects and exchanges between Bobbio, Brescia and Bangor. In 2025, she accompanied a group of students to Luxeuil-les-Bains. The aim is to create a network of schools throughout Europe interested in participating in these exchanges, in all the countries along the Via Columbani.
France: a museum space for visitors and pilgrims in Luxeuil
Opening 26 September 2025
Luxeuil-les-Bains is a destination for many visitors and pilgrims, a key point on the Via Columbani and a crossroads for those continuing on their journey, either on the Way of Exile or towards Switzerland and Italy. The town and its surroundings are home to many cultural and archaeological treasures from the early Middle Ages, including the tombs of a Gallo-Roman cemetery and the remains of the three monastic communities founded by Saint Columbanus.
The entities responsible for this heritage and its promotion include: the Luxeuil-les-Bains Tourist Office, Southern Vosges; Luxeuil Abbey, currently undergoing renovation; and the Friends of Saint Columbanus, the largest European association celebrating the memory of the saint. The association organises events, manages heritage sites and is a founding partner of the Via Colombani.
Those responsible for managing the heritage of Saint Columbanus work together to ensure that visitors and pilgrims following in the footsteps of Saint Columbanus receive a warm welcome. Documents and guides are available at the Tourist Office. Pilgrims can even be offered accommodation in guest rooms, to be completed in 2024, in the immediate vicinity of the Abbey.