ST ATTALA OF BOBBIO, ABBOT - 10 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH 

Saints celebrated on the 10th of March

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST ATTALA OF BOBBIO, ABBOT 

Saint Attala [Attalas] was born in the sixth century in Burgundy; he died A.D. 627. He first became a monk at Lerins, but, displeased with the loose discipline prevailing there, he entered the monastery of Luxeuil which had just been founded by St Columban. When Columban was expelled from Luxeuil by King Theodoric II, Attala was to succeed him as abbot, but preferred to follow him into exile. 

THEY FOUNDED THE ABBEY OF BOBBIO

They settled on the banks of the river Trebbia, a little northeast of Genoa, where they founded the celebrated Abbey of Bobbio. 

After the death of St Columban in 615, Attala succeeded him as Abbot of Bobbio. He and his monks suffered many hardships at the hands of the Arian King Ariowald. 

HE INSISTED ON STRICT DISCIPLINE

As abbot, Attala insisted on strict discipline and when a large number of his monks rebelled, declaring his discipline too rigorous, he permitted them to leave the monastery. When, however, some of these perished miserably, the others considering their death a punishment from God, returned to the monastery. Attala was buried in Bobbio where his feast is celebrated on March 10.

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)