The miracle of San Colombano - Canevino

SAN COLOMBANO - ABBEY OF EUROPE

The Miracle of Canevino

San Colombano - born in Ireland (Leinster 543 A.D.) - was a very important personality during the Middle Ages as well as an innovator of ecclesiastical thought, so much so that, over 1400 years after his death (Bobbio 615 AD), he is remembered as one of the founding fathers of the Modern Church. For example, he argued that confession should be a private act between the repentant and God (until that time confession was public and was often accompanied by public corporal expiation), and that education gave men “true Freedom”. He arrived in Bobbio late in life, after having travelled across Europe (France – Germany – Switzerland – Belgium and finally Italy) and founded numerous monasteries (among which Luxeuil-Les-Bains and Annegray stand out), called by the very Catholic Queen Teodolinda who gave him Bobbio – where he founded his last abbey – with many annexed lands (including the current territory of Colli Verdi “Curtis” Colombaniana). Following the teachings of Saint Columbanus, the Abbey of Bobbio was the most important cultural centre in Europe in the Middle Ages and inspired Umberto Eco for the description of the scriptorium in the abbey in "The Name of the Rose".

The Miracle
300 years after his death, by order of King Ugo of Provence, the remains of Saint Columbanus were transported to Pavia in the Basilica of San Michele, in order to convince certain lords summoned there to return to the Monastery the many lands stolen. The journey of the remains of Saint Columbanus was transcribed by a Monk who had been part of the procession, and on the ancient parchments it is written that upon reaching Canevino - today a hamlet of Colli Verdi - a child who had been mute since birth acquired the ability to speak, and that, as a sign of celebration and gratitude, the Monks were offered wine. At the site of the Miracle today there is a Statue depicting Saint Columbanus and a bas-relief depicting the miraculous event (work of the Piacenza Master Paolo Perotti). The Monk's testimony also certifies the presence of vines and the production of wine in the upper Valle Versa before the year 1000.
The remains of Saint Colombano are still preserved in the Crypt of the Abbey of Saint Colombano in Bobbio, from where, after the journey to Pavia, they have never been removed.
FOR FUTURE RECORD: the lands taken from the Monastery of Bobbio, after the ordeal that took place in the Basilica of Saint Michael were returned to their rightful owner.