GALLO, saint. — Monk and missionary, born in Ireland ca. 554 and died at Arbon, near Lake Constance, on 16 October 627 (or 628?). Offered as a child to the monastery of Bangor, he grew up beside St. Colombano, with whom he transferred to France around 590 and lived for some time in the new monastery of Luneuil. Forced into exile by King Theodoric, in 610 they resumed their apostolic wanderings toward the Rhine, evangelizing everywhere and destroying idols, at times provoking, as at Tuggen near Zurich, the anger of the pagans.
Near Lake Constance, they were received by the priest Willimar, who faithfully accompanied him to Bregenz. When Colombano departed for Italy in 612, G., compelled by illness, remained with the deacon Liteboldo and, once recovered, sought a solitary place on the banks of the Steinach near Arbon, where he built (614) a cell, later called “cella s. Gallis.” Having freed Fridoborga, daughter of Duke Gunzone, from an evil spirit, the latter offered G. the episcopal see of Constance; but the Saint declined in favor of his disciple Giovanni (615) and devoted himself to the formation of the monks who gathered around him. Called to govern the abbey of Luneuil after the death of St. Butasio (627), G. refused once again and died that same year or the following one. On his tomb, around the middle of the eighth century, the celebrated Abbey of Saint Gall arose under Ormaro (v. cf. Anal. Boll., 54 [1936], p. 411).
The influence of the abbey itself and the miracles performed at his tomb contributed to the establishment of the cult of St. G., already widely spread in the 10th–11th centuries. Feast day: 16 October.