MARMION, COLUMBA. - Benedictine ascetical writer, in the world Giuseppe, b. in Dublin on 1 Apr. 1858, d. at Maredsous on 30 Jan. 1923 in the odour of sanctity. Ordained priest in Rome on 16 June 1881, he was vicar at Dundrum and then professor of philosophy at Clonliffe. He entered the Benedictine abbey of Maredsous on 21 Nov. 1886. He was prior of Mont-César at Louvain in 1899, then abbot of Maredsous on 28 Sept. 1909. Through his now classical works on spirituality, marked especially by the doctrine of St Paul, he helped to renew in the Church an understanding of the mystery of Jesus Christ.
He published: Le Christ vie de l'âme (Maredsous 1914; Italian trans., Milan 1921); Le Christ dans ses mystères (Tamines 1919; Italian trans., Turin 1941); Le Christ idéal du moine (Paris 1922; Italian trans., Padua 1931); Sponsa Verbi (Bruges 1923; Italian trans., Padua 1924). These volumes were translated into seven languages. Pope Benedict XV declared that he used them for his spiritual life; he advised Msgr Szepticky: “read them; it is the pure doctrine of the Church.” Dom Thibaut published a number of M.’s letters.
Silvano Pidoux de la Maduère