16 February 2012. The monk’s and hermit’s arrival in the wilds of the Steinach Valley had an enormous impact. The St.Gallen Abbey was later built on his grave, a monastery which in its heyday was of European significance. The saint became the eponym of the city and the canton beyond the Abbey walls. The public lectures will begin on Monday 27 February 2012 at 8.15 p.m. and present Gallus’s life and work on the basis of contemporary documents.

Gallus’s experiences will be integrated in the history of Irish-Franconian monasticism, which was established by Gallus’s teacher, Columban the Younger, with monasteries set up in Luxeuil in the Vosges, in Bregenz and in Bobbio in Northern Italy. Besides the historical biography, the Librarian of St.Gallen’s Abbey Library, Prof. Dr. Ernst Tremp, will also focus his lectures on the social, cultural and political conditions of the time. Moreover, some eminent contemporaries of Gallus will be presented: Pope Gregory the Great, the theologian Isidor of Seville, the poet Venantius Fortunatus and the prophet Mohammed.

Picture: Gallus Jubiläum