<p>St. Gall is a famous Irish Missionary and companion of St. Columban.&nbsp; Born in Ireland, Sts. Columban and Comgall trained him, and he was one of the twelve companions who accompanied St. Columban to France.&nbsp; St. Gall was a noted scholar and helped in founding the Luxeuil Monastery &ndash; a very profound Monastery.&nbsp;</p> <p>When St. Columban was exiled in 610, Gall followed him to Switzerland and then to Italy.&nbsp; Gall remained in Switzerland and became a hermit on the Steinach River.&nbsp; The monastery of St. Gall was erected on this site.&nbsp; St. Gall refused to become a bishop twice, and an Abbot, and is venerated as an Apostle to the land, where he died in Arbon in 646.&nbsp; His focus was always on the learning of God and his ways, and not of the world.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>After his death a small church was erected which developed into the Abbey of St. Gall, the center for theology training, in eastern Switzerland.&nbsp; The first Abbot of St. Gall Abbey was St. Othmar.&nbsp; The Emperor Louis the Pious made it an imperial Institution, &ldquo;The Abbey of St. Gall&rdquo;, not from the name of its founder and first Abbot &ndash; St. Othmar,&nbsp; but of the saint who had lived in this place and whose relics were honored there.&nbsp; It played a very important part in Catholic and Intellectual history until it was secularized in 1798.&nbsp;</p> <p>Interesting stories such as; Gall delivered Fridiburga from a demon which she was possessed.&nbsp; Fridiburga was the betrothed of Sigebert II, King of the Franks, who in gratitude gave him land in Arbon, which belonged to the Royal Treasury &ndash; to build a Monastery, which eventually became the Abbey of St. Gall.&nbsp; Another popular story about St. Gall has it that, at the command of the Saint, a bear would bring wood to him to feed the fire that he and his companions had kindled in the Forest.&nbsp;&nbsp; For this reason, St. Gall is generally pictured with a &ldquo;bear&rdquo; beside him, usually with a piece of wood in his mouth.&nbsp; Legend has it that St. Gall made a pact of peace with a bear who was terrorizing the citizens of the nearby village.&nbsp; If they would feed him gingerbread, he would refrain from eating them.&nbsp; The legend is said to be a lesson in one making peace with his dark side, according to St. Gall.&nbsp;</p> <h1><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">Practical Take Away</span></strong></h1> <p>St. Gall was a noted scholar of his time, and many learned church leaders resulted from his Abbey in Arbon over the centuries.&nbsp; St. Gall knew that his calling was to live a life of solitude, denouncing the world and embracing the study of God and our faith, to benefit those after him.&nbsp; He even turned down becoming a Bishop twice, to stay true to his calling from God.&nbsp; He knew that only by turning from the world and embracing the ways of God, could he have a lasting impact on those around him.&nbsp; We too, can learn from this great Saint, that by turning ourselves from this world and following the call of Jesus, we can have a lasting impact on those around us.&nbsp;</p>