Day 36 St Ursician and the Swiss connection

Celtic Advent December 20th St. Ursician of St-Ursanne.

I am going to digress a little from my usual launching into the life of the saint of the day and talk a little about Switzerland. Bear with me. Despite the fact that I have Irish and Scottish backgrounds on each side of my family tree, I am mostly (25%) Swiss. My grandmother, Sophie Pauline Eggenschwiler, was from just outside the town of Solothurn, in the canton by the same name in northwest Switzerland. She visited there in the late 1950's, having been gone from the area for close to 60 years. During that time period seven new houses had been built in the town, which otherwise remained unchanged.

The next Canton to the west of Solothurn is Jura, and one of the towns in Jura is St-Ursanne, which takes its name from Saint Ursician or Ursicinius, who was a disciple of the great Irish saint, Columbanus, whom I wrote about towards the end of November. The town and area didn't really change much from medieval times until 1875 when a railway came into the town.

Switzerland is one of the places that is on my bucket list, especially the Northwest area. It is also the "birthplace" of the Celtic peoples. Long before the existance of the 7 celtic nations, the La Tene and Halstead sites in and around Switzerland give evidence of a group of tribes with a particular swirling circular artwork on buckles and brooches...these were the early Celts, who populated France and Britain. They were later driven out by the Frankish people and then the Anglo-Saxons into the western fringe areas and northern Spain. So who knows, maybe my Swiss blood is actually also slightly tinged with Celtic genes...

Which brings us back to St. Ursician. Ursician, who died in 625AD, was according to one source of Frankish origin, and became a disciple of Columbanus during the sojourn of the latter in Luxieuil, France. Other sources list him as Irish, but his name is not of Celtic origin, so I personally am going with the Frankish descent. Columbanus' activities in Luxieuil eventually got him in trouble with the largely pagan authorities and he and his group of followers were told to "get out of Dodge."

The group travelled to Switzerland where at least 2 of Columbanus disciples, Ursician and Gall, remained. Gall was forced to stay because of an argument with Columbanus...we don't know what prompted Ursician to stay on. But in any event, Columbanus went south to Bobbio and Ursician stayed in Jura.

Ursician is reputed to have been a saint of great piety and humility, doing a lot of evangelism with the German tribes in the area. He decided to spend time as a hermit, and found a cave which he co-habited with a bear. The cave is still part of the tourist circuit in St-Ursanne, although one has to climb 150 steps to get to it. He is also reputed to have ahborred wine and to avoid the company of others who drank it. Knowing the personal preferences of my grandmother, my suspicion is that he was more of a beer person (OK, probably not...).

So what about Ursician inspires me or ignites a spiritual train of thought for me? I started to imagine what his life and motivations would have been like. If he was Frankish,and presumably originally pagan as most of the Franks at time were, he must have been greatly affected by the Irish missionaries to "join up." He would have then had to leave family and home and all he knew to continue to stay with Colubanus' group during the journey over the mountains to Switzerland. Then, he stays, apart from his new group, in an area where he knows no one, to preach a gospel that he has only recently found himself. Whew. One of the biographies of St Aidan, the founder of the monastery at Lindisfarne is titled "Flame in my Heart." Ursician must have had that flame also. What else could have explained his willingness to leave home and then have a lifetime in a country that was not his own? The "flame" would explain why, despite the lack of other details of his life, why his cave remained a pilgrimage site for many centuries. He must have "burned brightly."

It is so easy in our modern times for me to fall into a kind of "vanilla" approach to religion...show up for church, maybe take in an occasional adult formation, participate in a book group. But do I burn with love for my faith like Ursician must have? I hope that at times I do...

Lord, these early Celts had such devotion and greatness of Spirit in their daily lives. Guide me, as you did Ursician, that I may taste some of their "fire." Thank You for the inspiration that reading about them give me. In thy name. Amen.