Attala of Bobbio

Venerable Attala of Bobbio was a disciple of Saint Columbanus and his successor as abbot of the monastery of Bobbio from 615. He fell asleep in 622 (in some sources, in 627) and is remembered on 10 March.

He was originally from Burgundy and first became a monk at the abbey of Lérins. Displeased with the loose discipline prevailing there, he entered Luxeuil, the monastery just founded by Columbanus. When Columbanus was expelled from Luxeuil by King Theuderic II, Attala could have succeeded him as abbot, but chose to follow him into exile. They settled on the banks of the river Trebbia, a little northeast of Genoa, where together they founded Bobbio. After Columbanus' death, in 615, Attala succeeded him as abbot. He and his monks suffered many hardships at the hands of King Arioald, who was an Arian and not a Catholic.

As abbot, Attala insisted on strict discipline, and when a large number of monks rebelled, declaring his discipline too rigorous, he allowed them to leave the monastery. According to his biographer, Jonas, when some of these monks perished miserably, the others considered their deaths a punishment from God and returned to the monastery. Attala also restored the binding of the books in the monastic library. A surviving palimpsest copy of the works of Ulfilas bears the inscription “a book from the cupboard of lord Atala” (liber de arca domno atalani). He was buried at Bobbio, where his feast is celebrated on 10 March.