1. Saint Gall accompanied Columbanus on his voyage up the Rhine River to Bregenz but when in 612 Columbanus travelled on to Italy from Bregenz, Gall had to remain behind due to illness and was nursed at Arbon.
11 Facts About Saint Gall
1. 2.
Saint Gall remained in Alemannia, where, with several companions, he led the life of a hermit in the forests southwest of Lake Constance, near the source of the river Steinach.
3.
Saint Gall was known in Switzerland as a powerful preacher.
4.
Some time later, in the year 625, on the death of Eustasius, abbott of Luxeuil, a monastery founded by Columbanus, members of that community were sent by the monks to request Saint Gall to undertake the government of the monastery.
5.
Saint Gall refused to quit his life of solitude, and undertake any office of rank which might involve him in the cares of the world.
6.
Prominent was the story in which Saint Gall delivered Fridiburga from the demon by which she was possessed.
7.
The legend says that for the rest of his days Saint Gall was followed around by his companion the bear.
8.
Images of Saint Gall typically represent him standing with a bear.
9.
In Bohemian lands, Saint Gall was known as St Havel.
10.
St Saint Gall is the name of a wheel shaped hard cheese made from the milk of Friesian cows, which won a Gold Medal at the World Cheese Awards held in Dublin 2008.
11.
Ramsay explains that Saint Gall made a pact of peace with a bear who was terrorizing the citizens of the nearby village.