Columba McCann OSB has been elected the seventh Abbot of Glenstal Abbey.
Abbot Columba begins immediately his eight-year term of office as leader of the monastic community of twenty six Benedictine monks in Murroe, County Limerick.
Raised in Dublin and educated by the Jesuits at Gonzaga College, he studied music at University College Dublin and trained for the priesthood at Holy Cross College in Clonliffe before he was ordained for the Archdiocese of Dublin in 1988.
Following further studies in Rome, he lectured in liturgy at the Dublin diocesan seminary and a number of third-level institutions in the city whilst serving as master of ceremonies to the Archbishop of Dublin.
Father Columba entered the novitiate at Glenstal Abbey in 2004 and has held a number of roles including organist, novice master and oblate director as well as serving as a chaplain, choir director and religion teacher in the Abbey School.
In addition to composing a number of hymns and musical pieces for the organ, he has published two books with Veritas Publications: 101 Liturgical Suggestions: Practical Ideas for Those Who Prepare the Liturgy (2014) and Becoming Human, Becoming Divine: The Christian Life According to Blessed Columba Marmion (2024).
The date of Abbot Columba’s Abbatial Blessing by the Archbishop of Cashel and Emly will be announced in due course.