Comber woman appointed new partnership president

Comber woman appointed new partnership president

4 December 2024

COMBER woman Deborah Girvan has been elected President of the new European Via Columbanus Partnership.  

Mrs Girvan — a former Mayor of Ards and North Down Council and chairwoman of Friends of Columbanus Bangor — was elected at the inaugural meeting of the new association during the recent Columbanus Festival which was attended by representatives from France, Italy, Switzerland, and the Republic of Ireland.  

For the past eight years, Mrs Girvan has been working with other European Columbanus groups to develop the Columban Way, a pilgrim route that traces the footsteps of Columbanus from Mt Leinster in the Republic of Ireland where he was born in 543 through eight European countries to Bobbio in Italy where he died in 615. 

The Columban Way is a cultural route that celebrates the heritage of the ‘Irish monastic movement’ in which Columbanus and Gall played an important part. 

Plans for an epic 266-mile trail across Ireland would pass through Newcastle, Dundrum, Downpatrick, Killyleagh, Killinchy and Comber, with Newry, Mourne and Down Council one of nine local authorities involved in the project.

The route is being described as a platform for cultural and scientific exchange, a tourism and economic development initiative and an ambitious plan to create a pilgrimage route that crosses western Europe.

Once completed, the Columban Way will become the second longest pilgrimage route in Europe, after the Camino de Santiago which it joins with, along with other major walking trails in Europe including the Francigena, which crosses Italy and France and Scandinavia’s Saint Olav Ways.

The route is being traced out by local authorities and volunteer groups throughout Europe, identifying secure and attractive trails, off-road as much as possible, as well as the accommodation and other services for travellers. 

The Columban Way is becoming the biggest walking route mapping project ever developed in Europe and both Archbishops of Armagh, John McDowell and Eamon Martin, recently signed the Columban Charter for Partnership.  

The Charter supports the development of pilgrimage, cultural and scientific activities relating to Columbanus, Gall and their followers in all the European regions and countries where their memory remains alive. 

Delighted with her new appointment, Mrs Girvan said it is an “honour and a privilege” to be voted the first President of the new Via Columbani Partnership by her European colleagues whom she has worked closely with over the past seven years.

“At a time when Europe as a peaceful entity is under threat, beset by violence and war, the figures of Columbanus and Gall are an important reminder of the need to bring people together from across Europe,” she said.

“The new Via Columbani Partnership will enable people, regardless of their age, community or religious background, to come together through shared projects and experiences.  I am looking forward to my new role and don’t underestimate the work that lies ahead.”

Mrs Girvan explained one of the key objectives of the new partnership will be to submit an application to become a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe which, if successful, will give a huge, global platform to promote the Columban Way as an important cultural route across northern Europe.

The Via Columbani Partnership promotes cultural and educational exchanges, musical events and sporting challenges, between the European countries that Columbanus travelled through on a mission to revitalise Christianity in the sixth century. 

In addition, it promotes the development of the Columban Way, a European network of pilgrimage trails that have been mapped out, criss-crossing these countries and reinforcing connections between communities.