O exalted Father St. Benedict,
guide and patriarch of the monastic life,
you are the hope and consolation
of all who cry to you from their inmost heart.
To your holy patronage I humbly recommend myself.
To you do I pray, to thee do I cry,
O benign Father, O sweetest Master!
With the utmost fervor of my heart,
and with the vehement desires of my soul,
I ask you to graciously intercede with God
for me, a poor sinner, that He may
mercifully grant the forgiveness of my sins
and perseverance in good.
O loving Father, I most ardently ask you,
never permit me to be separated from God,
but pray that I may attain to the communion
of saints, to the happy vision of my Lord,
that with you and the numerous choirs of
your spiritual sons and daughters,
I may rejoice forever and ever.
This grant me, O Lord Jesus Christ.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.