was still in seminary. It seems that one day when returning to the study hall he had all at once, to use his own words, "a light on God's Infinity." While this "light" only lasted for an instant, it was so clear and strong that it left an indelible impression on him, so that... "he referred to this not without emotion and thanksgiving during the last days of his life." He completed his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Irish College and was ordained in 1881. On his journey back to Ireland, he passed through Maredsous, Belgium – a young and dynamic monastery founded 9 years before (in 1872) by Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Beuron, Germany. He wished very much to join the community there. But his archbishop in Ireland refused his request to do so and appointed him as curate at Dundrum, a parish in the south of Dublin. After a year, he was appointed Professor of Metaphysics at Holy Cross College at Clonliffe, the Dublin diocesan seminary where Marmion himself had studied. For the next four years (1882–1886) he embarked on the education and spiritual direction of others, including an appointment as chaplain to a nearby convent. Parish priest Marmion's work as a parish priest "daily brought him into contact with a cross-section of humanity," and he was "called upon to advise, teach, console and give every kind of spiritual and material aid." He "possessed an extraordinary facility for adapting himself to other people," and above all "in comforting others and putting them at their ease." During this period he began to learn "the delicate art of spiritual direction in which he was later to excel." His four years as professor at Clonliffe (1882–1886) "helped to complete his intellectual and spiritual formation. Thrown into the atmosphere of college life, he soon found himself in his native element." Maredsous (1886–1899) Marmion joined the monastic community at Maredsous in 1886, having received his archbishop's approval. At first, it was very hard for him, even "traumatic." He was 27 years old, a respected priest and professor. In Maredsous he was a novice, and had as well to learn a language (French) and monastic disciplines that were foreign to him. After his Solemn Profession on February 10, 1891, Columba (as he was now called) was appointed to act as assistant to the Novice Master – with whom he got on