Saint Attala

Attala or Atala (died 622) was a disciple of Columbanus and his successor as abbot of Bobbio from 615.

Displeased with the loose discipline prevailing there, he instead entered the abbey of Luxeuil, which had just been founded by Columbanus.

When the latter was expelled from Luxeuil by King Theuderic II, Attala would have succeeded him as abbot, but preferred to follow him into exile.

According to Attala's biographer, Jonas, when some of these monks perished miserably, the others considered their deaths a punishment from God and returned to the monastery.

A surviving palimpsest copy of the works of Ulfilas bears the inscription "a book from the cupboard of lord Atala" (l[iber] de arca domno atalani).