The Missionary Society of St. Columban (Latin: Societas Sancti Columbani pro Missionibus ad Exteros) (abbreviated as S.S.C.M.E.

or SSC), commonly known as the Columbans, is a missionary Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right founded in Ireland in 1917 and approved by the Holy See in 1918.

[2] Fr John Blowick, one of the two founders of the Society, also founded the Missionary Sisters of St. Columban to share in their work.

He entered St Patrick's College (usually called Maynooth Seminary) near Dublin to study for the priesthood for his native Diocese of Cork, and was ordained in 1909.

Due to an oversupply of clergy for that diocese, his bishop suggested that Galvin offer his service in the United States, until such time as there would be an opening in Cork.

Galvin followed his advice and went to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn in New York City, where he was assigned to Holy Rosary Parish.

While serving there, Galvin came to know John M. Fraser, a Canadian priest, who stayed there while en route back to China.

He arrived in Ireland that August, where he proceeded to his alma mater, Maynooth, and began to recruit among the seminarians there for his proposed society.

A local Curate, Thomas Roynane, introduced Galvin to one of the seminary faculty, John Blowick, who agreed to join the endeavor and was to prove an important contributor to the development of the Society.

Formal approval for the group, now named the Society of St. Columban, was given by Rome on 29 June 1918, and a new seminary was immediately founded in Ireland to train new members for the missions.

Galvin then led the first band of the Society to open their mission in the Hanyang District (modern day Wuhan, China).

They also soon found themselves in the middle of a civil war between the forces of the Guominjun Nationalist Army and the Chinese Communist Party, which lasted for the next three decades.

The Japanese invasion of China in 1937 saw the Society challenged to care for both civilians and soldiers, as major outbreaks of Cholera swept the populace.

The war had just ended when it became clear that Communist forces under Mao Tse-tung would soon defeat the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek.

On 19 September 1952, a weary, haggard man stumbled across the Communist China border into British concession enclave Hong Kong.

[4] When mainland China was closed to missionaries in the 1950s, the Society responded to the urgent call from Latin America and Columbans went to new urban settlements in Peru and Chile.

(by year of demise) In 1918 the society established St Columban's College, Dalgan Park, Shrule, on the Galway/Mayo border, as their seminary.

[16] Dalgan Park Navan was the headquarters of the society until 1967 when it moved to Dublin, and in 1981 it was designated a retreat centre for the Diocese.

The order donated land in Templeogue for the establishment of a school, which was opened in 1975 and named in Columban founder Bishop Galvin's honour.

[22] Far East was founded in 1918 and is the official magazine of the Missionary Society of St Columban, it is published seven times a year.