Brother Columba O’Neill, C.S.C.

The Holy Cobbler of Notre Dame

John O’Neill was born on November 5, 1848, in Pennsylvania. In 1874, he joined the Congregation of Holy Cross and received the religious name Brother Columba. Two years later, he was assigned to the University of Notre Dame as a cobbler. It was a humble post, the kind most men would consider beneath notice. Brother Columba made it his path to holiness.

For thirty-eight years, Brother Columba repaired shoes at Notre Dame. He worked in silence, prayed constantly, and radiated a quiet peace that drew people to him. Students and faculty began coming to him not just for shoe repairs but for prayers. Word spread that the sick were being healed through his intercession.

Brother Columba took no credit whatsoever for the reported healings. When asked, he consistently deflected: “It is not I who heals. It is the intercession to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” His humility was total. He saw himself as nothing more than a cobbler who prayed.

Brother Columba died in 1923 at the University of Notre Dame, the place where he had spent nearly his entire religious life. His reputation for holiness endured. In 2022, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend formally opened his cause for canonization, declaring him a Servant of God.

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