St. Fintan was an Irish monk that connected his spiritual life to how and what he ate. He ate what we might call a vegan diet today. He refrained from all animal products in his diet. He viewed this as a spiritual practice that helped him connect more meaningfully to God and to God’s creation. He found it so beneficial, in fact, that he even tried to force the practice on some of the monks he lived with. This didn’t go over well. They found that diet too difficult, complaining it made them too weak to do the work that was required of them. Fintan relented and allowed the monks to return to their old diet, but continued to abstain himself for the rest of our lives.
His feast is celebrated this year on the same day as Ash Wednesday which is wonderful since he is a great reminder of the ways that we can connect our physical hunger to our spiritual hunger. May we always hunger for God’s love and doing good above all things.
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