Large parts of the route will be mapped in 2019 and a smartphone app will be launched in mid 2019 that will allow pilgrims to negotiate the pilgrim trail.

Columbanus, born c.550 on the Carlow/Wexford border, is the best known of the many Irish missionaries who re-evangelised Europe during the Middle Ages.

A key part of the event is that guests are given a spiritual and a festive welcome.

“We may be facing a period of renewed nationalism, as well as strident regionalism within some current states,” Bishop McKeown warns.

The sixth century saint is remembered as one of the greatest of the Irish missionary monks and revered across parts of Europe.

2015 will mark the 1,400th anniversary of Saint Columban's death in Italy.