In about 590 he left for France and founded monasteries at Annegray and Luxeuil. His support for the practices of the Celtic Church, and especially for the Irish dating of Easter, upset Pope Gregory I and he was ordered back to Ireland (610). He promptly crossed the Alps to Lombardy in Italy and established an abbey at Bobbio (614). However, his austere monasticism lost its appeal before the more practical provisions of St Benedict.