St Comgall of Bangor (517-603)
Birth
Comgall was born in the Dal Riada area of
the north-east coast of Ireland (Co Antrim) about 517. Magheramorne near
Larne lays a claim to being his birth-place.
Soldier and monk
His father was a soldier and he
himself served as a soldier before going for training with the ascetical
Fintan at Clonenagh in Co Laois.
He also studied at Clonard with
Finian and at Clonmacnoise with Ciaran.
We next find him practising the
monastic life on an island in Lough Erne where he was ordained a priest
by Bishop Lugidius.
Monastic centre at Bangor
In 555 Comgall founded
his own monastery at Bangor, Co Down.
This soon became the largest
monastic centre in Ireland with several daughter houses and a total
population of around 3,000.
He successfully combined the austerity of
Fintan with the scholarship of Finian.
In Scotland
Comgall is said to have been friends
with Brendan of Ardfert and Clonfert, Canice of Dungiven, Aghaboe and
Kilkenny and Colmcille, who founded monasteries in Ireland and at Iona
in Scotland.
Comgall went for some time to Scotland and is associated
with Colmcille and Canice in their visit to King Bruide of the Picts at
Inverness.
He is said to have founded his own monastery on the island of
Tiree, which was attacked by the Picts in 564.
Rule and way of life
Comgall wrote a Rule
for his monks which was quite severe, but its kernel is said to have
been: “Love Christ and hate wealth”.
Comgall himself ate only once a
day. But he was a strong advocate of the anamchara or
"soul-friend".
When Colmcille died, Comgall is recorded as saying: “My
soul-friend has died, and I am without a head; for a man without a
soul-friend is a body without a head”.
Miracles
Miracles claimed for Comgall concern the
sense of sight: he once healed a blind man by smearing saliva on his
eyes and another time he caused blindness to fall on some thieves.
Disciples in Scotland
Two of Comgall's disciples
from Bangor went to evangelise in Scotland where they founded
monasteries - Moluag on the island of Lismore in Argyll and
Maelrubha further north at Applecross in Ross.
And in Europe
In 590, another disciple, Columban, set sail with twelve companions from Bangor for Gaul in ‘voluntary exile for Christ’ (peregrinatio pro Christo).
Columban founded monasteries on the continent at Luxeuil in Burgundy
and Bobbio in Italy.
Gall's foundation gave its name to the Swiss town
of St Gallen.
The Antiphonary of Bangor
A manuscript called the Antiphonary of Bangor - a
collection of hymns, canticles, prayers, anthems and liturgical items -
was discovered in the monastery of Bobbio in 1609 and was brought to
the Ambrosian Library at Milan.
Composed at Bangor between 680 and
691 it was subsequently brought to Bobbio.
Death and influence
Comgall died at Bangor in 603
and his relics were kept there till in 822 they were scattered by
Viking raiders.
He was an inspiration of the peregrinatio pro Christo movement.
His figure as a monk still appears at the top of the coat of arms of Bangor town.