Comgall of Bangor

Saint Comgall of Bangor was one of the early Irish saints, the founder and abbot of the great monastery at Bangor in the north of Ireland. He fell asleep between 597 and 602, and the Church remembers him on 10 May.

According to the Irish annals he was born between 510 and 520 in the territory of Dál nAraidi in Ulster, near the place now called Magheramorne, in County Antrim, the son of Setna. First he was a soldier, then he studied under Fintan of Clonenagh, Finnian of Movilla, Mobhí at Glasnevin and Ciarán of Clonmacnoise. He was ordained deacon and priest by Bishop Lugidius. He lived for a time on an island in Lough Erne, with a few friends who led a very severe monastic life, so severe that seven companions died of cold and hunger. He intended to go to Britain, but Lugidius held him back and advised him to stay in Ireland, to spread the monastic life throughout the country.

He founded the monastery at Bangor, in County Down, on the southern shore of Belfast Lough, opposite Carrickfergus, no later than 552, according to the Irish annals (other historians give 555 or 559). He is said to have governed at Bangor and other houses over four thousand monks, who worked the land or did other manual labour. Life in the monasteries was severe: food scant and plain, herbs, water and bread, even milk being counted an indulgence. At Bangor only one meal a day was allowed, and not until evening. Confession was made before the community, severe penances were frequent, silence was kept at meals and at other times, and fasts were frequent and long.

According to Adamnan's Life of Columba there was a close connection between Comgall and Columba, though there is not enough authority to say that Comgall was Columba's disciple in the strict sense. He was a friend of the future saints Cormac, Brendan and Canice. It is believed that among the monks trained by him at Bangor were Columbanus of Luxeuil and Saint Moluag. His disciples also included Lachtan, Sillan of Bangor and Fintan of Dunn. After a period of great suffering he received the Holy Eucharist from Saint Fiacre and fell asleep in the monastery at Bangor, in 602, according to the Annals of Tigernach and the Chronicon Scotorum, or in 597, according to the Annals of Inisfallen. His relics, kept at Bangor, were scattered in the Viking raids of 822. Comgall belongs to what is called the Second Order of Irish Saints, of the sixth century.