Monthly Archives: May 2014

  The Ulster Workers’ Council (UWC) strike was a successful general strike which took place 40 years ago between 15 May and 28 May 1974, during ” The Troubles”. The UWC was the brainchild of my old friend Harry Murray, a shop steward at Harland … Continue reading →

  Saint Molua, (c.530 – 592), (also known as Lua, Luan, Luanus, Lugaidh, Moloag, Molluog, Moluag, Murlach), was an Ulster missionary, and a contemporary of Comgall, Columbanus and Columba, who evangelized the Caledonian Cruthin or Picts in the sixth century. … Continue reading →

The end of the sixth and beginning of the seventh centuries AD was indeed the Golden Age of the Bangor monastery, for it became the centre of literature, both sacred and secular, in Europe. Here were compiled the oldest Chronicles … Continue reading →

In the spring of 612 AD war broke out between Austrasia and Burgundy. The Austrasian army was first defeated at Toul and then annihilated at Tolbiac. King Theudebert fled across the Rhine but was captured for his brother Theuderich by … Continue reading →

Pope Gregory the Great             Now the strict Penitential of Columbanus infringed on the authority of the local Frankish bishops. But it was only with his insistence on celebrating Easter according to the British calculation that … Continue reading →

Today, accompanied by my colleague in Pretani Associates, Helen Brooker, I attended the Annual St Comgall’s Lecture of the Friends of Bangor Abbey by Professor Jean-Michel Picard, U.C.D., talking on ‘Columbanus and the Antiphonary of Bangor’ with special reference to the hymn  ‘ … Continue reading →

   Now, as the number of monks in the monastery at Annegray increased daily, it became necessary for the community to seek a more suitable site. King Gunthram had died in 593 AD and young Childebert II now ruled over … Continue reading →

NewBelfast.com Blog of Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir Follow Máirtín on Twitter and LinkedIn   Marcel Kittel wins Stage Two. Pic: BBC.   Any colour as long as it’s pink was the message from Belfast this week as the greatest … Continue reading →

Columbanus Fresco in the abbey of Brugnato.The foundation of Brugnato dates back to the 7th or 8th centuries and is linked to the erection of a monastery  which, like other monastic sites in Liguria and northern Italy, was dependent on … Continue reading →

The seventh-century manuscript already described as the Bangor Antiphonary was given that name by the famous Italian scholar, Muratori. However, the manuscript is not, strictly speaking, a true antiphonary since its contents are as follows:   1. Song of Moses … Continue reading →