Here at the foot of the Vosges mountains, close by a healing stream, there arose the great Community of Luxeuil. Although the site had been completely deserted and overgrown, this exactly suited Columbanus, for he loved manual labour as much as he loved solitude. So great did it become that the most noble youths of the Franks asked to be admitted to its brotherhood. As they grew in holiness so they grew in happiness for surely the blessing of God was upon them and as their community increased it was necessary to make a third foundation at Fontaine, three miles north of Luxeuil.

The Community of Columbanus grew so large that it was necessary for the three centres to have a written Rule. The Abbot therefore composed for them a Regula Monachorum or ‘Rule of the Monks’, which was an exposition of the basic principles of monasticism. The central discipline of this was obedience. There can be little doubt that the early chapters are a summary of the Good Rule of Bangor written by Comgall himself. As well as this, Columbanus wrote a Regula Coenobialis or ‘Community Rule’ which lists the punishments to be meted out for any breaches of the discipline of the Rule.

The form in which it exists today probably contains later additions by Columbanus’s successors in Luxeuil but the opening section must go back to Columbanus himself. For the lay and clerical penitents who came to Luxeuil Columbanus wrote a further Penitental. This, too, was probably a Bangor conscription and shows great similarities to that of Finnian (British Uinnian) of Movilla. Atonement for sin required the practice of the opposite virtue. “The talkative is to be punished with silence, the restless with the practice of gentleness, the gluttonous with fasting, the sleepy with watching, the proud with imprisonment, the deserter with expulsion.”

Dr J. F. Kenney has written that the Rule of Columbanus forms a ‘Mirror of Perfection’ for those who were intent on pursuing the religious life. “Acceptance with unflinching logic of the precepts of Christ as preserved in the New Testament is its essential characteristic. A severity seemingly greater than human nature could endure results; absolute obedience to the will of the senior; heavy and unremitting toil, mortification of the flesh to a degree that might be expected to impair the physical strength, are some of its impositions.”

It is the only monastic rule of Irish origin, written in the Latin language, which still survives, and it is the earliest and most informative of all the rules which can be regarded as Irish. Luxeuil quickly became the Mother House of the three Communities and the most celebrated, and classical studies were of the utmost importance. The art of music was prominent as in Bangor and was taught at a level at that time unknown in Europe. H. Zimmer has written,

“They were the instructors in every branch of science and learning of the time, possessors and bearers of a higher culture than was at that time to be found anywhere on the Continent, and can surely claim to have been the pioneers – to have laid the cornerstone of western culture on the Continent.”

In 597 Columba of the “Ui Neill” died on the island of Iona and in 603 Comgall of the Cruthin, whose Patron had been the beautiful Cantigern, Queen of Dalaradia, died at his monastery in Bangor, in the ninety-first year of his age, in the fiftieth year and third month and tenth day of his presidency, on the sixth of the Ides of May… And of Comgall they wrote in the Bangor Antiphonary:

Amavit Christus Comgillum, Christ loved Comgall
Bene et ipse Dominum, Well, too, did he the Lord.

To be continued

© Pretani Associates 2014 

With the fall of the Western Roman Empire there was a widespread incursion of barbarian tribes such as the Goths, Vandals and Franks into the western and southern parts of Europe and the curtain of the Dark Ages descended upon them. It was the glory of the Bangor Church that during the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries the Light of the Gospel as well as the great learning of Ireland was carried to Gaul, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy, and so Bangor became indeed the Light of the Roman World. The piety and learning of the Bangor monks were unrivalled in Christendom and it was mainly due to them that Ireland became known as the island of saints and scholars.

Pope Pius XI has said, “The more light that is shed by scholars in the period known as the Middle Ages the clearer it becomes that it was thanks to the initiative and labours of Columbanus that the rebirth of Christian virtue and civilisation over a great part of Gaul, Germany and Italy took place.” The French poet Leon Cathlin concurs in saying, “He is, with Charlemagne, the greatest figure of our Early Middle Ages,” and Daniel-Rops of the French Academy has also said that he was “a sort of prophet of Israel, brought back to life in the sixth century, as blunt in his speech as Isaias or Jeremias… For almost fifty years souls were stirred by the influence of St Columbanus. His passing through the country started a real contagion of holiness.”

The Bangor Church, however, was hampered by contemporary politics in Ireland. Subject to continuing aggression by the Ui Neill, their alleged descendants and internal dissension, the Cruthin further declined in Ireland. In an entry in the Annals of Ulster it is recorded that in 563 AD the Cruthin were defeated at the Battle of Moneymore by the “Ui Neill of the North”. The opposing armies were led on the one side by “Seven Kings of the Cruthin including Hugh” and on the other side by one Baetan with two kings of the Cruthin in alliance with the “Northern Ui Neill”. The latter, Clan Connall, who were actually Gaelicised Cruthin, and Clan Owen were rewarded with the territory of Lei and Arda Eolairg, which is today north Antrim (Ballymoney) and east Londonderry.

The influence of St. Columba in these events cannot be overestimated. As an important member of the “Ui Neill” and a great ecclesiastic, his position was unique. Though he was not above using their temporal power for his own ends, as shown by the Battle of Cuildrevne in 561, Columba exercised a restraining influence on the “Ui Neill”. Comgall was, therefore, at this time able to maintain his friendship with Columba, the two having been fellow students at Glasnevin and Columba having been ordained deacon at nearby Movilla (Newtownards). About 565 Comgall, with St. Canice of Kilkenny, accompanied Columba on his great mission to the Pictish King Bridei. Following this, Iona, Columba’s foundation, “held for a long time pre-eminence over the monasteries of all the Picts and was their superior in ruling their communities.” Thus Iona became the centre of the Scottish-Irish cultural province.

At this time the Dalriada dynasty had extended from Ireland into the country of the Epidian Cruthin in western Scotland and in 574 AD Columba crowned his kinsman Aedan King of the Dalriads on Iona. Columba’s friendship with Aedan was of paramount importance for both Church and State in Dalriada. He advised Aedan at the Convention of Druimcett in 575 when Aedan refused to pay tribute to Hugh, King of the “Ui Neill”. In his relations with the Cruthin of Dalaradia, with whom he was not apparently related, Columba however showed the prejudices of a scion of the “Ui Neill”. About 579 there appears to have been a dispute between Columba and Comgall regarding the Church of Ros-Torathair, a Bangor foundation, which resulted in a battle at Coleraine between the Cruthin and the “Ui Neill”.

Political dissension in Ireland had secondary effects in Scotland. As well as Pictland,the natural extension of the Bangor mission was to Galloway, where the population had been greatly leavened by Irish immigration, and the “Irish Picts” or Cruthin crossing there naturally insisted on having Cruthinic clerics as their instructors in the faith. That was undoubtedly the reason why Galloway came to be considered Pictish. About the year 580 AD St. Donnan, a Cruthin of Bangor, laboured in Galloway and in 590 he was followed by St. Dagan who eventually succeeded the Columban cleric, St Euchadius, as Abbot of Candida Casa. It was through such disciples as well as Columbanus and Gall that Comgall became known as, “One of the greatest teachers of missionaries the world has ever seen.”

Only one sample of his writings has come down to us and it is found among the literature of his greatest disciple, Columbanus:

“If the cultivator of the land and husbandman, when preparing the soil to commit to it the seed, does not consider his work all done when he has broken up the earth with a strong shear, and by the action of the plough has reduced the stubborn soil, but further endeavours to cleanse the ground of unfruitful weeds, to clear it of injurious rubbish and to pluck up by the root the spreading shoots of thorns and brambles, fully persuaded that his land will never produce a good crop unless it be reclaimed from mischevious plants, applying to himself the words of the prophet, ‘Break up your fallow ground and sow not upon thorns,’ how much more does it behove us, who believe the hope of our fruits to be laid up, not on earth but in heaven, to cleanse from vicious passions the field of our heart, and not suppose that we have done enough when we subdue the ground of our bodies by the labour of fasting and of watching, unless we primarily study to correct our vices and reform our morals.”

The Rule of Comgall is lost but we may be sure that it was little different from the still extant Rule of Columbanus.

To be continued

© Pretani Associates 2014 

The monastic settlement itself and its Rule were very similar to the Community of Righteousness in Palestine and consisted of a large number of huts made of wattles which were like stakes with clay and mortar. These huts were situated around the church or oratory with its refectory, school, scriptorium and hospice. The whole establishment was surrounded by a vallum which consisted of a rampart and ditch.

Life at Bangor was very serve. The food was sparse and even milk was considered an indulgence. Only one meal per day was allowed and that not until evening. Confession was held in public before the whole community and severe acts of penance were observed. There was silence at meal times and at other times conversation was restricted to the minimum. Comgall himself was extremely pious and austere and it is said that he rose in the middle of the night to recite psalms and say his prayers while immersed in the nearby steam.

The strength of the community lay in its form of worship. The choral services were based on the antiphonal singing from Gaul, introduced into the West by Ambrose of Milan in the fourth century. Bangor became famous for this type of choral psalmody and it spread from there throughout Europe. The glory of Bangor was the celebration of a perfected and refined Laus Perennis and in singing this the Cruthin of Bangor entered into a convenant of mutual love and service in the Church of Jesus Christ. Because of the 3,000 students and monks in Bangor and its daughter churches, it was possible to have a continuous chorus of the Divine Praise sung by large choirs which were divided into groups, each of which took regular duty and sang with a refinement not possible when St. Martin was organising the raw recruits of Gaul.

The Cursus Psalmorum in the Divine Office may be exhibited conveniently in tabular form as follows:

Name of Office : Hour : No. of Psalms
1. Ad Secundam Prime 6 am 3
2. Ad Tertiam Terce 9 am 3
3. Ad Sextam Sext Noon 3
4. Ad Nonam None 3 pm 3
5. Ad Vespertinam Vespers 6 pm 12
6. Ad initium Noctis 1st Nocturn 9 pm 12
7. Ad medium Noctis 2nd Nocturn Midnight 12
8. Ad Matutinam 3rd Nocturn with Lauds or Matins 3 am 24 or 36 (Mon, – Fri.) 36 to 75 (Sat., Sun.)

This shows that the Bangor Rule drew a distinction between Saturday and Sunday nights and the other five nights of the week. On each of these two nights from 1 November to 25 March 75 psalms were sung, Ad Matutinam, with 25 anthems, each anthem being said after three psalms, so that the whole psalter was recited every week during those two nights. From 25 March to 24 June the number of psalms was diminished weekly by one anthem and three psalms, so that on mid-summer day there remained about 12 anthems and 36 psalms. Then, as the nights drew longer, each week brought an additional anthem with three additional psalms so that by 1 November the total was reached again of 25 anthems and 75 psalms. This was the rule for Saturdays and Sundays. The rule for the other five nights seemed to be as follows: it was laid down that 24 or 36 psalms were to be said Ad Matutinam. The full number was 36 but in the shorter summer nights only 24 psalms were to be recited.

This arrangement of the Cursus Psalmorum in the Church in Ireland was unique and interesting, pointing again to an Eastern origin. The psalms were assigned to each of the day hours which were to be followed by a number of devotions in the form of versicles including collects (i) for our sins; (ii) for all Christian people; (iii) for persons consecrated to God in the grades of the ministry; (iv) for those who give alms; (v) for our enemies. This whole arrangement would have been difficult to carry out under any circumstances and in any place. If practicable in the warm nights of southern Gaul it must have been almost intolerable in the chilly nights in Ireland.

To be continued

© Pretani Associates 2014

Round Tower and Church at Nendrum Monastic Site, 2008

 

Among Patrick’s first converts were Bronagh, daughter of Milchu, and her son Mochaoi (Mahee), whose birthname was Caolàn. St Mochaoi was to found the great monastery of Nendrum on Mahee Island in Loch Cuan (Strangford Lough), and is associated with the saint in the legends which grew around Patrick’s name. These legends firmly place Down as the cradle of Christianity in Ireland. Patrick himself is said to have founded Armagh around 444, and the selection of a site so close to Emain Macha would strongly suggest that the Ulster capital was still the most powerful over-kingdom in Ireland at that time. Furthermore, dendrochronology has dated a tide milll on Mahee island to the year 619, making this one of the oldest excavated tide mills anywhere in the world. The monastery came to an end at some time between 974 and 1178, but its church served a parish until the site was abandoned in the 15th century. Some remains of the monastery can still be seen.

But of all the stories told in the old books of Ireland the most strangely beautiful is that of the Bird of Heaven… Now the story of the Bird of Heaven is this: Mahee was the first man to whom Patrick gave a gospel. And so it was that the grandson of Milchu gathered around him young men to build a church of wood in the manner of the people of Ulster. And as he was about to rest after cutting his portion of timber, “He heard a bright bird singing on the blackthorn near him.” This bird was more beautiful than all the birds of the world and Mahee, greatly moved by its song, listened enthralled. “And the bird said “Surely this is diligent work, O Holy man’ “.The young man was astonished to hear the bird of such wonderful song speak to him in human words and he said, “Who can thus address me?” And the bird immediately replied, “A man of the people of my Lord,” which is to say, an Angel of God from Heaven. “All hail to Thee,” said Mahee with awe, “and wherefore hast thou come hither?” “I am here by command to address thee from my Lord, that I may encourage thee in thy good work, but also because of the love in my heart for thy Lord Jesus to amuse thee for a time with my sweet singing.” “I am glad of that,” said the young man.

Then suddenly the bird took his beak from his wing and Mahee heard no more his perpetual praise. So the Angel bade him farewell. When the bird was gone Mahee lifted his timbers and made for home as in a dream. And in amazement he looked at that place he head that long left; for there he found a church already built. And a man strange to him passed and told him that this was the church of St Mahee. Then Mahee spoke to the children of God within, but they knew him not, “Tell us your name and lineage,” they inquired, and he said to them, “I am Mahee, son of Bronagh, daughter of Milchu the King.” And he told them his tale and they all knew him and knelt to him. And they made a shrine of the wood, and afterwards built a great church at that place. “And surpassingly white Angels often alighted there, or sang hymns to it from the branches of the forest trees, or leaned with their foot on tiptoe, their eyes on the horizon, their ear to the ground, their wings flapping, their bodies trembling, waiting to send tidings of prayer and repentance with a beat of their wings to the King of the Everlasting.”

It is written that twice was Mahee Abbot of Nendrum. And that little island in Strangford Lough, anciently known as Nendrum and which lies seven miles south-east of the village of Comber and 16 miles from Belfast, is now called Mahee Island and is surely a holy place. There were many who thought that Mahee was dead when he was seen no more by his fellow monks in the forest of Nendrum in Ulster. But at first it was written:

“A sleep without decay of the body,
Mahee of Nendrum slept;
Of the people of the congregation where the Sage was
He did not find the great-great-grandchildren.
Three melodies of delightful music
The angel, in the shape of a bird, sang,
In the middle of a wood, at the foot of a tree,
Fifty years each melody lasted.”

It may only be a story that the song of the Angel of God was sung to Mahee, and that there were two persons of that name, but the truth is that there arose at that place a great monastery of Nendrum. Here was educated Colman who was of the same people of Mahee, the Cruthin of Ulster. Colman was to found the great school of Dromore, but first at Nendrum itself he helped to educate Finnian or Uinnian, British Uinniau (495-589 AD) who travelled first to Candida Casa and then to Rome, whence he returned to his native land with the first complete copy of St Jerome’s Vulgate version of the Bible. He also founded at Movilla, outside Newtownards in County Down, another great school, the most famous of pupil of which was St Columba, the Light of the Celtic West. Finnian is said to have been of the Dal Fiatach, and thus could be described as Irish, British or both. But one of those who helped Columba in his mission among the Picts or Cruthin of Alba (modern Scotland) was a man, definitely of the Ulster Cruthin, the Ancient British Pretani, whose name was Comgall.

Discontent among the Jews in Palestine had continued unabated in the Dispersion and there was again serious rebellion in the reign of the Emperor Trajan during the period 115 to 118 AD. It is certain that the idea of two Messiahs continued among sections of the Jewish people until at least the second Jewish Revolt against the Romans in 132 to 135 AD under the Emperor Hadrian for coins at the time speak of El’ Azar the High Priest riding side-by-side with Bar Kochba, the Prince of Israel.

During these troubled times there lived in Alexandria one of the greatest of ancient scientists, who was at once an astronomer, mathematician and geographer. He was a native of Egypt called Claudius Ptolemaeus but today is known simply as Ptolemy. The account which Ptolemy gave of Ireland is the oldest known documentary evidence that exists of this island. Ireland and Britain were collectively known to Ancient Greek scholars as the Isles of the Pretani and from this word is developed both the Gaelic word “Cruthin” and the ancient Welsh word “Briton” for the inhabitants of these islands. Ptolemy was the first to record the name “Uluti” (Ulster) and he describes also such Cruthinic tribes as the Caledonians, to whom the Romans were to give the name “Picts”, in that region of Britain now known as Scotland.

It is known from Tertullian that there were Christians living in parts of the British Isles not reached by the Romans in the second century AD but it is equally certain that there were Christians living in Roman Britain itself at this time. Some of these may have been refugees from the southern part of Roman Gaul which is today known as France, where it is known that there was a colony at Lyons under a Bishop Pothinus. In the year 177 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, this colony was attacked and its bishop imprisoned. Before ministering to the Christians of Lyon the presbyter Irenaeus had studied in Asia Minor under Polycarp, who was Bishop of Smyrna and a pupil in his youth of the Apostle John.

To be continued

© Pretani Associates 2014