Bangor Abbey

Mainistir Bheannchair
Model of Bangor Abbey in AD 688
Monastery information
Other names	Bennchor; Vallis Angelorum; White Choir
Order	Celtic monasticism Augustinian Canons Regular
Denomination	Catholic
Established	AD 552–559
Disestablished	1539
Reestablished	c. 1123–24
Mother house	Armagh Abbey (as an Augustinian monastery)
Diocese	Down
People
Founder	Comgall
Architecture
Functional status	Buildings incorporated into Church of Ireland church
Heritage designation	Grade B+ listed building
Style	Celtic monastic
Site
Location	Bangor, County Down
Country	Northern Ireland
Coordinates	54°39′22″N 5°40′30″W / 54.656°N 5.675°W
Public access	yes
Website	bangorabbey.org

Bangor Abbey was established by Saint Comgall in 558 in Bangor, County Down, Ireland and was famous for its learning and austere rule. It is not to be confused with the slightly older abbey in Wales on the site of Bangor Cathedral.

History

Foundation

Comgall founded the monastery at Bangor about 558 A.D. in County Down, on the southern shore of Belfast Lough. The ancient Annals differ about the exact year, giving various dates between 552 and 559. The earliest, the Annals of Tighernach, and the Annals of Innisfallen, give 558 A.D. as the date of the foundation. The name was sometimes written "Beannchor." The place was also called the "Vale of Angels," because, according to a popular legend, St Patrick once rested there and saw the valley filled with angels.

Comgall was born in Antrim in 517, and educated at Clooneenagh and Clonmacnoise. The spirit of monasticism was then strong in Ireland. Many sought solitude to better serve God, and with this object Comgall retired to a lonely island. The persuasions of his friends drew him from his retreat; later on he founded the monastery of Bangor.

Under his rule, which was rigid, prayer and fasting were incessant. Food was scant and plain. Worship held the foremost place in the life of the community. It is clear that music was a prominent feature of the worship of the Bangor monks. Crowds came to share his penances and his vigils; they also came for learning.

School

Bangor Abbey is regarded as one of the most important of the early Irish monastic sites, second only to Armagh. Within the extensive rampart which encircled its monastic buildings, students studied scripture, theology, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, and the classics. Mo Sinu moccu Min was the fifth abbot of Bangor. It is thought that he tutored Columbanus. Robin Flower wrote that "It is clear that particular attention was paid to historical studies at Bangor, and the earliest Irish chronicle was probably a production of that house."

Bangor was a major centre of learning—called the "Light of the World"—and trained many missionaries. Carthach of Lismore studied at Bangor, as did Fintan of Doon. Saint Mirin was a prior at Bangor before leaving to found Paisley Abbey in Renfrewshire. Columbanus and Gall went off to Continental Europe in 590 AD and founded the famous monasteries of Luxeuil Abbey (France), St Gallen (Switzerland) and Bobbio (Italy).

Decline

Like many early Irish monasteries, Bangor was destroyed and rebuilt on a number of occasions. The Annals of Ulster record that Bangor was burned in 616 and again in 755. No doubt at this period the buildings were constructed of wood. Easily accessible from the sea, Bangor invited attack, and between 822 and 824 the Norsemen plundered it. The Annals of Ulster and the Four Masters both record that during this raid, “learned men and bishops” were smitten, while the shrine containing the relics of Comgall was taken. Another probable victim of the Vikings was “Tanaidhe MacUidhir, coarb of Bennchor, who was killed in 958. There is a consensus that the importance of Bangor declined around the latter part of the 10th century.

When St Malachy, in 1121, became Abbot of Bangor he had to build everything anew. However, three years later he was promoted to the See of Down, and Bangor again decayed. By the Statutes of Kilkenny the "mere Irishmen" were excluded from making profession there.

In 1469, the Franciscans had possession of it, and a century later the Augustinians, after which, at the dissolution of the monasteries in that part of Ireland, it was given by James I to Sir James Hamilton who repaired the church in 1617 and was buried in it when he died in 1644. It appears that stone from the abbey was used in the construction of the new church. All that remains of the Abbey ruins is St Malachy's Wall.

The present tower of the church dates back to the 14th century. A mural in the church is of Christ ascending to heaven with Saints Comgall, Gall and Columbanus at his feet.

Antiphonary of Bangor

The Antiphonary of Bangor was probably written by the monks of Bangor Abbey between 602 and 691. It was housed at Bobbio in Italy for over 1000 years. The manuscript, which contains a collection of Latin hymns, prayers and antiphons is one of the earliest surviving dateable monastic manuscripts from Ireland and has been described as one of the most precious surviving witnesses to the early Irish church. The manuscript provides an important insight into monastic life in Ireland and is also testament to the artistic and literary standard of the work attributed to the monks of Bangor in the 7th century.

Nothing now remains of the original buildings of Comgall's monastery. In the Private Chapel at Clandeboye, however, may be seen, built into the wall, the shaft of a Cross, which was found in the Abbey precincts. This is a fragment of a Celtic High Cross, which may have stood on "the Cross Hill" adjacent to Bangor Castle, and which is indicated on a 17th-century map. This fragment probably dates from about the 8th century.

See also

• Abbeys and priories in Northern Ireland (County Down)

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Bangor Abbey — The name of two famous monastic establishments in Ireland and England.

(1) The Irish Abbey of Bangor was situated in the County Down, on the southern shore of Belfast Lough. Sometimes the name was written "Beannchor", from the Irish word beann, a horn. According to Keating, a king of Leinster once had cattle killed there, the horns being scattered round, hence the name. The place was also called the Vale of Angels, because, says Jocelin, St. Patrick once rested there and saw the valley filled with angels. The founder of the abbey was St. Comgall, born in Antrim in 517, and educated at Clooneenagh and Clonmacnoise. The spirit of monasticism was then strong in Ireland. Many sought solitude the better to serve God, and with this object Comgall retired to a lonely island. The persuasions of his friends drew him from his retreat; later on he founded the monastery of Bangor, in 559. Under his rule, which was rigid, prayer and fasting were incessant. But these austerities attracted rather than repelled; crowds came to share his penances and his vigils; they also came for learning, for Bangor soon became the greatest monastic school in Ulster. Within the extensive rampart which encircled its monastic buildings, the Scriptures were expounded, theology and logic taught, and geometry, and arithmetic, and music; the beauties of the pagan classics were appreciated, and two at least of its students wrote good Latin verse. Such was its rapid rise that its pupils soon went forth to found new monasteries, and when, in 601, St. Comgall died, 3,000 monks looked up for light and guidance to the Abbot of Bangor.

With the Danes came a disastrous change. Easily accessible from the sea, Bangor invited attack, and in 824 these pirates plundered it, killed 900 of its monks, treated with indignity the relics of St. Comgall, and then carried away his shrine. A succession of abbots continued, but they were abbots only in name. The lands passed into the hands of laymen, the buildings crumbled, and when St. Malachy, in the twelfth century, became Abbot of Bangor he had to build everything anew. The impress of his zeal might have had lasting results had he continued in this position. But he was promoted to the See of Down, and Bangor again decayed. By the Statute of Kilkenny the "mere Irish" were excluded from it, though it did not prosper thereby. In 1469, the Franciscans had possession of it, and a century later the Augustinians, after which, at the dissolution of the monasteries in that part of Ireland, it was given by James I to James Hamilton, created Viscount Clandeboye. An irregular succession of Catholic abbots was still kept up, the last being Abbot MacCormack, who lived in France, but, returning to Ireland during the Reign of Terror, found a refuge at Maynooth College and died there in the early years of the nineteenth century.

Among the Abbots of Bangor few acquired fame, but many of the students did. Findchua has his life written in the Book of Lismore; Luanus founded 100 monasteries and St. Carthage founded the great School of Lismore. From Bangor Columbanus and Gall crossed the sea, the former to found Luxeuil and Bobbio, the latter to evangelize Switzerland. In the ninth century a Bangor student, Dungal, defended orthodoxy against the Western iconoclasts. The present town of Bangor is a thriving little place, popular as a seaside resort. Local tradition has it that some ruined walls near the Protestant church mark the site of the ancient abbey; nothing else is left of the place hallowed by the prayers and penances of St. Malachy and St. Comgall.

(2) The Welsh Abbey of Bangor was situated in Flintshire, not far from Chester, and in the Middle Ages was often confounded with Bangor in Carnarvonshire, which was an episcopal see. The date of its foundation and its founder's name are equally uncertain. With great confidence and evident conviction, Montalembert declares that its founder was St. Iltud, or Iltyde. But some allowance must be made for French partiality, for Iltud was an Armoric Gaul. His life and acts are narrated in the "Lives of the Cambro-British Saints"; they have been edited by Mr. Rees; and though it is stated that he was an Armorican, and had been a soldier, and married, before he became a monk, it is not said that he was connected with Bangor. It is more probable that the abbey was founded by Dunawd, a Welshmen, whence it was often called Bangor Dunawd. And if St. Deiniol was the son of Dunawd, as it is said, this would fix the foundation of the Flintshire abbey at about the beginning sixth century, for Bangor in Carnarvonshire was founded by St. Deiniol in 514. It would also dispose of the assertion that Pelagius, the heretic, was at one time its abbot, for he died long before. It is certain that Bangor was the greatest monastic establishment in Wales, having at one time 2,000 monks. The Angles and Saxons had then conquered Britain and had treated the Britons with great severity. A remnant of these latter found refuge in Wales, where they brooded over their wrongs, and being Christians themselves, refused to preach the Gospel to their conquerors. When St. Augustine came to England, in the last years of the sixth century, he visited the Britons in Wales. Their moral condition was then bad; they clung to the old mode of celebrating Easter, and some errors of doctrine had also crept into their creed. He had a conference with delegates from Bangor, but they refused to co-operate with him in the work of converting the still unconverted English. In punishment, he predicted that, as they refused to preach the way of life to the English, they would at the hands of these same English suffer death. And this came to pass in 603 when Ethelfrid of Northumbria defeated the Britons near Chester. Hearing that the monks of Bangor were praying for his enemies, he turned aside from the battle and put 1,200 of them to death. Extensive ruins of this abbey still remained in the twelfth century, but in Ussher's time, in the seventeenth century, these ruins had all but disappeared. On the site of the abbey now stands the small town of Bangor-on-the-Dee.

WARREN, ed., The Antiphonary of Bangor (London, 1893); STOKES, Lives of the Saints from the Book of Lismore (Oxford, 1890); ARCHDALL, Monasticon Hibernicum (Dublin, 1893); O'HANLON, Life of St. Malachy (Dublin, 1859); LANIGAN, Ecclesiastical History (Dublin, 1822); USSHER, Works (Dublin, 1847); Annals of the Four Masters (Dublin, 1854); HEALY, Ancient Schools and Scholars of Ireland (Dublin, 1896); REEVE, Adamnan (Dublin, 1857); Wars of the Gael and Gall (London, 1867); REES, Lives of the Cambro-British Saints (Llandovery, 1853); LINGARD, Anglo-Saxon Church (London, 1845); BEDE, Ecclesiastical History (in Bohn's Series); William of Malmesbury (in Bohn's Series); Giraldus Cambrensis (in Bohn's Series) MONTALEMBERT, Monks of the West (New ed. London, 1898).

External links

• The Bangor Abbey website
• http://foundationsirishculture.ie/record/?id=7