St. Comgall
A.D. 601
Feast Day 10

Like Ambrose with Augustine, Comgalls heritage is gained through his spiritual sons. Comgall was born in Ulster around 516 and served as a soldier before enlisting with Christ. He studied at both  Clonfort and Clonmacnois and the dates of his life are such as to make it possible that he studied under their founders, St. Brendan and St. Cieran. He was however, a disciple of St. Fintan of Cluain-Edrech, a saint known for  matching a personal severity in discipline with a sense of charity for those of his monks who could not follow his strict way of life.

 Comgall prepared for his later career by spending several years as a hermit by Lough Erne in the western part of Ireland. Eventually he established the monastic community of Bangor on Irelands  east coast near modern Belfast. The community at Bangor reflected the strict asceticism that Comgall had learned from Fintan. One daily meal was taken by the monks, during the evening. Balancing the harsh regimen was a strong  emphasis on the nourishment received by the relationship with ones soul friend. One of the stories of Comgall that comes to us regards the distress and confusion caused by the death of Comgalls soul friend and the remarkable  way in which he found another.*

 However, Comgalls heritage is preserved as was mentioned, by some of his spiritual sons, particularly St. Columbanus and St. Gall. The travels of these two monks and their companions became an  extraordinarily successful missionary journey through France, Switzerland and modern Italy. St. Columbanus last foundation before his death was the community at Bobbio in Italy. Though the community embraced the Benedictine  tradition shortly after Columbanus death, the Celtic values and understanding of our kinship with creation remained there and may have been an influence on the spiritual development of a latter resident of northern Italy,  Giovanni Bernardone, better known to us as Francis of Assisi.

 Part of the Rule of St. Comgall comes down to us in verse, as this portion quoted by Esther de Waal in Every Earthly Blessing:

  Preserve the rule of the Lord;
  in this way you will run no risk;
  Try not to transgress it
  as long as your life lasts.

  This is the most important part of the rule;
  love Christ; hate wealth;
  Devotion to the king of the sun
  and kindness to people.

 Though Comgalls community at Bangor was in ruins by the 12th century, his life left us not only the work of his sons, but the oldest surviving Celtic liturgical book, the Antiphonary of Bangor.

*Most of the material on St. Comgall was taken from Shirley Toulsons book, The Celtic Year (Element Press). The story of St. Comgalls soul friend is found on page 146.