BANGOR, ABBEYS OF

Three former Celtic abbeys of this name.

Bangor Fawr yn Arfon, on the eastern side of Menai Straits, Caernarvonshire, Wales, was founded by St. Deiniol in the 6th century and became the seat of the ancient See of Bangor.

Bangor-ys-coed, in Powys, Wales, on the river Dee, some 12 miles south of Chester, England, is noted for its abbot Dunot (Donatus), who was one of the seven native British bishops who met augustine of canterbury in the second conference held between the Christian Britons and the missionaries from Rome. The meeting was a failure, and bede (Hist. eccl. 2.2) relates that the monks of Bangor were massacred by the Saxons under King Ethelfrid of Northumbria, in what was for the Britons the disastrous Battle of Chester (616). The number of monks slain is given at 1,200, which indicates a monastery of exceptional size and importance. However, it had a far more modest status in the succeeding centuries.

Bangor in the Ards of Ulster, County Down, Ireland, was founded c. 555 by St. comgall, who received his religious formation from St. Fintan of Clonenagh in Leix. The observance in Clonenagh was noted for its severity, and it was this exceptionally hard rule that, through Bangor and luxeuil, became the Irish rule known on the Continent of Europe. It was Comgall who helped (St.) co lumba of iona convert the Picts of Scotland and then sent (St.) Columban with 12 companions to help restore religious life in Merovingian Gaul. The writings of Columban and the liturgical manuscript known as the Antiphonary of Bangor (compiled 680–691), now in the Ambrosian Library, Milan, bear witness to the excellence of the monastic school. The Antiphonary contains Sancti venite, Christi corpus sumite, said to be the oldest Eucharistic hymn in existence. Comgall's vita claims that the Bangor community numbered 3,000, a statement repeated by bernard of clairvaux in his life of St. malachy of Armagh (d. 1148). Bangor suffered severely at the hands of the Vikings; Malachy's revival met with only limited success. Later, Franciscans and Augustians occupied the buildings. Only ruins remain.

Bibliography: The Antiphonary, ed. f. e. warren, 2 v. (Henry Bradshaw Society 4; 1893–95). The Annals of Ulster, ed. and tr. w. m. hennessey and b. maccarthy, 4 v. (Dublin 1887–1901). r. graham, Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques, ed. a. baudrillart et al. (Paris 1912–) 6:502. f. o'briain, ibid. 6:497–502.

[j. ryan]