SAINT GALL - Gallus (or Gall) was
born in the year 550, just eight years before Saint Comgall founded his famous
monastery at Bangor. Little is known of the boyhood of Gall except that it is
generally thought that he showed great piety and interest in the Christian
faith. As a young man he went to study under Comgall of Bangor. And here it
should be noted that the monastery at Bangor had become renowned throughout
Europe as a great centre of Christian learning. Because of the great learning
at Bangor, Ireland became known as "the land of Saints and Scholars".
Missionaries went out from Bangor Abbey to all parts of Ireland, the British
Isles, and the Continent.
Studying in Bangor at the same
time as Gall was Columbanus, to whose honour the parish church in Ballyholme on
the other side of Bangor is dedicated. We might say that Columbanus had become
a sort of right hand man of Saint Comgall, and that he felt a great call to
missionary adventure. And so he laid before the Abbott Comgall his request to
be set free for this work.
Comgall was loath to part with
one who had become so great a help and comfort to him; but realising that he
had no right to consider only his own convenience, he gave his consent, and
Columbanus together with twelve companions, the most noted of whom was probably
Gall, set out about the year 589, bidding a life-long farewell to home and
friends in order to face unknown difficulties and dangers in the extension of
God’s Kingdom on the Continent.
Columbanus, Gall and their
companions settled for a while in Switzerland at Lake Constance. After a while
Columbanus felt an urge to go into Italy, but Gall was taken sick of a fever,
and couldn’t go with him, apart from the fact that he was more anxious for a
life of solitude.
Recovering from his illness, Gall
fixed upon a quiet place on the River Steinach for his life of solitude. Having
begun with a three day fast there, he erected a small stone hut or cell for
prayer, an oratory after the manner usual in Ireland. And so began the abbey
and the town of Saint Gall. Cells were soon added for twelve monks whom Gall
carefully instructed.
Saint Gall was soon known in
Switzerland as a powerful preacher. He is said to have thrown down images to
heathen gods, and exhorted the worshippers of these images to return to the
true God. As a result of Gall’s work, practically the whole of Switzerland is thought
to have embraced the Christian faith.
When the See of Constance became
vacant, the clergy who assembled to elect a new Bishop were unanimously in
favour of Saint Gall on account of his superior learning and sanctity. He,
however, refused, pleading that the election of a stranger would be contrary to
Church law, but proposed his deacon John, who was duly elected and consecrated
Bishop.
Sometime later, in the year 625,
on the death of Eustasius, who was abbott of Luxeuil, a monastery founded by
Saint Columbanus, six members of that community, all Irishmen, were sent by the
monks to request Saint Gall to undertake the government of the monastery. He
definitely refused to quit his life of solitude, and undertake any office of
rank which might involve him in the cares of the world. He was then an old man,
and probably felt himself unable to cope with the duties of high office.
The Legend of Saint Gall
A legend about Saint Gall in his
solitary life has become well known. The story tells how a bear became St. Gall’s
sole friend in the closing years of his life, and that the bear used to carry
logs to the saint so that he could light his fire. The bear has now become the
coat of arms for the town of St. Gallen in Switzerland, and the bear carrying
the logs is depicted on the wall of the great Cathedral there, as it is in the
parish church at Carnalea .
Saint Gall died on 16th October
in the year 645, at the age of 95, and that date – 16th October – is now
honoured in Carnalea parish each year as Saint Gall’s Day.
An assiduous preacher of the
Gospel, a skilful trainer of people in the work of evangelisation, and a man of
remarkable holiness of his life, Saint Gall left an abiding mark on the country
in which he worked. His memory has long been revered in the locality of his
labours he became known and honoured as the Apostle of Switzerland.
Troparion of the
Saint, in Tone 8
As a companion of the
Great Columban
thou didst travel
throughout the lands of the Franks, o father Gall,
thy ascetic life
contrasting with that of the worldly prelates whom thou didst encounter.
Open to us, we pray
thee, the treasures of sacrifice and struggle,
that we too may
attain the joy of eternal salvation[1]
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