Died c. 610. A disciple of
St. Comgall (f.d. May 10)
of Bangor, County
Down, and his second successor as abbot of that monastery
(
Benedictines).
A site with a brief history of Bangor Abbey and a timeline of its Abbots
up to 1170:
http://web.archive.org/web/20030215020700/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/martin_sloan/abbey.htm
or
http://tinyurl.com/2vh4s
Troparion of St Sillan
Tone 7
Under thy God-pleasing rule, O Father Sillan,
Bangor's monastery became a power-house of the true Faith.
As thou wast a bright beacon,
guiding men on their journey to God,
we beseech thee to be also a beacon for us,
bringing us safely into the way of salvation.
Kontakion of St Sillan
Tone 2
Righteous Father Sillan, Road to our Saviour,
Crown of Bangor's saints and joy of all monastics,
we keep festival in thy honour, ever blessing thy name
and imploring thy prayers for us sinners.
The Irish Monastery of Bangor was situated in the County Down, on the
southern shore of Belfast Lough. Its founder is
Saint Comgall (Feastday 10 May, sometimes 11 May).
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.
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 Saint Columbanus and Saint 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. Comgall and St Sillian.