ON ST. COMGANUS, ABBOT OF GLENUSK IN IRELAND.
BEFORE THE YEAR 569.
Commentary.
Comganus, Abbot of Glenusk in Ireland (St.)
Author I. B.
[1] Two Irish Martyrologies, of which we have obtained copies through the kindness of the Rev. Father John Colgan -- one the Martyrology of Marianus Gorman, Abbot of Lughmadh, the other the Tamlacht Martyrology -- present on the 27th of February the memorial of St. Comganus of Gleann-ussen, or Glenusk. The same Colgan cites other Calendars in which the name of this St. Comganus is inscribed: he also mentions two other Saints of the same name, of whom one is venerated on the 2nd of August and the other on the 13th of October. He notes that he is also called Comdanus, or in Irish Comdhan; because the letters g and d, with the aspiration h added, produce the same sound in the Irish language, as he says. He writes that the monastery of Glenusk was formerly very famous, on the borders of western Leinster.
[2] Some maintain that this St. Comganus was born of a sister of St. Columba, Abbot of Iona: which Colgan refutes, chiefly by the argument that since St. Comganus died as an old man, and yet St. Ita the Virgin, or Ida, was present at his deathbed -- and she herself is said to have died in the year of Christ 569, when St. Columba was only 46 years old -- it would seem hardly credible that his sister's son had already been advanced in age. To us, however, it is not clear that St. Comganus died at an advanced age, nor does Colgan produce any acts of his, except the single episode which, in chapter 3, number 11, of the Life of St. Ita, which we published on the 15th of January, is narrated as follows:
[3] The holy Abbot Comganus, knowing that the time of his reward was approaching, asked St. Ita to come to him, and Comganus said to her: "Behold, I shall soon die of this illness; and I ask you in the name of Christ to place your hands upon my lips and close my mouth at the hour of my falling asleep. For I know from an Angel of God that upon whomever dying you shall lay your hands, the Angels of the Lord will immediately lead his soul into the kingdom." The holy Virgin said to him: "O holy Father, what are you saying? It behooves a sinful man to speak such words. Great is your reward with God, and you will be glorious among the Saints of God. What need have you of me?" St. Comganus said: "Truly I say, because of what I have asked, no demon will dare to approach our path or accuse us in any way." Meanwhile the holy man Comganus departed from this world amid the choirs of the holy Angels, and St. Ita accomplished what he had asked.