COMMA
COMMANDMENTS of monastic life. He intended to go to Britain, but was dissuaded from this step by Lugidius, tlic bishop who ordained him, at whose advice he remained in Ire- land and set himself to spread the monastic life throughout the country. The most famous of the many monasteries said to have been fountlcd l)y St. I 'oragall is Bangor, situated in the present County 1 lown. on the southern shore of Belfast Lough and di- netly opi^osite to Carrickfergus. According to the Irish annals Bangor was founded not later than .'),'>2, thciiigh Usslier and most of the later writers on the subject assign the foundation to the year 555. Ac- cording to Adamnan's "Life of Columba", there was a very close connexion between Comgall and Columba, though there does not appear to be sufficient author- ity for stating that Comgall was the disciple of Col- umba in any strict sense. He is also said to have been the friend of St. Brendan, St. Cormac, St. Cainnech, and Finbarr of Moville. After intense suffering he icceived the i'ucharist from St. Fiacra and expired in the monastery at Bangor. Comgall belonged to what is known as the Second ( »rder of Irish Saints. These flourished in the Irish Church during the sixth century. They were for the most part educated in Britain, or received their train- ing from those who had grown up under the influence of the British scnools. They were the founders of the ureat Irish monastic schools, and contributed much to the spread of monasticism in the Irish Church. It is in interesting question how far Comgall, or men like liim, had advanced in their establishments at Bangor and elsewhere in introducing the last stages of monas- I icism then developed on the Continent by St. Bene- dict. In other words, did St. Comgall give his monks at Bangor a strict monastic rule resembling the Rule I >f St. Benedict? There has come down to us a Rule of St. Comgall in Irish, but the evidence would not war- rant us in saying that as it stands at present it could be attributed to him. The fact, however, that Col- umbanus, a disciple of Comgall and himself a monk of Bangor, drew up for his Continental monasteries a "Regula Monachorum" would lead us to believe that there had been a similar organization in Bangor in his time. This, however, is not conclusive, since Colum- banus might have derived inspiration from the Bene- dictine Rule then widely spread over South-Western Europe. St. Comgall is mentioned in the " Life of Columbanus" by Jonas, as the superior of Bangor, under whom St. Columbanus had studied. He is also mentioned under 10 May, his feast-day in the "Felire" of Oengus the Culdee published by Whitley Stokes for the Henry Bradshaw Society (2nd ed.), and his name is commemorated in the Stowe Missal (MacCarthy), and in the Martyrology of Tallaght. Two lives of St. Comgall are published in the Ada SS., 10 May; Ada Sandorum O. S. Benedidi, H; MS. live.s of the saint are found in the Bodleian Library, Rawlinson, B. 505, 485, and in the British Museum, Harley 6576; Oengus the Culdee, ed. Stokes, for the Henry Bradshaw Society (London, 1905): UssHER, Anliquitates Ecelesiar. Briit. (Dublin, 1635); O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints (Dublin), 10 May. James MacCaffrey. Comma Johanneum. See Three Witne.sses. Commandments of God, called also simply The CoMMANDMF.NTs, or I )f.cai.ogue (Gr. 5^K0, ten, and X(57os, a word), the Ten Words or Sayings, the latter name generally applieil by the Greek Fathers; ten pre- cepts bearing on the fundamental obligations of re- ligion and morality and embodying the revealed ex- pression of the Creator's will in relation to man's whole duty to God and to his fellow-creatures. They are found twice recorded in the Pentateuch, in Ex., xx and Dent., V, but are given in an abridged form in the cate- chiams. Written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, this Divine code was received from the Almightj' by Moses amid the thunders of Mount Sinai, and by him made the ground-work of the Mosaic Law. Christ resumed these Commandments in the double precept of charity — love of God and of the neighbour ; He [iro- clainie<l them as binding under the New Law in Matt., i an.l in Ihc Sermon on the Mount (Matt., v). He al M ini|.lili.J or interpreted them, e. g. by declaring uiiih 1 1 ,,-,ai y oalhs equally unlawful with false, by con- denuung halrrd and calumny as well as murder, by enjoining even love of enemies, and by condemning in- dulgence of evil desires as fraught with the same mal- ice as adultery (Matt., v). The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventhday of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy a.s the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Chris- tians. There is no numerical division of the Command- ments in the Books of Moses, but the injunctions are distinctly tenfold, and are found almost identical in both sources. The order, too, is the same, except for the final prohibitions pronounced against concupis- cence, that of Deuteronomy being adopted in prefer- ence to Exodus. A confusion, however, exists in the numbering, which is due to a difference of opinion con- cerning the initial precept on Divine worship. The system of numeration found in Catholic Bibles is based on the Hebrew text, was made by St. Augustine (fifth century) in his book of "Questions on Exodus" ("Quajstioniun in Heptateuchum libri VII", Bk. II, Question Ixxi), and was adopted by the Coimcil of Trent. It is followed also by the German Lutherans, except those of the school of Bucer. This arrange- ment makes the First Commandment relate to false worship and to the worship of false gods as to a single subject and a single class of sins to be guarded against — the reference to idols being regarded as a mere ap- plication of the precept to adore but one God and the prohibition as directed against the particular offence of idolatry alone. According to this manner of reck- oning, the injunction forbidding the use of the Lord's Name in vain comes second in order; and the decimal number is safeguarded by making a division of the final precept on concupiscence — the Ninth pointing to sins of the flesh and the Tenth to desires for the unlawful possession of goods. Another division has been adopted by the English and Helvetian Protestant Churches on the authority of Philo Judsus, Josephus Origcn, and others, whereby two Commandments are made to cover the matter of worship, and tluis the numbering of the rest is advanced one higher; and the Tenth embraces both the Ninth and Tenth of the Catholic division. It seems, however, as logical to separate at the end as to group at the beginning, for, while one single object is aimed at under worship, two specifically different sins are forbidden under covet- ousness; if adultery and theft belong to two distinct species of moral wrong, the same must be said of the desire to commit these evils. The Supreme Law-Giver begins by proclaiming His Name and His Titles to the obedience of the creature man: "I am the Lord, thy C!od. . . ." The laws which follow have regard to God and His representa- tives on earth (first four) and to our fellow-man (last six). Being the one true God, He alone is to be adored, and all rendering to creatures of the worship which belongs to Him falls under the ban of His dis- pleasure; the making of "graven things" is con- demned : not all pictures, images, and works of art, but such as are intended to be adored and served (First). .Associated with God in the minds of men and repre- senting Ilim, is His Holy Name, which by the .Second Commandment is declared worthy of all veneration and respect and its profanation reprobated. And He claims one day out of the seven as a memorial to Him- self, and this must be kept holy (Third). Finally, parents being the natural proviilence of their offspring, invested with authority for their guidance and correc-
