In 1979 I published in Bangor my book on Bangor, where I was born and went to school. I entitled it “Bangor, Light of the World” because of the reference in the Hymn to St Patrick in the Seventh Century Bangor Antiphonary, which was itself derived from a saying by Jesus, which I heard during my visit to Lourdes as doctor to a group of disabled children from the Falls Road. I republished the book in 1987 with a foreword by my friend Tomas Cardinal O’Fiaich, which he wrote on St Patrick’s Day that year. He put the book in the Vatican Library.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its savour wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot. You are the Light of the World. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither is a candle lit and put under a bushel, but on a candlestick,and it gives light to everyone in the house. Let your light so shine that your good works may be seen and so glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

– Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew Chapter 4, verses 13-16)

“A great Light illuminating the World has been kindled, raised on a candlestick, shining over the whole earth, a royal city well fortified and set on a hill, in which there is a great population who belong to God.”

– Hymn to St. Patrick
From the seventh century Bangor Antiphonary

I was reminded of the reference in the beautiful hymn we sang at the Service of Thanksgiving for the life of my friend since childhood, Gladys Harvey nee Kearney (1949-2013), held in Conlig Presbyterian Church on Saturday 9th March 2013.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the World by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave he rose again!

As it is St Patrick’s Day and we are approaching Easter I will start putting the book on my blog soon, in memory of Gladys and her husband the late Robin Harvey, also my childhood friend. It is out-of-print and very dear to buy on the internet. It was another of my books the Irish Academic Establishment wished to be burned as it mentioned the Cruthin, so I doubt if, like the Ulster People, I will publish it again. It is enough that we record that they wanted to burn it…But more of that in The Cruthin Controversy, which I will give you after this book.