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Publications | Down Survey | 2000 Issue Contents Saint
Malachy If you saw the man busy in the
midst of crowds, you would say he was born for his people, not for
himself. If you saw him alone and dwelling by himself, you would
say that he lived for God alone... How could he be taking his ease
when he was occupied in the justifications of the Lord? For though
he had time free from the necessities of the people, yet had he
none that was not occupied by holy meditations, by the work of prayer,
by the ease itself of contemplation ... His laughter displayed love
or provoked it: but even so it was rare. Sometimes indeed it came
forth but it was never forced: it made known the gladness of his
heart in such a way that his countenance did not lose in grace,
but gained thereby ... O perfect gift! O rich burnt offering! O
service pleasing in mind and hand!...Holiness becomes this house
in which the remembrance of so great holiness is celebrated. In beautiful sonorous Latin St Bernard of Clairvaux summed up the life of his friend Malachy in these snippets which are taken from his sermon preached on the first anniversary of Malachy's death, 2 November 1149. The sermon is a tremendous tribute from one of the great figures of the twelfth century. It expresses the dichotomy of Malachy, the retiring monk by inclination who bowed in obedience to take on the hectic task of reformation of the Irish Church as bishop and papal legate. Malachy was born in Armagh between November 1094 and November 1095. He was baptised Maolmhaodhog (Mael Maedoc - 'devotee of St Maedoc'). Maedoc was born in Templeport, county Cavan; he was patron of Ferns. Maedoc is a pet form of Aedh). Although his father Mughron O Morgair died when the boy was eight years of age it is natural to assume that he had already influenced him in the ways of faith and learning. Mughron was fear leinn or chief teacher of the monastic school in Armagh. He is described by the Four Masters as 'chief lector of Armagh and all the rest of Europe.' He died at Mungret, county Limerick, in 1102, an indication of the communication and interchange between monasteries in Ireland and the dissemination of culture and religion. Malachy also was later to avail of this all-Ireland exchange of ideas when, at two different periods of his life, he took up monastic residence in Munster. His mother too influenced him. She was an O Hanratty (Ua hlnnrectaigh) and a sister of the lay proprietor of Bangor. It is little wonder then that, with this family connection, Malachy later revived the once famous monastery of Bangor. One recalls its former glory under its founder St Comgall and its austere rule which Columbanus, Gall, and their companions brought to continental Europe in the sixth century. Bernard says that his mother, 'more noble in mind than in blood, took pains, in the very beginning of his ways, to show to her child the ways of life.' Malachy as a youth personally chose the tutelage of Imhar O hAodhagain, an anchorite, who was later to become abbot of the newly founded abbey of Saints Peter and Paul in Armagh. Bernard describes Imhar as 'a holy man of great austerity of life, a pitiless castigator of his body, who had a cell near the church.' This early silent contemplative life, where he imbibed the ancient traditions of monastic asceticism, Malachy combined with the care of the poor, attending especially to their burial. Other youths were attracted by his example and joined this holy company of Imhar. But another learned cleric had his eyes on Malachy, to draw him to the more active life of exercising jurisdiction, administration and reform. This was Archbishop Ceallach who ordained him priest at the early age of twenty-five - the canonical age was thirty - and appointed him vicar while he went south to Munster to make his formal cuairt or circuit as comharba Phadraig1 in 1120. Ceallach groomed Malachy to follow in his footsteps as the leading reformer in the Church in Ireland. To explain why this was so it is necessary to explain the context of Ceallach's episcopacy at the crucial period when the Celtic church moved firmly into the orbit of Rome. The whole structure of the Irish Church was altered by a series of reforming councils in Ireland in the twelfth century. What happened was part of a wide reforming movement in Europe commonly known as the Gregorian reform, after Pope Gregory VII (1088-1099), and continued by his successors into the succeeding century. The Church in Ireland moved to make social and moral changes from within. What reforms were needed in Ireland? Basically there was a great difference between Roman law and Irish or brehon law. For example, the brehon law recognised pre Christian customs and traditions, particularly in the matter of marriage and divorce. The continental reform was known to the Church
at home in Ireland through Irish kings and bishops who visited Rome
on pilgrimage. For example, Imhar O hAodhagain died on pilgrimage
in Rome. There was also a community of Irish monks in Rome at the
end of the eleventh century. Since the Church in Britain had close
links with the Hiberno-Norse, Archbishops Lanfranc (1070-89) and
Anselm (1093-1109) of Canterbury urged the new reforms in Leinster
and Munster and a reforming bishop, Maol Muire Ua Dunain, came to
the fore in Munster. Subsequently two synods, Cashel (1101) and
Rath Breasail ( 1 1 1 1 ) laid down the foundations of the present
hierarchical The reform in Munster - Leath Mogha - obviously put pressure on the northern half or Leath Choinn (Aileach, Meath, Connacht, Ulster) to follow suit. That was when Maol Muire Ua Dunain found a counterpoint in the north in Archbishop Ceallach. Ceallach belonged to Clann Sinaigh, the local family who were hereditary lay proprietors and abbots of the monastery in Armagh. They controlled the Church in Armagh. For nearly two centuries the Clann Sinaigh lay abbots had been recognised as the successors of Patrick or comharba Phddraig, as distinct from the role of the bishop, which was sacramental. Change was in the air when the courageous and learned abbot Ceallach became a priest and bishop as well. As a member of Clann Sinaigh he was accepted by the conservative church traditionalists and he was, of course, welcomed by the reformers. It only remained for him to break the hereditary form of succession. His next step was to groom a successor outside Clann Sinaigh. Malachy was his choice, and he was destined to carry the work of reform to its highest point. In two vivid passages Bernard gives us a picture of Malachy's reforming activities in the first years of his apostolate: Behold he began to root out with the hoe of his tongue, to destroy and scatter; day by day making the crooked straight and the rough places smooth ... You might call him a consuming fire, burning the thorns and briars of crime ... He extirpated barbaric rites and planted those of the Church. He abolished all out-worn superstitions (for not a few were discovered) and every sort of evil influence sent by the wicked angels, wheresoever he found it. In all churches he ordained the apostolic sanctions and the decrees of the holy fathers, and especially the customs of the holy Roman Church. Hence it is to this day that there is chanting and psalmody in them at the canonical hours after the fashion of the whole world: for there was no such thing before, not even in the city [of Armagh]. He, however, had himself learnt to sing in his youth, and soon he introduced song into his monastery while as yet no one in the city, nor in the whole diocese, either could or would sing. Then Malachy instituted anew the most wholesome usage of Confession, the sacrament of Confirmation, the contract of Marriage; all of which were either unknown to the people or neglected by them. Let these serve as an example of the rest, for here and through the whole course of our story we omit much for the sake of brevity. Malachy trained for a short time in the monastery of Lismore, county Waterford, a haven for reformers who had links with Britain and the continent. In 1124 he was appointed bishop of Connor, although it is clear from his activities that he also acted as bishop of Down. He undertook, as abbot, the rebuilding of Bangor Abbey which, since the Viking raids, had fallen into ruin. His early monastic apprenticeship under Imhar, and his training at Lismore, could now bear more fruit. In Lismore he would have learned more about Roman observances and he would have have been inspired by the direction of Maol fosa Ua hAinmire, who had resigned the archbishopric of Cashel to continue his life as a monk. Malachy, in a spirit of poverty, would only accept the actual site of the monastery from his uncle. The monastic lands passed to a a new head of the O Hanrattys, who later became an adversary, and his uncle, then comharba, became a monk under Malachy. In a short time Malachy and his monks erected the simple accommodation needed for the monastery. Their pride was their new handsome oratory, built in wood as was the Irish custom. It was probably in Bangor that he took the biblical name Malachias -'my angel'. He was still barely thirty years old. From Bangor he ruled the large territory covering the modern counties of Antrim and Down - there was then no diocese of Dromore - and part of Derry. Even if we accept Bernard's description of the 'depth of barbarism' in these dioceses with caution, conditions must have been deplorable. As in Armagh Malachy set to work with vigour visiting every corner of the diocese and, as a good monk, he prayed with fervour, often spending entire nights in vigil. 'He admonished in public, he argued in secret: he wept now with one, now with another; he accosted men, now roughly, now gently, as he saw to the expedient for each'. Bernard continues: Barbarous laws disappeared, Roman laws were introduced: everywhere ecclesiastical customs were revived and the contrary rejected: churches were rebuilt and clergy appointed to them: the sacraments were fully solemnized, and confessions were made: people came to the church, and those who were living in concubinage were united in lawful wedlock. In short all things were so changed that the word of the Lord may to-day be applied to this people: Qui ante non populus meus nunc populus meus.2 Then a disaster put an end to his apostolate. Malachy had enjoyed the support of the Mac Duinnshleibhe Kings of Ulaidh, but in 1127 the local ruler, Niall, was killed in battle and Bangor was destroyed by the Mac Lochlainn king of Cenel Eoghain, in central Ulster. Malachy fled south with a number of his disciples and took refuge at Lismore. There he won the friendship of Cormac Mac Carthaigh who had also sought refuge as a 'pilgrim' after he had been driven from his kingdom of Cashel. Cormac was urged by Malchus and Malachy to return to his kingdom which he successfully regained. He later figured as a strong supporter of Malachy and of reform in Munster. From Lismore Malachy founded a new monastery, probably at Iveragh in west Kerry. There he spent four years before returning to pastoral work as Archbishop of Armagh in 1132. Ceallach died in 1129 at Ardpatrick in Munster and was buried at Lismore. He had been back in Armagh in 1126 when on 22 October he dedicated the new stone church of the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul which Imhar and his monks had built. Ceallach had asked that Malachy should be his successor. For three years Malachy declined the office but accepted it in 1132 on the persuasion of the papal legate, Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, and Bishop Malchus of Lismore. In Armagh there was bitter opposition from Clann Sinaigh to his appointment, and opposition to his reforms. However, Bernard speaks of a period of renewal in Armagh and the northern province under Malachy. When peace was finally restored Malachy in 1137 resigned the primacy and appointed Giolla Mac Liag, abbot of Derry, as his successor. He returned to Bangor where he re-established the abbey. In the interest of peace also, and probably in debt to assistance from the local magnate Domhnall Ua Cearbhaill, he had surrendered a portion of the Armagh diocese to Clogher (the kingdom of Oirghialla) and appointed his own brother Giolla Iosa (Christianus) bishop there. Malachy separated the dioceses of Down and Connor, and as bishop of Down he once more renewed his reforms. His powerful influence meant that he was in demand to preach renewal throughout Ireland and he was often called on to act as peacemaker and reconciler in local disputes. During this period he is said to have founded 'The monastery of the Irish' at Downpatrick, perhaps on, or near, the present site of Down County Museum; to have established the Augustinian Order at Saul, traditional site of the beginning of St Patrick's mission to Ireland; and to have arranged for the foundation of a Benedictine monastery at Erenagh in Lecale.3 He sought the backing of Rome for the diocesan arrangements decided at the synods of Cashel and Rath Breasail and for this reason he set out for Rome to seek the pallia4 for the archbishoprics of Armagh and Cashel. lt was on this journey that he made the acquaintance of St Bernard at Clairvaux and was inspired to introduce the Cistercians to Ireland. Pope Innocent II confirmed the status of Cashel as an archbishopric. He declined to allow Malachy to stay in Clairvaux for the rest of his life as a monk but rather appointed him to succeed Gilbert as papal legate for Ireland. He also urged him to hold a national synod to petition formally for the pallia. It was on his second journey to Rome after holding a national synod at Inis Padraig in 1148 that Malachy died at Clairvaux on 2 November 1148. His death is movingly related by Bernard in his Vita Malachiae. After him reforms continued in the Irish Church even into the tumultuous period of the Norman invasion. As for the pallia, Pope Eugene III in 1150 sent Cardinal Paparo to Ireland with the gift of four pallia, recognising the four archbishoprics which continue in Ireland to this day: Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Tuam. Paparo presided at the Synod of Kells-Mellifont in 1152 which finally sanctioned the reforms of the previous generation and established the enduring heirarchical structure of the Irish Church. John Watt summarises Malachy's contribution to reform admirably. St Malachy of Armagh personifies the reform as a whole because he was its noblest spirit and because there is not a facet of the reform that his career does not illuminate. From whatever angle one views the reform, the figure of Malachy dominates the scene, whatever the issue involved - subjection to Rome, the revivification of the episcopate through emancipation from lay control and constitutional reorganisation, apostolic endeavour among the people, communication with men of intellectual and spiritual stature at home and abroad, monasticism in both its traditional and newer forms - the name of Malachy is inseparable from its history.5 Bernard stressed the holiness of Malachy, so obvious in his simple life style and his personal practice of poverty which led him to care for the needy. We understand his relation of Malachy's miracles as a literary way of revealing his sympathy and understanding. Malachy, in the tradition of the archbishops of Armagh, worked hard as a peacemaker and mediator. As an administrator he was tireless in his efforts. He faced opposition with courage; he persevered in the face of serious setbacks. He played a key role in bringing the Cistercians and Augustinian Canons to Ireland, but at the same time honoured and drew the best from the old Irish monastic spirituality. Malachy was buried in the Lady chapel of the abbey church of Clairvaux, clothed in the tunic of St Bernard. Soon after his death he became the subject of homilies and offices. At the request of the Cistercians he was canonised by Pope Clement III in 1190. He is still revered in the dioceses of Armagh, and Down and Connor, where churches, schools, and of course menfolk, bear his name as patron. In the way of these things he is popularly remembered for prophecies which are actually sixteenth century forgeries. Some of us prefer today to echo the words of two epitaphs in his memory. The Annals of the Four Masters describe him as 'Chief paragon of wisdom and piety, a brilliant lamp which illumined territories and churches by preaching and good works.' And a verse in a Clairvaux manuscript, written in Latin shortly after Bernard's death and ascribed to him, elegantly states: Do you wish to know who lies here? It is our
lord, Malachy. You hesitate? You still ask who on earth he was?
An Irishman by race, his virtues made him a Monsignor Reamonn O Muiri is Parish Priest
of Cookstown, county Tyrone, champion and writer of local historical
studies, civil rights campaigner, Gaelic poet, and editor of Seanchas
Ard Mhacha.
Notes
Further reading
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