consequence would not be govern'd not even in Ecclesiastical affairs but by some of their own without dependance on any other except only the Prelat of that See which from the beginning of Christianity had prescribed some right over them all But enough on this Subject relating to Malachias the former of those two extraordinary Saints rais'd by God in the decrepit Age of the Irish Monarchy The later of them was a Leinster man of Noble Descent his Irish name and sirname Laurace O Tuathil in English Laurence Tool his Father Muirchiortach O Tuathil Lord of Imaile and peradventure some other small adjoyning Tracts in the County of Wickloe his Mother Inghin J. Bhrian i. e. one of O Brian's Daughters and he the youngest of all their Children But for the name of Laurence a name so unusual in that Countrey then 't was given him on this occasion Being born his Father sent him to be Christened at Kildare by Donachadh Lord of that Countrey of purpose to let him know by this Gossipred he was reconciled to him for before they had been at some distance and therefore those that carried the Child were commanded by the Father to Christen him Conchabhar this being that Nobleman's surname who was to be Godfather But a person reputed in that Countrey then such an other as Merlin had been of old among the Brittans meeting them in the High-way charg'd them to call him Laurence assuring them he would himself that night excuse them to their Lord and then adding prophetically in Irish Verse This Child shall be great on Earth and glorious in Heaven he shall command over great multitudes both of rich and poor and Laurence shall be his name When he was but ten years old his Father delivered him an Hostage to Diarmuid the King of Leinster In which condition notwithstanding the innocency of his Age he suffer'd incredible miseries even to extream want of Raiment and Food in a desert place among barbarous people where he had been for two years confined At the expiration of which being return'd back in exchange of other Prisoners though not delivered to the Father himself but to the Bishop of Gleann-da-Logh and his Father coming on the twelfth day not only to see him but to desire the Bishop to learn of God by Lot which of his children he should dedicate to an Ecclesiastick Life and he taking this opportunity and telling his Father That with his leave he himself would be that Child the Father surpriz'd with joy takes him presently by the right hand and offers him up perpetually to God in that holy place dedicated to St. Keuin both Cathedral Church and Abbey the one govern'd by a Bishop the other by an Abbot Where Laurence proves in a little time so singular a proficient in all Virtue that the Abbot dying the unanimous consent both of the Monks and Nobles of the Countrey Voted him Abbot and forc'd him to accept of it in the 25th year of his Age. And now it begun to appear more eminently what spirit he was of For the more he was honour'd the more he abased himself the stricter guard he kept on all his senses and the more intent he was upon his holy ascetick Exercises Above all that Virtue which is the bond of perfection that Virtue which shall never be evacuated but after Faith and Hope are ended shall remain that Virtue which by relieving the afflictions of other mortals makes the Reliever a God to them as Pliny speaks in his Panegyrick to Trajan Charity I mean did at this time shew what power she had over the Soul of Laurence He was no sooner made Abbot than a general Famine oppressing all that Countrey four years continually he no less continually employ'd himself in relieving all that were in want especially the poorer sort with corn and cattel and all the Revenues of his Abbey Revenues that were very great yea far surpassing those of the Bishoprick Nor must we admire they should be so It was one of the most famous ancient Monasteries of the Kingdom founded at first by St. Keuin as we call him but the Irish Ceaghin the Latins Coenginus a person though illustrious for his Royal extraction yet much more celebrated as well for the admirable austerity of his Life as for his manifold prodigious Miracles which made him after his death be assumed Patron both of the Town Abbey Cathedral Church and whole Diocess of Gleann-da-Loch where he lived and died Besides none but Noblemen's children were elected Abbots and the Noblemen themselves of the whole Diocess had by ancient custom their Voices in the election of them as well as the Monks However the large Revenues of the Abbey as they came short of the necessities of the poor in that long and general Famine so they did of the charity of Laurence as may be well concluded out of what follows hereafter Much about the time this Famine had ended the Bishop of Gleann-da-Loch dying he was chosen to succeed But notwithstanding all the importunity of the Electors he declined it though pretending only his un-Canonical Age. Yet so he could not soon after the Archbishoprick of Dublin For Gregory the First Archbishop of this See being dead Laurence by the unanimous consent of the Clergy and People of Dublin says Waraeus was elected Commentar de Praesul Hiber Archbishop and being at last by continual importunities drawn to yield was consecrated at Dublin by Gelasius Primat of Ardmagh and other Bishops Anno 1162. just fourteen years after the death of Malachias in France What more Waraeus thought fit to record of him is That presently after consecration he changed the secular Canons of his Cathedral Church into Regular of the Order of Aroasia whose habit and rule of Life himself also took upon him now That about eleven years after he built the Choire and Steeple with an other addition of three new Chappels to Trinity Church in that City That in the Year 1179. he went to the General Council held then at Rome under Alexander III. That according to the Author of his Life he was there made Legat of Ireland by that Pope soon after return'd back and exercis'd his Legatin Authority in Ireland That Gerald L. 2. expugn Hib. c. 23. Barry commonly call'd Cambrensis seems to intimate he never had been permitted to return to Ireland sed ob privilegia aliqua zelo suae Gentis impetrata but for some priviledges obtain'd from the Pope in that Council for his Countrey prejudicial to the Royal power of Henry II. was detained a long time partly in England partly in France until at last falling sick in his Journey he died at Auge in Normandy the 14th of Novemb. 1180. or as others have it 1181. Finally that in the Year 1225. he was canonized by Pope Honorius III. and his Relicks translated to Trinity Church in Dublin Which being the brief account given by Waraeus of this great Servant of God he leaves us for the rest that is
and personal nay and of their Subjects also both men and women by the dedication of all in a peculiar way to God as hath been said before but were so fervently Zealous even to a degree of excess in this kind that as both Keting and Lucius relate it if St. Patrick would have receiv'd what they offer'd more their Successors should have scarce been left the grazing of four Beasts to bestow on the Church Secondly in particular the great number of those Princes one after another in the succession of so many Ages that notwithstanding all the bloody Feuds and warlike humor of their Nation withdrew themselves in time from sin yea from all the pleasures vanity pomp earthly glory of their condition and by contemning the world for the sake of God made themselves greater than the World A large list of them you may find partly in Keting but more amply and exactly in Lucius And they were those that stripping themselves naked to follow Christ and shutting themselves up in Cloysters made choice of the better part with Mary at the feet of out Lord. Such were the Monarchs 1. Maâ—â—â—hoba who by the prayers of Columbe-Cille recovering from death to life thereupon without delay Anno 610. renounc'd the World enter'd a Monastery profess'd himself a Monk and was after in regard of his holiness made Bishop of Kildare 2. Flaithiortach who likewise though without any such inducement as Maolchoba had in perfect health vigour streingth deliberately chose to dispoil himself of all earthly greatness Goods Employments and exchange them all for a poor monastick Weed in the Monastery of Ardmagh for a penitential course of life within the walls of that enclosure and for a Christian happy death which he found in that same place after nine years more had been over in his holy exercises there 3. Niall Frassach that not only quitted the Crown and Power but the very Soil of Ireland by retiring to the Scottish Isle of Hy and there in Columb Cille's Monastery devoting himself wholly to works of Christian repentance after eight years continual preparation by them for his passage to immortality had it in the year 773. of our Saviour's Incarnation 4. Muirchiortach great Grandchild to Brion Buraimh and one of Ketings Monarchs of Ireland who having resign'd his Royal Authority and together with it whatever else he possess'd or loved on earth put on the habit of a pooor religious man at Lismore where without looking back he ended happily his days 5. Domhnal mhac â—rdghair who according to Colgan as we have seen before was also King of Ireland though in his declining years yet amidst his prosperity retiring to the Abbey of Doire Cholumb-Cilie employing the remainder of his life there in exercises of piety holiness and mortification and lamenting the sins of his former days prepared for encountred and receiv'd death with a serene countenance full of hopes of a glorious Immortality But whether he took upon him the outward profession of a Monk in those exercises there or did not I can say nothing on either side Nor is it very material to know seeing the inward habit of his Soul yielded fruits worthy of true repentance and the severest outward profession of it 6. Ruaruidh O Conchabhair the very last Irish Monarch we have shewn likewise before to have made a religious life under the Habit and in a Cloister of Augustinian Chanon Regulars his last refuge in this World from so many vicissitudes of Fortune There it was he became so truly wise indeed as to prepare only for that other World which being planted far above all the glory of the Sun and all the Circles of time expects only Souls either never tainted with sin at any time or by perfect repentance at least before death throughly purified from its deadly sting And such indeed for making choice either sooner or later of the better part with Mary were those now enumerated Monarchs of Ireland And yet I know not why I might not add to their number Maolseachluinn I. and Brian Boraimh For albeit they never had been either profess'd Monks Anchorites or Clerks nor divested of their Authority Royal nor at all outwardly retired from the cares of the Publick or management of their own domestick affairs or comfort of their Wives and Children yet their piety of life was such as purchas'd for them after death the reputation of holy men Yea S. Cairbre Bishop of Cluan-mhac-Noise when the former died Anno 860. being in extasy beheld his Soul ascending to glory says Lucius And the later has been inserted not only by John Wilson in his Martyrologe but by Henry Fitz Simons in his Catalogue of the Saints of Ireland both these Authors having in this particular followed Marianus Scotus Of the Provincial Kings a far greater number and some of them very early that is in their very youth made the same prudential wise divine choice Aillill Anmbanna King of Connaght led so wonderfully strict a life according to the exactest Rules of Christianity that upon his death it pleased God to shew his Soul to Columb-Cille ascending to Heaven Anno 544. Cormac King of South Leinster about the Year of Christ 567. quitting voluntarily his Kingdom went to Beannchuir profess'd himself there a Monk continued in the same place leading a life truly answerable to his profession till death translated him to happiness Anno 567. which the Irish Church believing has placed him in her Calendar of Saints Aodh Dubh King of Leinster forsaking in the same manner both his Kingdom and whatever else he might enjoy on earth took the Monastical habit and Vows upon him lived accordingly some years in the Monastery of Kildare an underling was after made Abbot then Bishop of the same Cloister and See deceased Anno Christi 638. and in fine was recorded in the Register of Saints Ceallach mhac Reghal King of Connaght made the like exchange of a Kingdom for a Cloister died in the Year of our Lord 703. and is invoked particularly at Lochkinne as their tutelary Patron Ardghal mhac Cathail King of Connaght the very same only that to be further off from all noise of the World he retired out of Ireland to the Monastery of Columb-Cille in the Island of Hy where in the seventh year of his peregrination which was of Christ 786 he ended his mortal course Before him a little that is Anno Christi 739. flourished the good King of Vlster Fiacha mhac Aodh Roin surnamed In Droiched from his continual care of building Bridges every-where throughout his Kingdom to make the ways more passable for Droiched in their Tongue signities a Bridge He was even to admiration vertuously just and equitable to all persons whatsoever Only one Cow taken away by stealth within his Dominion and because peradventure says Gratianus Lucius the Author of this stealth had not been with due severity punish'd he inflicted the remainder on his own person by going a Pilgrimage to Beannchuir In his Reign and
however he continued in the whole his Reign over Connaght 50 years and according to all the Irish Annals and Historians over Ireland 20. Though says Gratianus according to a more exact severe discussion of the truth if the date of his Monarchy be taken from the death of his Predecessor Mairchiortach O Brien to his own he must have reigned over Ireland 34 years in all or at least 28 if it be continued only till the foresaid Hostages were forc'd from him But I range again For as well this calculation of his years or Reign as his religious preparation for death and his burial and rest close by the high Altar of St. Cieran in the Cathedral Church of Cluan-mhac-Noise is forein to my purpose here And therefore I return again Muirchiortach commonly call'd Mac Loghlenn but immediate Son to Niall and by him Nephew to that Domhnal whom we have so lately seen to have so long contended for the Sovereignty of Ireland and therefore stilâ—d by Colganus King of Ireland upon the death of Toirghiallach mor O Conchabhar assumes that Title of the Irish Monarchy which he had so venturously and early prepar'd for while Toirrghiallach was yet alive and in health Of him at least of any warlike action either of his or indeed of any others in his Reign tho Keting has not a word save only those very few that on an other occasion I have given before page 73. viz. that Mairchiortach mhac Neill the Monarch that succeeded Toirghiallach mor O Conchabhar was in the 18th year of his Reign kill'd by Fearnibh Fearrmhaighe and O Brian yet the diligence and accurateness of Gratianus Lucius makes abundant compensation For this Author p. 86. says of the present Muirchiartach first in general That his humour having been wholly Martial and his fortune answerable he over-run all the Provinces of Ireland in a continual course of Victories obtained partly by Battels and partly by the sole terrour of his Name That he subdued them all and forced them every one to give him Hostages That therefore at least He without any contradiction may be admitted next after Maolseachluinn II. for the undoubted King of all Ireland And then after letting us know that this Prince's great Vertues were much eclipsed by the Precipitancy of his anger and that whom prosperity had rais'd to such a heighth adversity at last did throw down as low even to the very earth he particularly recounts how Eochadh King of Vlster not only refus'd to pay any more Tribute or other dues to him but even without any other provocation made War upon him That he being thereupon enraged enters the Territories of Eochadh routs his Forces burns his Lands takes his Vassals and puts them in Fetters Eochadh himself by good luck escaping That after this yea notwithstanding a reconciliation made between them by the intercession and upon the Engagement of the Primat of Ardmagh and Donochadh King of Oirghllae for performance of Covenants on both sides and Eochadh's consequential pardon and reception to grace which to assure him Muirchiortach took the most solemn Oath he could for such it was accounted then in that Kingdom on the Staff of Jesus what this was S. Bernard tells in the Life of Malachias yet ere long whether out of the former cause or any other new one enraging him he had Eochadh's eyes pull'd out of his head and three of his Nobles duos Olingsios Cathasachi O Flahry nepotem most cruelly put to death without any regard to the engagement of the Sureties And to conclude that Donochadh O Cearrbhaoil the foresaid King of Oirghillae one of the Sureties taking to heart so heinous a breach of Faith Oath Covenants and assurance given by himself and therefore resolving to be reveng'd draws to his association the People of Vibhruinne and Comhaicne marches with an Army of 9000 men into Cineal-Eoghain otherwise call'd by them Tir-Eoghain but by us Tir-oen where the Monarch then resided surprizes him unprovided fights the few tumultuary Forces led forth by him routs them and kills him in that Field a man ever before Victorious in all his Encounters whatsoever Yet such was his end in the 10th of his reign Anno Christi 1166 says Gratianus Lucius though Keting says he was kill'd in the eighteenth of his Reign by Fearrnibh Fearrmhaighe and O Brien as I have noted before But as their difference in computing the years of the Reign is not material the one beginning it when this Muirchiortach mhac Neill had forc'd his predecessor Toirrghiallach mor O Conchabhar to give him Hostages and the other when Toirrghiallach died so neither is it material to know whether any such persons call'd Fearrnibh Fearrmhaighe and O Brien were or were not in that Battel to kill him What is to our present purpose you have it very particularly delivered by the one and not gainsaid by the other And yet upon reflection I must confess I find that I have not delivered all the material things written by Gratianus Lucius in this Reign of Muirchiortach mhac Neill He further writes page 87. that in the Year 1156. even the very first year of it presently after Toirrghiallach mor O Conchabhar's death his Son and Heir and King of Connaght Ruidhruigh O Conchabhar did receive twelve Hostages from Muirchiortach O Brien even that very Mounster King so lately before deprived and banish'd to Tir-Eoghain by the said Toirrghiallach Father to this Ruidhruigh as we have seen already That in the Year 1157. he rush'd into Muirchiortach mhac Neill the Monarch's own peculiar Countrey Tir-Eoghain burnt the fruitful Peninsula there call'd Inis-Eoghain destroy'd all the delicate Gardens Orchards Plantations wasted the whole Region to Cianachty That after this he turn'd his Arms on Mounster Where having first setled the foresaid Muirchiortach O Brien in possession of North Mounster he forc'd Hostages from Diarmuid mhac Cormuic mhic Cartha King of South Mounster to remain with him till Muirchiortach mhac Neill the Monarch did relieve the said Diarmuid That Anno 1158. he enter'd Leinster in like hostile manner with great Force marcht through it to Leiglin being encamp'd there had Hostages brought him from Ossory and Luighis and in the close of all loaded Mac Craih O Morrdha the little King of Luighis with Irons That in the next place he made Inroads into Teabhan driving away thence from the Kerins an exceeding great prey of Cows and with his Fleet afflicted all the Coasts of Tir-Eoghain mightily That in the Year 1161. falling violently on Meath he both compelled the Countreys call'd Vibh Falain and Vibh Faoilghe to give him pledges and then plac'd Governours in them viz. Faolan O Faoelain in the one and Mlaghlin O Conchabhair in the other That after all he made his Conditions of peace with the Monarch deliver'd him four Hostages receiv'd from him in gift the entire Province of Connaght with the one half of Meath and from Diarmuid O Maolseachluinn a hundred ounces of Gold for that
known and his name celebrated among all the Clergy and People and Princes of that Province too Then by his returning back to his own Province of Vlster upon the commands of Celsus and Imarius and there presently repairing the old ruins of the famous Beannchuir which till this time lay in rubbish for so many years ever since the destruction of it by the Danes though not without a Titular Lay-Abbot made still by Election of the Lay-Natives who possess'd all the Revenues nor at this very time neither with-such an Incumbent and he both a very powerful man and Uncle also to Malachias himself but on the return of Malachias from Mounster suddenly chang'd and as it were by a powerful touch of the very finger of God himself so mightily chang'd that without delay he resign'd both the place and whole Estate belonging to it yea and his own person also to this holy Nephew's disposition Then by his refusing the Estate building nevertheless the place planting it with some of his own blessed condisciples under Imarius and in obedience to Celsus and Imarius both taking upon him now as well the true Office as the title of Abbot of Beannchuir imitating so in all respects the sanctity of his great Predecessor Congellus though not equalling his number of Monks Then by the glory of Miracles beginning first to appear wrought by him to the astonishment of the beholders as he was at work with his own hands among the Carpenters that were building this Monastery Then by the Election made of him in the thirtieth year of his Age for the See of Conner and his reluctance for a long time and the perseverance of the other side and his submission at last to the positive commands of Celsus and Imarius Then by his entring upon his Episcopal Function there but withal his finding presently as St. Bernard expresly writes He was not sent to men but Beasts That he had never before not even amongst the most barbarous any where observ'd the like No where the People so stubborn as to Manners so bestial as to Rites so impious as to Faith so barbarous as to Laws so headstrong as to Discipline so filthy as to Life Christians by Name but in very deed Pagans not paying Tithes not offering First-fruits not joyning in lawful Marriages not confessing their sins None among them found either to receive or to enjoin penance The Ministers of the Altar few and yet no work among the Laity for those same few no opportunity given them to make use of their Ministery among a wicked generation of people nor they endeavouring it much if not rather scarce any way at all for in their Churches the voice neither of a Preacher nor Singer was heard Then by his Divine Sermons Exhortations Entreaties Visits Prayers Tears Mortification austerity of Life both in publick and private together with the assistance of his 150 Monks that were never from his side overcoming though with great labour yet in a little time all opposition and working so wonderful either a conversion or Reformation which you please to call it of all that Diocess that they are all now become a new people i. e. the People of God now who had been nothing less before and every where now to be seen the repairing of Churches adorning of Altars and Choires resounding now the praises of God and wicked Laws abolish'd and Christian Institutions receiv'd in their place the Churches thronging from every side with people greedy of hearing the Word and Sacraments frequented and confession of sins made and Concubinage yielding to lawful marriage Then by his necessary migration to Mounster when the King of Vlster had on some pretence destroy'd the City of Conner and by the reception he found there from his former Disciple King Cormac who came to meet him now and withal to entertain both him and his 150 Monks of Beannchuir come along with him out of the North. Then by his building here in Mounster the Abbey of Ibrac Monasterium Ibracense St. Bernard calls it King Cormac with Royal munificence abundantly furnishing Gold and Silver and all other necessaries both to finish the building and maintain the Convent after Then by his living there so exemplarily mortifiedly humbly among them as he had elsewhere perpetually even from the first day of his Episcopal Charge at Conner done taking his turn like an other Monk both in reading and serving in the Refectory at meals yea in all the very meanest Offices of the Cloister even that of Cook to dress their meat in the Kitchin not excepted Then by the last sickness of Celsus who had successively ordain'd him Deacon Priest and Bishop and by the choice made by him of Malachias for his Successor and his Letters to all the Princes of the Kingdom especially the two Mounster Kings * Cormack was one of them his Kingdom South-Mounster his name and surname Cormack mhac Cartha his end by a soul murther committed on him by his own Son in Law All which and the revenge of this murder you may see in the former â—ection page 183. to see after his death Malachias install'd in the Metropolitical See of Ardmagh Which for the memory of their great Apostle St. Patrick who living govern'd it and dying chose it for his place of rest was held in such veneration that all the people of Ireland Clergy and Laiety Nobles Bishops Princes and Kings were subject in all obedience to the Metropolitan thereof Then by the Vision about this time but before any notice had of Ceallach's being sick the Vision I say of a Tall ancient venerable Woman appearing to Malachias and upon his demand what she was answering him she was the Wife of Celsus but withal delivering him a Pastoral Staff Then by a real Messenger come from Celsus as he was yet on his death bed alive with his real Staff indeed and by the real delivery thereof by him as he was commanded by Celsus to this man of God Then by the unanimous application of all the Kingdon from all parts made unto him to accept of this Election and by his declining it nevertheless a very long time alledging now his own unworthiness now his poverty and meanness and inability to contend with the powerful Family that hitherto well nigh two hundred years had possess'd that See besides that not even with the death of men their stubbornness could be overcome moreover that to see blood spilt in his behalf or by his occasion did not become him or his calling finally that he was already join'd to an other Spouse the Church of Conner Then after three years continual reluctance by the National Synods meeting on purpose wherein the Pope's Legat Gillaspuic alias Gilbertus Bishop of Limmeric and Malchus Bishop of Lismore were the chief and by their laying their commands upon him adding threats withal to excommunicate him if he resisted any longer and his own reflecting at the same time on the Vision he had formerly had in
or his invoking the name of God on three Apples and sending them to a Lady in the last agonies of death be reputed a Diabolical Charm And yet after all I am of Bernard's opinion that the first and greatest Miracle wrought by Malachias was himself From the first day of his conversion to the last of his Life sine proprio vixit he lived without property in any kind of thing Even when he was Bishop he had neither man-servant nor maid-servant nor Town nor Village nor Land nor one farthing either of Ecclesiastical or Temporal Revenue no not for allowance to his Episcopal Table He had not so much as a House of his own He almost incessantly went about the Parishes preaching the Gospel and living on the Gospel as our Lord had shew'd him the Example save only that for most part he preach'd it without putting his Auditory to the charge of entertaining him but maintain'd himself and his Religious Train by the labour of his own hands and theirs When he found it necessary to take a little rest he took it in some of the holy places founded by himself in all Countreys of the Kingdom For it was he that was the great Restorer of the Monastick Life and Cloisters in Ireland where for so many Ages before i. e. ever since the Universal desolation by the Danes the people generally though they had heard of the name yet they never saw any such thing as a Monk till he begun A diebus antiquis Monachi quidem nomen audierunt monachum non viderunt says Malachias himself Vit. cap. xi And wheresoever he rested how shor tor how long soever his abode was he conform'd to all their observances their Habit their Table their Diet. Insomuch that as to the exteriour man he could not be discovered from the meanest Brother of the House Lastly in his going about the Parishes or Countreys either to preach or to visit he never made use of Horse or Coach or Waggon he went a foot constantly as likewise did all his Train though now both Bishop and Legat. And was not all this trow you to be a true Heir indeed a true Successor to the Apostles or was it not in Malachias to be himself the first and last and greatest of his Miracles O virum Apostolicum quem tot talia nobilitant signa Apostolatus sui Quid ergo mirum si mira operatus est sic mirabilis ipso Imo verò non ipse sed Deus in ipso Alioquin tu es Deus inquit qui facis mirabilia says Bernard exclaiming here with admiration of this wonderful man However this Life he led for about a dozen years perpetually going about all the Provinces reforming all the abuses doing good to all mortals and working those other prodigious signs every where that I have touch'd upon before At last understanding that Innocent II. was dead and after him within sixteen months more Celestin II. and Luoius the second too and that Eugenius III. a Disciple of Saint Bernards being chosen to succeed them was come so near as France he calls a National Synod holds it dispatches in the three first days of it what was thought expedient as to Reformation on the fourth proposes that of sending to the See Apostolick for the Archiepiscopal Ensigns called Pallia offers himself to be the Solicitor of it in person and tho with great difficulty to part with him at all for any time yet obtains their consent the rather that the Pope was so near And now he takes his Journey again through Scotland where being receiv d with all veneration by King David he founds the last of his Monasteries at a place call'd stagnum viride the Green Lake haviug to that purpose brought with him out of Ireland a sufficient number of Cistercian Monks And then he goes forward the second time to Claravallis in France taking that in his way to Rome whither the Pope before his arrival on that side of the Sea was returned And finally now and from hence i. e. from Claravallis but after a few days of sickness and by a death answerable in all respects to his life he is call'd to glory on that very day which himself had both desired and foretold the day of the Commemoration of all faithful souls departed which as I have noted before was in the Year of Christ 1148. More particulars either of his life or death or miracles whoever desires may find them at large in the funeral Sermon preach'd and Life also most exactly and divinely written of him even by St. Bernard himself Who besides many other Abbots and the whole Cistercian Convent of Claravallis was present with him at his death as they all ministred to him all along in his sickness And it is even this very Bernard that with his own Eyes beheld the great Miracle which he tells wrought on a Paralitick by touching the hand of Malachias while after his death he was yet expos'd in publick before Burial But it is not for the sake of this or any other Miracle wrought by him that I have dilated so much upon him but to shew the state of the Church of Ireland in those days out of so good an Author as St. Bernard is For in that Life of Malachias written by him besides many other points relating directly to the most healthful use of Confession saluberrimum usum confessionis are Bernards own words and the Sacrament of extream Unction and the real presence of Christ in the consecrated Host and Prayers for the Dead all which I pass over as not to the purpose of this Historical Discourse it is very observable That so blessed a Man as Ceallach was even by the character of a Saint Sanctus Celsus given him by Colganus and so learned withal as Sir James Ware represents him to have been did without consulting the See Apostolick of Rome and did I say by his own authority alone as Primat of Ardmagh erect another Metropolitical See in Ireland That not even at any time from the beginning the Irish Church or Metropolitans thereof until this time of Malachias either had or for ought we know ever desired the Pallium but without it exercis'd all plenitude of Archiepiscopal and Primatial jurisdiction all over Ireland Besides we may plainly see by whose solicitation at first the Court of Rome was moved in the concern of Palls of Ireland And that Cardinal John Papiron's bringing them to Ireland about four years after the death of Malachias was undoubtedly an effect of those two Journeys made by him out of Ireland to obtain them Albeit we know not certainly whether it was Malachias that desired so many as were brought by Papiron Or whether after his death others did suggest for the reasonableness and expediency of so many that in Ireland were chiefly four Partiâ—ions Governments or Provincial Kingdoms of very different natures manners interests Feuds and Kings too that would not yield any of them to the other willingly and by
For then converting himself wholly and for himself only to God he ceas'd not with tears and sighs and sobs too repeating continually while he could open his lips that Verse of the Psalmist Have mercy on me O God have mercy on me because my soul confideth in thee until about midnight on the 13th of November Anno 1181. he breath'd out his last to his Redeemer Now that such a life and such a death of a man so virtuous all along from his very Youth whether he be considered either as a Clerk or Monk or Abbot of Gleann-da-Loch or as Archbishop of Dublin and Chanon of the Aroasian Institute or as Legat of Ireland or as a prosperous or afflicted man should be attested as pleasing to God by prodigious Miracles both in his life and after his death seems nothing strange to me The Author of his Life recounts a good many of them wrought in the time of his Life And the Bull of his canonization dated at Reate III. Ides Decemb. by Honorius III. Ninth year of his Pontificat which was of Christ 1225. gives a brief sum of all that had been wrought either in his Life or after his death by telling us That besides the Dumb and Lame and Lepers and many others afflicted with sundry other maladies cur'd of all their evils at the sole invocation of God by him or in his name and at his Tomb by others he was by the power of God the wonderful raiser e'en from death to life of seven persons in particular and among 'em of one who had been full three days dead Nor can I well deny that this Bull ought to have by much the more credit with many who are not in other matters over-credulous and ought so to have for these reasons 1. Because it was procured and the whole ceremony and process of this canonization sollicited not only by the Letters of the Archbishop and Chapter of Roan and of the Abbot and Convent of the foresaid Auge where the body then rested within the Diocess of Roan but by those also of many other Archbishops Bishops Abbots and religious men all attesting the sanctity of his Life and glory of Miracles continually wrought after his death at his Tomb. 2. Because the Inquisition was made partly in France by the Archbishop Dean and Treasurer of Roan and for the rest in Ireland by the Bishop of Kildare and Prior of Trinity Church in Dublin 3. Because within 45 years after his death all was finish'd and this very Bull issued and his Festivity with an Octave kept in the most solemn manner could be both at Auge in France and at Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland while the people were yet alive nay by a world of those very people of all degrees that knew and conversed with him familiarly and yet invoked him now most devoutly and religiously as Coheir of Christ in glory and their tutelary Patron under Christ with God the Father The fifth and last Point is That notwithstanding all the sanctity and merits either of those two extraordinary Wonder-working Saints of God Malachy and Laurence or of any other holy men whatsoever that in secret mourned for the iniquities of their People that cried to God incessantly to spare them and that in the Language of Ezechiel interpos'd themselves Ezech. XXII 30. a hedg between the wrath of Heaven and their Land by fasting and praying and afflicting their own Bodies for the sins of others yet all would not do It was now come to that pass with the People of Ireland in general which had been with the People of Judaea when God spake to Hieremy the Prophet c. XV. v. 1. first assuring him that although Samuel and Moses stood before his face to intercede for them yet he would not listen to their prayer because his soul was against that People and then commanding him to pronounce ejection from before his face exâ—crmination and flitting out of their Land against them It was come to that very pass with the Irish now in which it had been again with the same stubborn stiffnecked Israelites when he declar'd to the Prophet Ezechiel and sware unto him even by his own Life That if those very three most perfect servants of his in their generation Moses Daniel and Job lived among them yet by their righteousness they should only save themselves not any other no not so much as either Son or Daughter For such indeed was the deplorable case of the ancient Milesians of Ireland at this time the very last period of their Monarchy And such it was notwithstanding so many just men as in particular the Bishops Malchus and Gilbertus and Celsus and Christianus and Gelasius and Malachi and Laurence that lived among them and interceded for them continually to God Yea such it was notwithstanding all the Reformation so lately wrought by any of these holy men among either Ecclesiasticks or Laics any where in the Nation and all the Councils held and all the Monasteries built and Schools erected and Churches endowed and whatever else at this time was practis'd to restore both civility and piety to some degree of the ancient Lustre Nothing at all could any longer slow the execution of the final doom pronounced by the Watcher and holy one of Heaven against the lofty proud Milesian Tree Nor must we wonder at it if we reflect upon what is discours'd at large in the former Section The Kings and Princes and Nobles and Men at Arms of Ireland either all this while were not at all themselves reformed or certainly and that most frequently too were again relapsed into their old accursed Feuds their concussions violences rapin oppression revenge their spilling of one anothers blood to death and this even all along from time to time until the Executioners of their final Sentence came to part them and make them for ever slaves on every side to a forein People What other sins of the Irish Nation might according to the judgment of man have incensed God after so long forbearance to pour upon 'em so dreadful a judgment I cannot say And the reason is because I find no specification of any other in those Histories of theirs which I have read Yet I will not pass over in silence what I find to this purpose in Girald of Wales I mean Cambrensis This Author says that upon the taking of Dublin and harrasing of Meath by Diarmuid na-Ngall King of Leinster and his forein Auxiliaries the Clergy of Ireland assembled in a National Synod at Ardmach having debated the causes of this Invasion and after full debate resolved first in general that the sins of their Nation had brought this calamity on them Secondly in particular That their evil custom of buying Christian English Youths as well from Merchants as Pirats and making them slaves for ever had been a special Cause of it Thirdly That God was just in subjecting their People to the same condition of slavery under that very Nation which they