It was in this state of the nation that the glorious
saint, whose life we are writing, was born. Malachy, called in Irish Maol-Maodhog O' Morgair, was a native of Armagh; his parents were persons of the first rank, and very virtuous, especially his mother, who was most solicitous to train him up in the fear of God. When he was of age to go to school, not content to procure him pious tutors whilst he studied grammar at Armagh, she never ceased at home to instil into his tender mind the most perfect sentiments and maxims of piety; which were deeply imprinted in his heart by that interior master in whose school he was from his infancy a great proficient. He was meek, humble, obedient, modest, obliging to all, and very diligent in his studies; he was temperate in diet, vanquished sleep, and had no inclination to childish sports and diversions, so that he far outstripped his fellow-students in learning, and his very masters in virtue. In his studies, devotions, and little practices of penance he was very cautious and circumspect to shun as much as possible the eyes of others, and all danger of vain-glory, the most baneful poison of virtues. For this reason he spent not so much time in churches as he desired to do, but prayed much in retired places, and at all times frequently lifted up his pure hands and heart to heaven in such a manner as not to be taken notice of. When his master took a walk to a neighbouring village without any other company but his beloved scholar, the pious youth often remained a little behind to send up with more liberty, as it were by stealth, short inflamed ejaculations from the bow of his heart, which was always bent, says St. Bernard.
To learn more perfectly the art of dying to himself,
and living wholly to God and his love, Malachy put
himself under the discipline of a holy recluse named
Imar or Imarius, who led a most austere life in continual prayer, in a cell near the great church of
Armagh. This step in one of his age and quality
astonished the whole city, and many severely censured
and laughed at him for it; many ascribed this undertaking to melancholy, fickleness, or the rash heat of
youth; and his friends grieved and reproached him,
not being able to bear the thought that one of so
delicate a constitution and so fine accomplishments
and dispositions for the world, should embrace a state
of such rigour, and, in their eyes, so mean and contemptible. The saint valued not their censures, and
learned by despising them with humility and meekness to vanquish both the world and himself. To
attain to the true love of God he condemned himself
whilst alive, as it were, to the grave, says St. Bernard,
and submitted himself to the rule of man; not being
like those who undertake to teach what they have
never learned, and by seeking to gather and multiply
scholars without having ever been at school, become
blind guides of the blind. The simplicity of the
disciple’s obedience, his love of silence, and his fervour
in mortification and prayer, were both the means and
the marks of his spiritual progress, which infinitely
endeared him to his master, and edified even those
who at first had condemned his choice. Their
railleries were soon converted into praises, and their
contempt into admiration: and many, moved by the
example of his virtue, desired to be his imitators and
companions in that manner of life. Malachy prevailed upon Imar to admit the most fervent among these petitioners, and they soon formed a considerable community. Malachy was by his eminent virtues a model to all the rest, though he always looked upon himself as the last and most unworthy of that religious society. A disciple so meek, so humble, so obedient, so mortified, and devout, could not fail, by the assiduous exercises of penance and prayer, to advance apace to the summit of evangelical perfection.
Imar, his superior, and Celsus or Ceallach, Archbishop of Armagh, judged him worthy of Holy Orders, and this prelate obliged him, notwithstanding all the resistance he could make, to receive at his hands the order of deacon, and some time after, the priesthood, when he was twenty-five years old, though the age which the canons then required for priestly orders was thirty years, as St. Bernard testifies; but his extraordinary merit was just reason for dispensing with that rule. At the same time, the Archbishop made him his vicar, to preach the word of God to the rude people, and to extirpate evil customs, which were many, grievous, and inveterate, and most horribly disfigured the face of that Church. Wonderful was the zeal with which St. Malachy discharged this commission; abuses and vices were quite defeated and dispersed before his face; barbarous customs were abolished; diabolical charms and superstitions
were banished; and whatever squared not with the
rule of the gospel could not stand before him. He
seemed to be a flame amidst the forests or a hook
extirpating noxious plants: with a giant's heart he appeared at work on every side. He made several regulations in ecclesiastical discipline, which were authorized
by the bishops, and settled the regular solemn rehearsal
of the canonical hours in all the churches of the
diocese, which, since the Danish invasions, had been
omitted even in cities: in which it was of service to
him, that from his youth he had applied himself to
the Church music. What was yet of much greater
importance, he renewed the use of the sacraments,
especially of confession or penance, of confirmation,
and regular matrimony. St. Malachy, fearing lest he
was not sufficiently skilled in the canons of the church
to carry on a thorough reformation of discipline, and
often labouring under great anxieties of mind on this
account, resolved, with the approbation of his prelate,
to repair for some time to Malchus, bishop of Lismore,
who had been educated in England where he became
a monk of Winchester, and was then for his learning
and sanctity reputed the oracle of all Ireland. Being
courteously received by this good old man, he was
diligently instructed by him in all things belonging
to the divine service, and to the care of souls, and at
the same time, he employed his ministry in that
church.
Ireland (like so many other countries in those
ages) being at that time divided into several little kingdoms, it happened that Cormac, king of Munster,
was dethroned by his wicked brother, and, in his
misfortunes, had recourse to Bishop Malchus, not to
recover his crown, but to save his soul; fearing Him
who takes away the spirit of princes, and being
averse from shedding more blood for temporal
interests. At the news of the arrival of such a guest,
Malchus made preparations to receive him with due
honour; but the king would by no means consent to
his desires, declaring it was his intention to think no
more of worldly pomp but to live among his canons,
to put on sackcloth, and labour by penance to secure
to himself the possession of an eternal kingdom.
Malchus made him a suitable exhortation on the conditions of his sacrifice, and of a contrite heart, and
assigned him a little house to lodge in, and appointed
St. Malachy his master, with bread and water for his
sustenance. Through our saints exhortations the
king began to relish the sweetness of the incorruptible heavenly food of the soul, his heart was
softened to compunction; and whilst he subdued his
flesh by austerities, he washed his soul with penitential tears, like another David, never ceasing to cry
out with him to God: Behold my baseness and my
misery, and pardon me all my offences. The sovereign
judge was not deaf to his prayer, but (according to his
infinite goodness) heard it not only in the sense in
which it was uttered, purely for spiritual benefits,
but also with regard to the greatest temporal favours, granting him his holy grace which he asked, and in
addition, restoring him to his earthly kingdom. For
a neighbouring king, moved with indignation at the
injury done to the majesty of kings in his expulsion,
sought out the penitent in his cell, and finding him
insensible to all worldly motives of interest, pressed
him with those of piety, and the justice which he
owed to his own subjects; and not being able yet to
succeed, engaged both Malchus the bishop, and St.
Malachy to employ their authority and command,
and to represent to him that justice to his people,
and the divine honour, obliged him not to oppose the
design. Therefore, with the succours of this king
and the activity of many loyal subjects, he was easily
forced again upon the throne; and he ever after loved
and honoured St Malachy as his father. Our saint
was soon after called back by Celsus and Imar, both
by letters and messages to Armagh.
The great abbey of Benchor, now in the county of
Down, lay at that time in a desolate condition, and
its revenues were possessed by an uncle of St.
Malachy, till it should be re-established. This uncle
resigned it to his holy nephew that he might settle in it regular observance, and became himself a monk under his direction in this house, which, by the care of tho saint, became a flourishing seminary of learning and piety, though not so numerous as it had formerly been. St. Malachy governed this house some time,and, to use St. Bernard’s words, was in his deportment a living rule, and a bright glass, or, as it were, a book laid open in which all might learn the true precepts of religious conversation. He not only always went before his little flock, and in all monastic observances, but also did particular penances, and other actions of perfection, which no man was able to equal; and he worked with his brethren in hewing timber, and in the like manual labour. Several miraculous cures of sick persons, some of which St. Bernard recounts, added to his reputation. But the whole tenour of his life, says the saint, was the greatest of his miracles; and the composure of his mind, and the inward sanctity of his soul, appeared in his countenance, which was always modestly cheerful. A sister of our saint, who had led a worldly life, died, and he recommended her soul to God for a long time in the sacrifice of the altar. Having intermitted this for thirty days, he seemed one night to be advertised in his sleep that his sister waited with sorrow in the church-yard, and had been there thirty days without food. This he understood of spiritual food; and having resumed the custom of saying Mass, or causing one to be said for her every day, saw her after some time admitted to the door of the church, then within the church, and some days after to the altar, where she appeared in joy, in the midst of a troop of happy spirits; which vision gave him great comfort.
St. Malachy, in the thirtieth year of his age, was
chosen bishop of Connor (now in the county of Down),
and as he peremptorily refused to acquiesce in the
election, he was at length obliged by the command
of Imar, and the archbishop Celsus, to submit. Upon
beginning the exercise of his functions he found that
his flock were Christians in name only, but in their
manners savage, vicious, and worse than pagans.
However, he would not run away like a hireling, but
resolved to spare no pains to turn these wolves into
sheep. He preached in public with an apostolical
vigour, mingling tenderness with a wholesome severity;
and when they would not come to the church to hear
him, he sought them in the streets and in their houses,
exhorted them with tenderness, and often shed tears
over them. He offered to God for them the sacrifice
of a contrite and humble heart, and sometimes passed
whole nights weeping and with his hands stretched
forth to heaven in their behalf. The remotest
villages and cottages of his diocese he visited, going
always on foot, and he received all manner of
affronts and sufferings with invincible patience. The
most savage hearts were at length softened into
humanity and a sense of religion, and the saint restored the frequent use of the sacraments among the
people: and whereas, he found amongst them very
few priests, and those both slothful and ignorant, he
filled the diocese with zealous pastors, by whose
assistance he banished ignorance and superstition, and
established all religious observances, and the practice
of piety. In the whole comportment of this holy
man, nothing was more admirable than his invincible patience and meekness. All his actions breathed
this spirit in such a manner as often to infuse the
tame into others. Amongst his miracles St. Bernard
mentions, that a certain passionate woman, who was before intolerable to all that approached her, was converted into the mildest of women by the saint commanding her in the name of Christ never to be angry more, hearing her confession, and enjoining her a suitable penance; from which time no injuries or tribulations could disturb her.
After some years the city of Connor was taken and
sacked by the King of Ulster; upon which St.
Malachy, with a hundred and twenty disciples, retired into Munster, and there, with the assistance of
King Cormac, built the monastery of Ibrac, which
some suppose to have been near Cork, others to be
in the isle of Beg-erin, where St. Imar formerly
resided. Whilst our saint governed this holy family
in the strictest monastic discipline, humbling himself
even to the meanest offices of the community, and, in
point of holy poverty and penance, going beyond all
his brethren, the archbishop Celsus was taken with
that illness of which he died. In his infirmity he appointed St. Malachy to be his successor, conjuring
all persons concerned, in the name of St. Patrick, the
founder of that see, to concur to that promotion, and
oppose the intrusion of any other person. This he
not only most earnestly declared by word of mouth,
but also recommended by letters to persons of the
greatest interest and power in the country, particularly to the two kings of Upper and Lower
Munster. This he did out of a zealous desire to
abolish a most scandalous abuse which had been the
source of all other disorders in the churches of Ireland. For two hundred years past, the family out of
which Celsus had been assumed, and which was the
most powerful in the country, had, during fifteen generations, usurped the archbishopric as an inheritance;
insomuch, that when there was no clergyman of their
kindred, they intruded some married man and laymen of their family, who, without any holy orders, had the
administration and enjoyed the revenues of that see,
and even exercised a despotical tyranny over the other
bishops of the island. Notwithstanding the precaution taken by Celsus, who was a good man, after his
death, though Malachy was canonically elected,
pursuant to his desire, Maurice, one of the above-mentioned family, got possession. Malachy declined
the promotion, and alleged the dangers of a tumult
and bloodshed. Thus, three years passed till Malchus
bishop of Lismore, and Gillebert, bishop of Limerick,
who was the pope’s legate in Ireland, assembled the
bishops and great men of the island, and threatened
Malachy with excommunication if he refused to accept the archbishopric. Hereupon he submitted, but
said: “You drag me to death. I obey in hopes of
martyrdom; but, on this condition, that if the business succeed according to your desires, when all
things are settled, you shall permit me to return to
my former spouse, and my beloved poverty.” They
promised he should have the liberty so to do, and he
took upon him that charge, and exercised his functions with great zeal through the whole province,
except in the city of Armagh, which he did not enter
for fear of bloodshed, so long as Maurice lived, which
was two years more.
At the end of five years, after the demise of Celsus,
Maurice died, and, to complete his iniquities and increase his damnation, named his kinsman Nigellus for
his successor. But King Cormac, and the bishops,
resolved to instal St. Malachy in that see, and he was acknowledged the only lawful metropolitan in the
year 1133, and thirty-eighth of his age. Nigellus
was obliged to leave Armagh, but carried with him
two relics held by the Irish in great veneration; and the common people were foolishly persuaded that he
was archbishop who had them in his possession. These were a book of the gospels which had belonged to St.
Patrick, and a crosier called the staff of Jesus, which
was covered with gold, and ornamented with rich
jewels. By this fallacy some still adhered to him, and
his kindred violently persecuted St. Malachy. One of
the chief amongst them invited him to a conference at
his house with a secret design to murder him. The
saint, against the advice of all his friends, went
thither, offering himself to martyrdom for the sake of
peace; he was accompanied only by three disciples,
who were ready to die with him. But the courage
and heavenly mildness of his countenance disarmed his
enemies as soon as he appeared amongst them: and
he who had designed to murder him, rose up to do
him honour, and a peace was concluded on all sides.
Nigellus not long after surrendered the sacred book
and crosier into his hands; and several of the saint’s
enemies were cut off by visible judgments. A raging
pestilence, which broke out at Armagh, was suddenly averted by his prayers, and he wrought many
other miracles. Having rescued that church from
oppression, and restored discipline and peace, he
insisted upon resigning 'the archiepiscopal dignity,
according to covenant, and ordained Gelasius, a
worthy ecclesiastic, in his place. He then returned to
his former see: but whereas the two sees of Connor
and Down had been long united, he again divided
them, consecrated another bishop for Connor, and
reserved to himself only that of Down, which was
the smaller and poorer. Here he established a community of regular canons, with whom he attended
to prayer and meditation, as much as the external
duties of his charge would permit him. He regulated every thing, and formed great designs for the
divine honour.
To obtain the confirmation of many things which he
had done, he undertook a journey to Rome: in which
one of his motives was to procure palls for two archbishops; namely, for the see of Armagh, which had
long wanted that honour through the neglect and
abuses of the late usurpers, and for another metro-political see which Celsus had formed a project of,
but which had not been confirmed by the Pope. St
Malachy left Ireland in 1139; conversed some time at
York with a holy priest named Sycar, an eminent
servant of God, and in his way through France
visited Clairvaux, where St. Bernard first became acquainted with him and conceived the greatest affection and veneration for him on account of his sanctity.
St. Malachy was so edified with the wonderful spirit
of piety which he discovered in St. Bernard and his
monks, that he most earnestly desired to join them in
their holy exercises of penance and contemplation,
and to end his days in their company; but he was
never able to gain the pope’s consent to leave his
bishopric. Proceeding on his journey, at Yvree in
Piedmont he restored to health the child of the host
with whom he lodged, who was at the point of death.
Pope Innocent II. received him with great honour;
but would not hear of his petition for spending the
remainder of his life at CLairvaux. He confirmed all he had done in Ireland, made him his legate in that
island, and promised him the pall. The saint in his
return called again at Clairvaux, where, says St.
Bernard, he gave us a second time his blessing. Not
being able to remain himself with those servants of
God, he left his heart there, and four of his companions, who, taking the Cistercian habit, afterwards
came over into Ireland, and instituted the abbey of
Mellifont, of that Order, and the parent of many
others in those parts. St. Malachy went home
through Scotland, where king David earnestly entreated him to restore to health his son Henry, who
lay dangerously ill. The saint said to the sick
prince: “Be of good courage; you will not die
this time.” Then sprinkled him with holy water,
and the next day the prince was perfectly recovered.
St. Malachy was received in Ireland with the
greatest joy, and discharged his office of legate with
wonderful zeal and fruit, preaching every where,
holding synods, making excellent regulations, abolishing abuses, and working many miracles. One of
these St. Charles Borromeo used to repeat to his
priests, when he exhorted them not to fail being
watchful and diligent in administering in due time
the sacrament of extreme unction to the sick. It is
related by St. Bernard as follows. The lady of a
certain knight who dwelt near Benchor, being at the
article of death, St. Malachy was sent for; and after
suitable exhortations, he prepared to give her extreme
unction. It seemed to all her friends better to
postpone that sacrament till the next morning, when
she might be better disposed to receive it. St. Malachy yielded to their earnest entreaties, though with great unwillingness. The holy man having made the sign of the cross upon the sick woman, retired to his
chamber; but was disturbed in the beginning of the
night with an uproar through the whole house, and
lamentations and cries, that their mistress was dead.
The bishop ran to her chamber, and found her departed ; whereupon, lifting up his hands to heaven,
he said with bitter grief and remorse: “It is I myself
who have sinned by this delay, not this poor creature.”
Desiring earnestly to render to the dead what he
accused himself that he by his neglect had robbed her
of, he continued standing over the corpse, praying
with many bitter tears and sighs; and from time to
time turning towards the company, he said to them: "Watch and pray.” They passed the whole night in
sighs and reciting the psalter, and other devout
prayers; when, at break of day, the deceased lady
opened her eyes, sat up, and knowing St. Malachy,
with devout bow saluted him: at which sight all
present were exceedingly amazed, and their sadness
was turned into joy. St. Malachy would anoint her
without delay, knowing well that by this sacrament
sins are remitted, and the body receives help as is
most expedient. The lady, to the greater glory of
God, recovered and lived some time to perform the
penance imposed on her by St. Malachy; then relapsed, and with the usual succours of the church
happily departed.
St. Malachy built a church of stone at Benchor, on
a new plan, such as he had seen in other countries :
at which unusual edifice the people of the country
were struck with great admiration. He likewise rebuilt or repaired the cathedral church at Down, famous for the tomb of St. Patrick; whither also the bodies of St. Columba and St. Bridget were afterwards removed. St Malachy’s zeal for the re-establishment
of the Irish church in its splendour moved him to
meditate a second journey into France, in order to
meet Pope Eugenius III. who was come into that
kingdom. Innocent II. died before the two palls
which he had promised could be prepared and sent.
Celestine II. and Lucius II. died in less than a year
and a half. This affair having been so long delayed,
St. Malachy convened the bishops of Ireland, and received from them a deputation to make fresh application to the apostolic see. In his journey through
England, whilst he lodged with the holy canons at
Gisburn, a woman was brought to him, who had a
loathsome cancer in her breast; whom he sprinkled
with water which he had blessed, and the next day
she was perfectly healed. Before he reached France
the Pope was returned to Rome: but St. Malachy
determined not to Cross the Alps without first visiting his beloved Clairvaux. He arrived there in
October, 1148, and was received with great joy by
St. Bernard and his holy monks, in whose happy
company he was soon to end his mortal pilgrimage.
Having celebrated Mass with his usual devotion on
the feast of St. Luke, he was seized with a fever,which obliged him to take to his bed. The good monks were very active in assisting him; but he
assured them that all the pain they took about him
was to no purpose, because he should not recover.
St. Bernard doubts not but he had a foreknowledge
of the day of his departure. How sick and weak
soever he was, he would needs rise and crawl down
stairs into the church, that he might there receive
the extreme-unction and the viaticum, which he did
lying on ashes strewed on the floor. He earnestly
begged that all persons would continue their prayers
for him after his death, promising to remember
them before God; he tenderly commended also to
their prayers all the souls which had been committed to his charge; and sweetly reposed in our
Lord on All Souls’-day, the second of November, in
the year 1148, of his age fifty-four; and was interred
in the chapel of our Lady at Clairvaux, and carried
to the grave on the shoulders of abbots. At his
burial was present a youth, one of whose arms was
struck with a dead palsy, so that it hung useless and
without life by his side. Him St. Bernard called,
and taking up the dead arm applied it to the hand of
the deceased Saint, and it was wonderfully restored
to itself, as this venerable author himself assures us.
St. Bernard, in his second discourse on this saint, says
to his monks: “May he protect us by his merits,
whom he has instructed by his example, and confirmed by his miracles.” At his funeral, having sung
a Mass of requiem for his soul, he added to the Mass
a collect to implore the divine grace through his
intercession; having been assured of his glory by a revelation at the altar, as his disciple Geoffroy relates in the fourth book of his life. St. Malachy was
canonized by a bull of Pope Clement (either the third
or fourth), addressed to the general chapter of the
Cistercians, in the third year of his pontificate.
Two things, says St. Bernard, made Malachy a
saint, perfect meekness (which is always founded in
sincere profound humility) and a lively faith: by the
first, he was dead to himself; by the second, his
soul was closely united to God in the exercises of
assiduous prayer and contemplation. He sanctified him
in faith and mildness. It is only by the same means
we can become saints. How perfectly Malachy was
dead to himself, appeared by his holding the metro-political dignity so long as it was attended with extraordinary dangers and tribulations, and by his
quitting it as soon as he could enjoy it in peace: how
entirely he was dead to the world, he showed by his
love of sufferings and poverty, and by the state of
voluntary privations and self-denial, in which he lived
in the midst of prosperity, being always poor to himself, and rich to the poor, as he is styled by St.
Bernard. In him this father draws the true character
of a good pastor, when he tells us, that self-love and
the world were crucified in his heart, and that he
joined the closest interior solitude with the most
diligent application to all the exterior functions of his
ministry. “ He seemed to live wholly to himself, yet
so devoted to the service of his neighbour, as if he
lived wholly for them. So perfectly did neither
charity withdraw him from the strictest watchfulness over himself, nor the care of his own soul hinder him in any thing from attending to the service of others.
If you saw him amidst the cares and functions of his
pastoral charge, you would say he was born for others,
not for himself. Yet if you considered him in his
retirement, or observed his constant recollection,
you would think that he lived only to God and
himself.”
Lives of Saint Malachy, St. Laurence O'Toole and St. Kevin: with a brief notice of some Irish shrines and reliquaries (Dublin, n.d.), 1-22.
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