Interior of Chapter-House. See p. [18].
From Photo by W. Lawrence, Dublin.
Whilst the Church in France was reaping the benefit of the holy Abbot’s preaching and example, a zealous Irish prelate was actively and successfully engaged in eradicating vice which sprang up in this country, as a consequence of the long-protracted wars with the Danes, and the demoralising effects of intercourse with that people. Nevertheless, Ireland had then its saints and scholars, and the ancient seats of learning, such as Armagh, Bangor, Lismore, Clonard, and Clonmacnoise were once more inhabited by numerous communities. This saintly prelate was St. Malachy, who, being on his way to Rome, heard of the sanctity of the great St. Bernard, and would fain pay him a visit. This visit would St. Malachy have gladly prolonged; for then and there sprang up a mutual affection, which, writes our own Tom Moore, “reflects credit on both.” St. Malachy was so enamoured with what he witnessed at Clairvaux, and particularly with the wise discourses of the learned Abbot, that he determined to become one of his disciples. Innocent II., who then ruled the flock of Christ, on the Saint seeking his permission to retire to Clairvaux, would not hearken to his request, but giving him many marks of his esteem, appointed him his Legate in Ireland, and commanded him to return thither. If St. Malachy might not live at Clairvaux in the midst of the fervent men whom he there beheld earnestly intent in the great work of mortification and expiation, he resolved, at least, to have a colony of them near him in his own country, that by their prayers and example, they might promote God’s glory, and in a measure, repeat the glorious traditions of the ancient monastic ages in Ireland. In furtherance of this happy project, he singled out four of his travelling companions, whom he gave in charge to St. Bernard, with these words: “I most earnestly conjure you to retain these disciples, and instruct them in all the duties and observances of the religious profession, that, hereafter they may be able to teach us.” On receiving an assurance of a hearty compliance from St. Bernard, he took cordial leave of his friend and returned to Ireland. Not long after he sent more of his disciples to join those whom he had already left at Clairvaux, and on their arrival, St. Bernard wrote as follows: “The Brothers who have come from a distant land, your letter and the staff you sent me, have afforded me much consolation in the midst of the many anxieties and cares that harass me.... Meanwhile, according to the wisdom bestowed on you by the Almighty, select and prepare a place for their reception, which shall be secluded from the tumults of the world, and after the model of those localities which you have seen amongst us.” The place selected by St. Malachy as the site of the future monastery, was the sequestered valley watered by the River Mattock, situated about three and one half miles from Drogheda, Co. Louth, and much resembling Clairvaux, which, too, was located in a valley, shut in by little hills on all sides. Donogh O’Carroll, Prince of Oriel, the lord of the territory, freely granted the site to God and SS. Peter and Paul, munificently endowed the monastery with many broad acres, and supplied wood and stone for the erection of the buildings. This grant was made in either 1140 or 1141. The charter of endowment by O’Carroll has not been found.
It would appear from another letter of St. Bernard to St. Malachy, that he had sent some monks from Clairvaux to make preparations for those who were to immediately follow, and that already their number was augmented at Mellifont by the accession of new members from the surrounding district, who had joined them on their appearance in that locality. In this same letter St. Bernard writes: “We send back to you your dearly-beloved son and ours, Christian, as fully instructed as was possible in those rules which regard our Order, hoping, moreover, that he will henceforth prove solicitous for their observance.” This Christian is commonly supposed to have been archdeacon of the diocese of Down. He was certainly first Abbot of Mellifont, and his name shall turn up in connection with important national events later on. With Christian came a certain Brother Robert, a Frenchman, a skilful architect, who constructed the monastery after the model of Clairvaux.
That these were the pioneers of the Cistercian Order in Ireland cannot for one moment be doubted, both from the very important fact, that the Abbot of Mellifont took precedence of all the Abbots of his Order in this country, and also, because it is an historical fact, that St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin, the other claimant for priority, did not exchange the Benedictine for the Cistercian Rule till, at earliest, 1148, when the Abbot of Savigni in France, with the thirty houses of his Order (Benedictine) subject to his jurisdiction, were admitted into the Cistercian family by Pope Eugenius III., who presided at the General Chapter of the Cistercians that year. St. Mary’s was founded from Buildewas, in Shropshire, and this latter was subject to Savigni.
Various reasons are assigned for the adoption by these ancient monks of the name Mellifont, which signifies “The Honey Fountain.” Some are of opinion it had a spiritual signification, and had reference to the abundance of blessings which would flow, and be diffused over the whole country from this centre, through the unceasing and fervent intercessory prayer of its holy inmates; for next to their own sanctification, their neighbour’s wants claimed and received their practical sympathy. Like divine charity it gushed forth from hearts totally devoted to God’s service and interests, and this zeal would be halting and incomplete did it not embrace the spiritual and temporal concerns of their fellow mortals. Others derive the name from a limpid spring which supplied the monks with a copious, unfailing stream of sweet water, which had its source in Mellifont Park about one quarter of a mile distant, and which was conducted by pipes through the various parts of the monastery. This seems a very plausible account, and as the spring rose at a high level, it had sufficient pressure to obviate the necessity of a cistern as was erroneously supposed in connection with the Lavabo.
It was customary with the old Irish Cistercians to give their monasteries symbolical names at their foundation, and these names often denoted some local feature or peculiarity. Thus, Newry was called of the “Green Wood,” from the abundance of yew trees around the monastery there; Corcomroe, Co. Clare, was known under the title of the “Fertile Rock;” Baltinglas, Co. Wicklow, as the “Valley of Salvation,” etc.
It is said that the “Honey Fountain” had its source in Mellifont Park, but it seems that few of the present generation living in the vicinity of Mellifont know or appreciate its virtues. In the Ordnance Survey, it is stated that it rose in Mellifont Park, which was formerly a wood, and that to the north of the well, a few trees still remained at the time of the Survey, when the farm belonged to a Mr. James Curran.