St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

by Saint of Clairvaux Bernard

8. The same remark must be made about the statements that the people would not come to church (§ 16), and that Malachy's exertions at length induced them to do so (§ 17), though they are sufficiently probable.

9. That "churches were rebuilt" (§ 17) cannot be questioned. No doubt the monasteries of Bangor and Saul would be counted among the number. We have explicit and independent evidence of the fact. The foundation of churches and re-edifying of monasteries were a conspicuous feature of the reign of Donough O'Carroll (see p. 170). And A.F.M. (1148) lay great stress on Malachy's activities in this direction. He "consecrated many churches and cemeteries," and "founded churches and monasteries, for by him was repaired every church in Ireland which had been consigned to decay and neglect, and they had been neglected from time remote."

On the whole it appears that St. Bernard's strictures are at least not without foundation in fact, in so far as they can be tested. But he can scarcely be acquitted of some measure of exaggeration in the rhetorical passages in which they occur.

B.—The Hereditary Succession of the Coarbs Of Patrick.

Life, §§ 19. 20, 30.

The assertions of St. Bernard in Life, § 19, concerning the coarbs of Patrick are controlled by A.U. The ninth predecessor of Cellach, Cathasach II. († 957) is described in them (s.a. 956) as "coarb of Patrick, learned bishop of the Goidhil." None of the following eight is said to have been a bishop, though all are called coarbs of Patrick. Moreover Cellach himself was appointed abbot before he "received holy orders," and the record of his ordination on St. Adamnan's Day (September 23) 1105, several weeks after his "institution," seems to indicate that it was unusual for the abbots to be ordained. All this corroborates the statement that his eight predecessors were "without orders." It is true, indeed, that according to A.F.M. Amalgaid, one of the eight, anointed Maelsechlainn king of Ireland, on his deathbed in 1022. But it does not follow from this that he was a priest. In early times, as is well known, unction was administered to the sick by laymen; and there appears to be no evidence that this office was confined to the priesthood till well on in the ninth century (Dict. of Christ. Antiquities, ii. 2004). It is at least possible that the older usage lingered on in Ireland to a much later date than on the Continent. But the statement of A.F.M. as to the anointing of Maelsechlainn is not confirmed by the more reliable authority of A.U.

That at least five of the eight were, as St. Bernard says, "married men" is shown by the following table, compiled from A.U. and MacFirbis (R.I.A., MS. 23 P. 1, p. 308). The persons whose names are printed in italics were coarbs of Patrick.

This table also confirms the statement that the abbots all belonged to the same family, and so obtained office by a sort of hereditary right. St. Bernard gives no hint which would enable us to identify this family. But the genealogy given by MacFirbis enumerates the ancestors of Cellach in a direct line up to Fiachrach, son of Colla fo Crich, and is headed "Genealogy of Ui Sinaich, i.e. the coarbs of Patrick." The Bodleian MS., Rawl. B. 502,[1201] has the same genealogy, and entitles it "Genealogy of Clann Sinaich." The family then from which the abbots of Armagh were taken was the principal branch of that sept. From the genealogy it appears that the sept was derived from Sinach, from whom the fifth in descent was the Cellach whose name appears at the head of foregoing table.