[353] 1 Pet. ii. 10, combined with Hos. ii. 24.
[354] The city was Bangor, though St. Bernard may have taken it to be Connor. The word city (civitas), which he no doubt found in his authority, might be applied, like its Irish equivalent, cathair, to either place: but to St. Bernard it would naturally suggest an episcopal see. Connor was within the suzerainty of the king of the northern part of Ireland, Bangor was outside it. See next note.
[355] Conor O'Loughlin, who is called king of the north of Ireland in the Annals (s.a. 1136). He succeeded his father Donnell as king of Ailech (Grenan Ely, co. Donegal, the residence of the kings of the northern Ui Neill) in 1121, and the next year he invaded the northern part of Ulaid, the district in which Bangor is situated. He invaded Magh Cobha (Iveagh, co. Down) and Bregha (Meath), with the help of the Dal Araide (the district round Connor, co. Antrim) in 1128. He finally subdued Ulaid in 1130, and "plundered the country as far as the east of Ard [i.e. the baronies of the Ards, in which lies Bangor], both lay and ecclesiastical property." He was murdered on May 25, 1136 (A.U., A.L.C.). It has been supposed that the expedition of 1130 was the occasion of the destruction of Bangor mentioned in the text. But St. Bernard places it, and the consequent departure of Malachy to the south, before the death of Cellach in 1129 (§ 19), and we have found reason to believe that Malachy was at Lismore in 1127 (p. 21, n. 3). Though no raid by Conor in that year is referred to in the Annals, that fact cannot be regarded as proof that none took place.
[356] Jer. i. 14.
[357] Ibracense. That this monastery was in Iveragh, a barony in the county of Kerry, north of the estuary of the Kenmare River, and in Cormac Mac Carthy's kingdom of Desmond, was apparently first suggested by Lanigan (iv. 92). The identification is almost certainly correct. It is more difficult to determine the part of the barony in which the monastery was situated. O'Hanlon suggested Church Island, near Cahirciveen, where there are some ecclesiastical remains, traditionally known half a century ago as "the monastery" (R.I.A. xv. 107). But these appear to be of much earlier date than the twelfth century. More plausible is the conjecture of the Rev. Denis O'Donoghue, that the site is on another Church Island, in Lough Currane, near Waterville. On it are the ruins of a church which, in the opinion of Mr. P. J. Lynch, was built in the twelfth century (J.R.S.A.I. xxx. 159 f.). Malachy seems to have spent some time at Lismore before going to Iveragh.
[358] This sentence seems to imply that Malachy brought with him the Bangor community, or the greater part of it, and made a new home for it in Iveragh. If so the inference is obvious that up to 1127 Malachy resided at Bangor, and was still abbot.
[359] See §§ 9, 10.
[360] Acts ix. 28 (inexact quotation).
[361] Gen. xxx. 27.
[362] Luke i. 8.