[556] Gilla Críst Ua Condoirche was probably a native of the district of Bangor (§ 14). He seems to have been one of the four who were left by Malachy at Clairvaux; and, as is here stated, he was the first abbot of Mellifont. He seems, however, to have proved not well suited for the office, for he was sent back to Clairvaux for further instruction (Letter iii. § 3). Some of the Clairvaux brothers (if not all of them) refused to remain in Ireland, and it is perhaps hinted that the cause of their return was dissatisfaction with his administration (ib. § 2). About 1150 he was promoted to the bishopric of Lismore, and at the Synod of Kells in 1152 he appeared as papal legate (Keating, iii. 317). He was present at the consecration of the church of Mellifont Abbey in 1157 (A.U.) As legate he also presided at the Synod of Cashel in 1172 (Giraldus, Expug. i. 34). He died in 1186 (A.L.C.). Felix, bishop of Lismore, attended the Lateran Council of 1179 (Mansi, xxii. 217). Christian must therefore have resigned his see before that date.
[557] Mellifont Abbey, the ruins of which still remain in a secluded valley, beside the stream known as the Mattock, about two miles from the Boyne, and five miles west of Drogheda. Some time after Malachy returned to Ireland he wrote to St. Bernard, asking him to send two of the four brothers who had been left at Clairvaux to select a site for the abbey. This request was declined (Lett. i. § 1), and the site—doubtless the gift of Donough O'Carroll (see the document quoted p. 170)—was apparently chosen by Malachy himself. In 1142 (C.M.A. ii. 262, Clyn's Annals, Annals of Boyle), the four brothers, together with a contingent of monks from Clairvaux, arrived, and the monastery was founded, with Christian as its first abbot (Lett. ii.). Considerable progress was made with the buildings, and endowments poured in. But after a while it became necessary to send Christian back to France for further instruction, and the Clairvaux monks went with him, never to return. In due time Christian resumed his office as abbot, and with him came one Robert, to assist him in the work of building and organization (Lett. iii). The Abbey Church was not consecrated till 1157, nine years after Malachy's death (A.U.). Mellifont remained the principal Cistercian house in Ireland up to the Reformation. After the dissolution (1539) it was granted, with its possessions, to Sir Edward Moore, ancestor of the earls of Drogheda. The only portions of the monastery which remain in a fair state of preservation are the Chapter House and the Lavabo. The latter belongs to the original building. Excavations made about twenty years ago revealed the ground plan of the entire monastery, most of which was of later date than Malachy. Traces were discovered of the foundation of the eastern portion of the original church, about forty feet west of the east wall of the structure which later took its place. It had six chapels at the east end, four of which were apsidal (71st Report of Commissioners of Public Works, Ireland, p. 11).
[558] 1 Sam. ii. 21.—The five daughters were apparently Bective (de Beatitudine) founded in 1147, Boyle, 1147-8, Monasternenagh, 1148, Baltinglas (de Valle Salutis), 1148, and Inislounaght (Janauschek, Origines Cistercienses, Vindoboniæ, 1877, pp. 70, 92, 113). The last-named seems to have been in existence in 1148 (see § 64), and it may have been an off-shoot of Mellifont, though at an early date it was subject to Monasternenagh (ibid. 131). Gougaud (Les Chrétientés Celtiques, 1911, p. 364) gives Shrule (de Benedictione Dei) the fifth place; but it appears to have been founded (1150?) after the Life was written (Janauschek, p. 114).
[559] Cp. Gen. xxii. 17; xxvi. 4.
[560] David I. of Scotland, son of Malcolm Canmore and St. Margaret, the sister of Edgar the Atheling. He was born in 1084. His sister Matilda was the wife of Henry I. of England; and thus he was uncle of Matilda, the empress, for whom he fought against Stephen, though Stephen's wife, Queen Matilda, was also his niece. In 1113 David married Matilda, the widow of Simon de St. Liz, earl of Northampton (cp. p. 69, n. 1). He succeeded Alexander I. in 1124 and died in 1153. As the founder of several Scottish dioceses and as having introduced the Cistercian Order into his kingdom he had much in common with St. Malachy.
[561] This is probably an error. There is no record that David I. had any castles in Galloway; and the chronicles seem to show that at this period his principal residences were at Roxburgh and Carlisle. The narrative suggests that the castle referred to was in the immediate neighbourhood of Cruggleton (p. 78, n. 1), and it was probably the predecessor of that of which the scanty ruins—believed to be of thirteenth-century date—remain on the coast not far from the village. They are on a peninsula of such natural strength that we may suppose it was in very early times the site of a fortress (Fourth Report of Commission on Ancient Monuments in Scotland, vol. i. p. 144). Possibly, as has been suggested, David was there as the guest of Fergus, lord of Galloway (1124-1161), to whom, subsequently to the Battle of the Standard (August 22, 1138), and probably not long before this visit of Malachy, he had been reconciled after a long estrangement (Agnew, Hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, 1893. vol. i. p. 58).
[562] Phil. ii. 27 (inexact quotation).
[563] 2 John iv. 47.
[564] Acts iii. 4.
[565] Luke vii. 17.