Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum Part 29

Meanwhile Kells did not escape the ravages of the Danes. In A.D. 949, _recte_ 951, it suffered greatly. G.o.dfrey, King of the Danes of Dublin, marched to Kells, and having plundered all the country round about, returned home with "3,000 captives, besides gold, silver, raiment, and various wealth and goods of every description."[280] Although Kells suffered much in various attacks, both before and after this date, it is doubtful if the good monks of Columcille were ever so completely cleaned out as on that occasion. It is called an _expilatio_ by an old chronicler--pillage that left nothing after it. Kells was five times plundered during the tenth century; once also at the close of the ninth, and once at the opening of the eleventh century; and it was burned during the same period even oftener than it was plundered. Yet the school and monastery lived on, and after the Danish wars seem to have become once more quite flourishing.

The celebrated _Cathach_, to which we referred when speaking of the School of Moville, was enshrined at Kells about the close of the eleventh century. On the margin of the under silver plate of the casket, which contains the MS., the following words in Gaelic are still quite legible.

"Pray for Cathbarr O'Donnell for whom this casket was made, and for Sitric, son of Mac Aedha, who made it, and for Domnald Mac Robartaigh Comarb of Kells, at whose house it was made." As this abbot of Kells died in A.D. 1098 the _c.u.mdach_, or casket, must have been fabricated by MacHugh's son before that date, probably at the joint expense of O'Donnell and the abbot.

The family of Mac Robartaigh seems to have produced several distinguished scholars during this century, many of whom were connected with the monastic school of Kells. The Mac Robartaigh clan appears to have belonged to Donegal. The parish of Ballymacgroarty in Tirhugh was most likely their family inheritance, as it takes its name from the clan. The celebrated Maria.n.u.s Scotus was a member of the same family; for in his own hand he describes himself as Muredach Mac Robartaig, giving his original Irish name, instead of the literary patronymic, which his learning and virtue have immortalised.

II.--THIS MARIa.n.u.s SCOTUS,

Scribe and Commentator on Sacred Scripture, must be carefully distinguished from his countryman and namesake Maria.n.u.s Scotus the Chronicler. We have fortunately an authentic Life of the former written by another Irishman, who was an inmate of the same religious house as Maria.n.u.s, and who tells us that he derived his information from Father Isaac, then living, the life-long a.s.sociate of Maria.n.u.s himself.

This Life sets forth that Maria.n.u.s was a native of the North of Ireland, but does not name the locality in which he was born. In his early youth he was handed over by his parents to the care of certain religious men in order to be trained up for the clerical state in all learning and pious discipline. There is hardly a doubt that the reference here is to the monks of Drumhome, in the barony of Tirhugh, county Donegal. The old monastic church was situated near the sea sh.o.r.e, where the boy must have often wandered in view of the n.o.ble mountains that rise up so grandly beyond the bay, and in the sight and hearing of the wild Atlantic waves that break upon its sh.o.r.e. Later on he was doubtless sent to Kells to complete his studies, for several members of his family presided over that abbey about this period.

We gather from statements made by Maria.n.u.s himself, that he left Ireland in A.D. 1067; and therefore just eleven years after the departure of his namesake, Maria.n.u.s the Chronicler. At this period old Father Isaac described him to the writer of his life, as a handsome fair-haired youth, strong-limbed and tall, moreover a man of goodly mien, and gracious eloquence, well trained in all human and divine knowledge.[281] His purpose was to go on pilgrimage to Rome; but calling to see Bishop Otho of Bamberg, he was induced to remain with that prelate for a whole year.

Subsequently the bishop gave Maria.n.u.s and his two companions a cell at the foot of the mountain, in which they lived as recluses, the bishop generously supplying their simple wants.

After the Bishop's death they journeyed on to Ratisbon, where they were once more induced to stay at the earnest entreaty of the venerable abbess Emma and her nuns. As before they lived as recluses in their own little cells, Maria.n.u.s devoting himself with great zeal to the composition and transcription of religious books for the good abbess Emma and her nuns. He also found leisure to write books for the monks around Ratisbon; "for his pen was swift, his handwriting clear and beautiful, and his labour incessant." He worked so diligently in his cell that his two companions, John and Candidus--Irishmen also--found quite enough to do in preparing the parchments which he filled up with the words of salvation. We are expressly told that they all laboured without fee or reward--giving their books gratuitously, contenting themselves with the poorest raiment and the plainest and scantiest fare. "To tell the truth without a fog of words,"

says the writer of the _Life of Maria.n.u.s_, "amongst all the things which Divine Providence wrought by the hands of the said Maria.n.u.s, nothing in my opinion is so wonderful and praiseworthy as the zeal with which the holy man, not once or twice, but frequently transcribed with his own hand the entire Old and New Testament with commentaries and explanations; while at the same time he wrote many smaller books, and psalters for poor widows, and for the needy clerics in the same city (of Ratisbon), and that, too, merely for his soul's sake, without any hope of earthly gain. Moreover, many monastic congregations in faith and charity imitating the same blessed Maria.n.u.s, having come from that same Ireland (Hibernia), and now dwelling throughout Bavaria and Franconia, are for the most part sustained by the writings of that same holy man."

Such is the n.o.ble testimony borne to the learning, zeal, and charity of this pure-souled Irish monk in the land of the stranger. And therefore it was that, not without good reason, he and his countrymen were so warmly welcomed and so generously treated in all the great cities of mediaeval Germany.

But Maria.n.u.s was quite as remarkable for the holiness of his life as for his learning and literary labours. "He was," says the writer of his Life, "like Moses, the meekest of men; and G.o.d bestowed upon him in a wonderful way the gift of healing many diseases, but especially fevers, and not only during his life, as I have heard from trustworthy witnesses, but at his tomb after his death, _as I have seen with my own eyes_."

We cannot now, however, give an account of the celebrated monastery of St.

James of Ratisbon, which was founded by Maria.n.u.s for his countrymen, who came to that city in great numbers towards the close of the eleventh century, nor of the great scholars which it produced.

Maria.n.u.s is described by Aventinus in the _Annals of Bavaria_ as a distinguished poet and theologian--poeta et theologus insignis--second to no man of his time. His poems are unfortunately lost, but his Commentaries still remain to us at least in ma.n.u.script. His Commentary on the Psalms was so highly valued, as Aventinus tells us, that it was not allowed outside of the walls of the monastic library without a valuable deposit being left to secure its safe return. There is in the Cotton collection a codex not yet published ent.i.tled _Liber Mariani genere Scoti excerptus de Evangelistarum voluminibus sive Doctoribus_.

His most famous work, however, is the codex containing the Epistles of St.

Paul, with a marginal and interlinear commentary. This precious MS. is now in the Imperial Library at Vienna,[282] and is especially valuable because it contains several entries in the old and pure Gaedhlic of the eleventh century.[283] It is quite astonishing what a number of writers is quoted by Maria.n.u.s in the marginal gloss--Jerome, Augustine, Ca.s.siodorus, Arn.o.bius, St. Gregory, Origen, St. Leo the Great, Alcuin, Ca.s.sian, Peter the Deacon, Pelagius, and the Ambrosiaster are all laid under tribute. We wonder how many Irish scholars of the present day are acquainted with them.

This great work was completed on Friday, the 16th day before the kalends of June, A.D. 1079--he marks the date himself, and asks the reader to say 'Amen' to the brief prayer for his soul's salvation. "Amen, G.o.d rest him"

(_Amen Got der Erleich_), wrote a pious old German of the fifteenth century on the face of the page in response to this pious request. Amen say we too--may G.o.d give him rest--that G.o.d whom he served so well during all the years of his pilgrimage in the land of the stranger.

"And now, my brothers," says the eloquent old Irish monk, who wrote the Life of Maria.n.u.s, thinking no doubt of his own far-off home in Ireland by the swelling Boyne or winding Erne; "and now my brothers, if you should ask me what will be the reward of Maria.n.u.s and pilgrims like him, who left the sweet soil of their native land which is free from every noxious beast and worm, with its mountains and hills, its valleys and its groves so well suited for the chase, the picturesque expanses of its rivers, its green fields and its streams welling up from purest fountains, and like the children of Abraham the Patriarch, came without hesitation unto the land which G.o.d had pointed out to them, this is my answer: They will dwell in the house of the Lord with the Angels and Archangels of G.o.d for ever; they will behold in Sion the G.o.d of G.o.ds, to whom be honour and glory for endless ages."

The exact date of the death of Maria.n.u.s is not marked, but it seems to have occurred in A.D. 1088, just six years after the death of his namesake the Chronicler. After Ad.a.m.nan he was the most distinguished writer produced by the Columbian Schools.[284]

III.--THE LATER SCHOOL OF DERRY.

As the great Columbian order of monks and scholars began in the Black Cell of Derry, so also from Derry flashed out the latest bright gleams of that sacred lamp which Columba had kindled, and which at one time irradiated both Scotland and Ireland. Kells held the princ.i.p.atus during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, as we have already stated; but during the twelfth century Derry came again to the front, and produced a large number of very distinguished men, most of whom belonged to a famous literary family named Ua Brolchain, or O'Brollaghan. This family derived its descent from Suibhne Meann, who was King of Ireland from A.D. 615 to 628.

He was of the Cenel-Eoghain, but belonged to a sub-division known as the Cenel-Feradhaich, whose tribe-land seems to have been in the barony of Clogher, County Tyrone. The first of the Ua Brolchain family noticed in our Annals is Maelbrighde, whose death is recorded in A.D. 1029. He is described as chief builder of his time in Erin.[285]

The next of the name whom we meet with is St. Maelisa O'Brolchain, a very celebrated man, who died A.D. 1086. He was probably an alumnus of the monastery of Derry, but afterwards retired to Both-chonais, an ancient monastic church in Inishowen, which is best known from its connection with this holy and learned man. It was delightfully situated[286] on the margin of a semicircular bay in the north-western extremity of Inishowen, where the fierce Atlantic billows spend their force in broken wavelets on its sandy sh.o.r.e. It is well sheltered on the east and south by a range of steep and rugged hills. The entire parish of Clonmany, in which it was situated, abounds in natural curiosities as well as in objects of antiquarian interest, such as cromlechs, raths, and castles perched on lofty crags.

No traces of the old monastery now remain, but its site is probably marked by an old church-yard in the townland of Binnion, situated close to a narrow inlet of the bay, and in a spot which a sea-king of old might fitly choose as the site of his stronghold. The place got its name of Both-chonais--the House of Conas--from its founder, who was the husband of St. Patrick's sister, Darerca, and by her the father of two holy bishops, Mael and Maelchu. It is referred to at intervals as a place of some celebrity during the ninth and tenth centuries, and the death of its Airchinneach is recorded in A.D. 1049.

Maelisa O'Brolchain shunned church dignities, if he were not indeed a lay professor; but all the same he certainly acquired great fame even in this remotest corner of Erin both as a teacher and a scholar. The Four Masters describe him as "the learned senior (or sage) of Ireland, a paragon of wisdom and piety, in poetry as well as in both languages--(Irish and Latin)." The term 'chief senior' is never given except to the most eminent men, who were recognised as such by their contemporary annalists. Colgan speaks of him, too, in the highest terms as an humble man shunning all worldly honours, and devoted to a pious and studious life. He was the author of many books "replete with genius and intellect," which were preserved in the neighbourhood of Both-chonais in Colgan's time, but have since unfortunately perished. "I have in my own possession," adds Colgan, "some few fragments which he wrote," and which also appear to have completely disappeared since Colgan's time. Even the site of his monastery is uncertain. O'Donovan seems to think it was in the townland of Binnion; but Reeves places it in the townland of Carrowmore, parish of Culdaff, on the left-hand side of the road from Moville to Carn, and about three miles from the latter village.[287] It is said that he founded an oratory at Lismore, which was burned in A.D. 1116, and is called the Oratory of Maelisa. He may have spent some time either as a student or as a teacher in that celebrated seminary. He died in A.D. 1086 at a very advanced age, for he had no sickness, but simply gave back his soul to G.o.d. This holy and eminent scholar seems to have belonged to that cla.s.s of learned lay professors, of whom Conn-na-m-Bocht at Clonmacnoise was the most remarkable example. They were equally renowned for holiness and learning, but abstained from taking Holy Orders either from humility, or in order to have more leisure and more freedom in the pursuit of knowledge.

The death of Aedh, son of Maelisa O'Brolchain, who is described as "an eminent professor" (_praecipuus lector_), is recorded in A.D. 1095. He was, doubtless, the son of Maelisa of Both-chonais, and probably lectured either there or in the monastery of Derry. Two years afterwards, in A.D.

1097, the Four Masters record the death of Maelbrighde Mac-an-tsaer O'Brolchain, Bishop of Kildare, who is described as a 'learned doctor.'

There can hardly be a doubt that he was the son of that chief builder--_prim saer_--whose fame as a mason or architect was known throughout all Erin, and who died in A.D. 1029. Then we find two members of the family raised to the primatial Chair; one was Maelcolaim--disciple of Columba--O'Brolchain, who died in A.D. 1122; and another, named also Maelbrighde O'Brolchain, who died in A.D. 1137. It is not unlikely he belonged to the cla.s.s of laymen who claimed jurisdiction over, and called themselves "Bishops of Armagh" during a portion of the eleventh and twelfth centuries; for "Flaithbhertach, 'son of Bishop O'Brolchain,'"[288]

was Comarb of Columcille in Derry from A.D. 1150 to 1175. The history of this remarkable man is especially noteworthy.

When he was elected as Comarb of Columcille to the abbacy of Derry, in A.D. 1150, that ancient monastic seat of learning was, it appears, very much dilapidated. Like other places near the sea, it was greatly exposed to the ravages of the Danes, and had been several times plundered and burned. Most of the buildings were of wood, for the great stone church--Temple-more--was not yet built. A new era of ecclesiastical architecture was, however, inaugurated in Ireland towards the middle of the twelfth century by the workmen whom the Cistercians brought over from France and England to build their own magnificent churches and monasteries. Nothing like them had yet been seen in the land. There were Irish workmen, however, who, if opportunity offered, would be worthy rivals of the masons that built the Norman abbeys in France and England; and they gave proof of their capacity in the building of Cormac's Chapel at Cashel, which is a gem in its own way that cannot be surpa.s.sed. The Abbot of Derry came of a family that had won renown as builders, and he was anxious to show his own taste and skill in the renovation of the ancient monastery over which he had just been placed. Money, of course, was wanting, but it could not be long wanting to the Comarb of Columcille, if he were resolved to procure it. He made an official visitation of the Cenel-Eoghain, to whose kith and kin he himself belonged, and 'received his tribute,' in A.D. 1150--the year of his appointment to Derry. Next year he made a visitation of the Siol-Cathusaigh in the County Antrim, "and he obtained a horse from every chieftain, and a sheep from every hearth, and his horse and battle dress, and a ring of gold, in which were two ounces, from O'Lynn, their lord." In A.D. 1153 he made a visitation of the Dal Cairbre, and the Ui Eathach Uladh, and got a horse from every chieftain, and a sheep from every house, and a screaball, a horse, and five cows from O'Donlevy himself, and an ounce of gold from his wife.

Coined money was scarce; but cattle and horses were plenty, and would do as well. Later on he even visited Ossory, and raised his tribute, and procured immunity for the Columbian churches in Meath from all a.s.sessments except, we presume, his own. Being at this time Head of the Columbian Order, he was, doubtless, present at the great Synod of Kells, which was held in that city by Cardinal Paparo in A.D. 1152; and during that year we find he made no official visitation elsewhere. No doubt he had enough on his hands; and we may be sure he voted for that Canon of the Council which ordered t.i.thes to be regularly a.s.sessed for Church purposes on all the lands of Erin. It was what he had himself twice done already, and what he could now do, not only with custom, but with law also in his favour.

O'Brolchain made an excellent use of the funds which he thus procured. He removed all the houses that surrounded and disfigured the church of Derry, and then built on the site of the old church that new Temple Mor which gives its name to the parish, and appears to have been a large and imposing structure. The Four Masters say it was eighty feet long, and that it was built by O'Brolchain and his clergy, with the help of the king of Ireland, in forty days. If so, the materials must have been all prepared, and a large number of tradesmen must have been employed, which is not unlikely, seeing that he had already built a limekiln[289] measuring seventy feet every way, which took him twenty days to construct. The limekiln was built in A.D. 1163; but the church was not erected until A.D.

1165, and it is highly probable that the walls were being built in the meantime, and that the Four Masters mean that the church was covered in during the s.p.a.ce of 60 days, which might easily be done. Doubtless, O'Brolchain constructed many other buildings also at Derry, for otherwise he would scarcely have occasion for building that enormous limekiln.

The merits of O'Brolchain were fully appreciated by the clergy and people of the north, and led to his formal elevation to the episcopal order in the year A.D. 1158. He had previously enjoyed large jurisdiction as Comarb of Columcille not only in Derry, but over the Columbian Churches generally. It was felt, however, especially after the Synod of Kells, that this state of things was now becoming anomalous and unsatisfactory, and might lead to a conflict of jurisdiction between the Comarb of Columcille and the regular diocesan authority. Hence it was resolved at a meeting of the Irish Clergy, held in Meath in that year, to raise O'Brolchain to the episcopal dignity, and circ.u.mscribe his jurisdiction by a.s.signing him a definite territory. The Four Masters record it in this manner:--

A.D. 1158. "A Synod of the Clergy of Ireland was convened at Bri Mac Taidgh in Laeghaire (near Trim), when there were present twenty-five bishops, with the legate of the Successor of Peter to ordain rules and good morals. It was on this occasion the clergy of Ireland, with the successor of Patrick, ordered a Chair, like every other bishop, for the successor of Columcille--Flaithbheartach Ua Brolchain--and the Arch-abbacy of the churches of Ireland in general." Very little is known of the history of this Synod; but we may note the following important facts:--The legate of the Comarb of Peter was Christian, Bishop of Lismore; his presence at the Synod was sufficient to authorize the bishops to proceed to the erection of a new See. The 'Chair' spoken of means not merely a chair in that a.s.sembly, but a new diocese, with all the rights and privileges canonically appertaining thereto. The new bishop was, however, still allowed to retain, and perhaps for the first time canonically to acquire, the Headship of all the Columbian monasteries. It may be that Kells was still a rival, and that its abbot also claimed to be Comarb of Columba; if so, this decree settled the question; and the new bishop of Derry was formally recognised as the Head of all the Columbian houses in Erin--for at that time there could be no question of any other.

Thus it was that the See of Derry was established. Mention is made of a Bishop of Derry previously, and of a Bishop-abbot of Derry; but it was, so to speak, by accident that this took place. There was no See of Derry, and no Diocese of Derry until A.D. 1158, when O'Brolchain was formally elevated to that dignity. It is not unlikely that he too was in Episcopal Orders previously--but now for the first time he got a chair or diocese.

This eminent ecclesiastic, the founder of the Diocese of Derry, died in A.D. 1175, and the Four Masters record his death with the following honourable testimony:--

"Flaithbhertach O'Brolchain, Comarb of Columcille, a tower of wisdom and hospitality, a man on whom on account of his goodness and wisdom the clergy of Ireland had bestowed a bishop's chair, to whom the abbacy of Hy had been offered (in A.D. 1164), died in righteousness, after exemplary sickness, in the Duibhregles of Columcille; and Gilla Mac Taidgh Ua Brenain was appointed to his place in the abbacy." It is a curious fact that in A.D. 1173, we find recorded the death of Muiredhach Ua Cobthaich, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe; but it only implies that before the year A.D.

1158 he was the bishop territorially of Derry; for after that date he could have no legal claim to the See.

During the half-century between A.D. 1100 and 1150, Iona was under the influence of the Kings of Norway, especially of Magnus the Great, who subjected the island to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Man; but in A.D.

1156 royal Somerlid recovered Hy and others of the 'Southern' islands.

Being himself a Celt of Irish blood, he was anxious to restore the Celtic influence in the island; and hence we find that in A.D. 1164, at his instance the abbacy of Hy was offered to O'Brolchain, Abbot and Bishop of Derry. But O'Brolchain being now Bishop of Derry, and the recognised head of the Columbian Order, declined to accept the abbacy of Hy, preferring to remain in Derry. Domhnall O'Brolchain, however, was appointed to the insular abbacy, and being, like all his family, a building man, he determined to signalize his reign by the erection of a great church in Hy.

It was the cathedral whose ruins are still to be seen, and they furnish a striking monument of the taste and munificence of the Irish Abbot. On the capital of the tower column are inscribed the still legible words--DONALDUs...o...b..OLCHAN FECIT HOC OPUS. We cannot have absolute certainty; but there can be no reasonable doubt of the ident.i.ty of this name with the Domhnall O'Brolchain, the prior and exalted senior, whose death the _Annals of Ulster_ record in A.D. 1203, and the Four Masters in A.D. 1202. After his death a certain Cellach,[290] "without any legal right, and in despite of the family of Hy, erected a monastery there in the middle of Cro-Hy." But the clergy of the North of Erin, bishops and abbots, pa.s.sed over into Hy and pulled down this new monastery; and Awley O'Ferrall was elected Abbot of Hy by the suffrages both of the Foreigners and Gaedhil. This points to an attempt made by the foreign influence to eject the Irish monks from Hy; but for once it signally failed. The last entry in our Annals records the death of Flann O'Brolchain, the last Irish Abbot of Hy, in the year A.D. 1219. Thenceforward it ceased to be Irish, and became a purely Scottish monastery and remained so until the Reformation.

IV.--GELASIUS.

We cannot pa.s.s away from the School of Derry without some reference to one of the most distinguished men it ever produced--the celebrated Gelasius, who succeeded St. Malachy in the See of Armagh. He was one of that n.o.ble band of prelates who, with Celsus, and St. Malachy at their head, did so much for the true reformation of the Irish Church in discipline and morals during the half-century that immediately preceded the advent of the Anglo-Normans to our sh.o.r.es.

Gelasius in his native tongue was called Gilla Mac Liag, and also Gilla Mac Liag Mic Ruaidhre. The term _Mac Liag_ is commonly taken to mean the 'son of the scholar;' and Harris a.s.sures us that he was so called because his father was esteemed a man of learning, and the most considerable poet of his age. He is sometimes called Diarmaid, which explains why his son is called Gilla Mac Liag Mic Ruaidhri, that is the youngster, the son of the scholar, who was the son of Ruaidhri. We know nothing further of his family or birth-place; but Colgan, who had excellent means of obtaining information, states that he was born in A.D. 1088. It is obvious that he was a native of some territory near Derry, and received his early education in that monastic school, for we find him while still very young holding the important position of airchinneach--or erenach, as it is frequently spelled--of that monastery. It is not improbable that his father, the poet, was connected with the same monastery, if he did not hold the same office. It was one which at this period might be held by a layman, or even by a woman, if we may credit the statement of the Four Masters, that Bebhinn, who died in A.D. 1134, whilst Gelasius was Abbot of Derry, was the female erenach of that monastery. Gelasius became Abbot of Derry in A.D. 1120 or 1121; and held that important office for sixteen years. He must have given general satisfaction in his government of Derry, for he was called by the voice of the clergy and n.o.bles, and with the a.s.sent of St. Malachy himself, to succeed that great prelate, when he resigned the primacy of Armagh in A.D. 1137. The reign of Gelasius is remarkable for two things--first, the success with which he a.s.serted his jurisdiction as Primate during his visitations in all parts of Ireland, and secondly for his zeal in holding Synods to correct abuses and reform the morals both of the clergy and of the people.

During the centuries preceding the twelfth century, which was a period of reform, the jurisdiction of the Primate was practically in abeyance. If it was recognised at all in the South of Ireland, it was certainly merely nominal. This arose from many causes--the troubles of the times, the rivalry of the native princes, the ravages of the Danes, and the intrusion of laymen into the See of Armagh, who claimed to inherit the jurisdiction of St. Patrick to the great disgust of all well disposed persons, both clergy and laity, throughout Ireland.

The great Brian Boru did much to cause the primatial authority to be recognised and respected once more in the South as well as in the North of Ireland. When the great 'Imperator of the Scots,' himself from the South of Ireland, came and laid his gifts on the altar of Armagh, and afterwards ordered his body to be buried there, it was a recognition of the primatial rights of Patrick's See which none could affect to ignore or to despise.

Then during the next century Providence raised up a line of great and holy prelates in Armagh--Celsus, Malachy, and Gelasius--men of courage, learning, energy, and filled with the apostolic spirit, who expelled the intruders, vindicated the rights, and, by their conduct and character even more than by words, a.s.serted the dignity of the primatial see.

Gelasius had certainly his own share in this n.o.ble work. The very year after his accession to the see of Armagh he made a formal visitation throughout the Province of Munster, and was everywhere received with honour and loaded with gifts.

The next year he went to Connaught, where he was also received with all honour and obedience. Torlough O'Conor was then King of Connaught; and claimed to be High King of Ireland. He successfully a.s.serted his claim by over-running Munster, Meath, and Leinster in succession; he even penetrated into Oriel and threatened Ailech itself. But he received the Primate Gelasius with the most profound respect; he gave him efficient protection in his journeys through the province, and seems to have also a.s.sisted him in carrying out his schemes of reform. In fact, whether it was because he wanted to correct abuses, or liked his treatment beyond the Shannon, the Primate visited that province no less than four different times before his death.

Gelasius was no less zealous in convening and presiding over Synods for the maintenance of discipline and the extirpation of abuses.

The earliest of these was held at Holmpatrick by the Primate and St.

Malachy in A.D. 1148. It is called by the Four Masters Inis-Padraig, but the place is the same--the small island near Skerries, now called Holm-Patrick, or Patrick's Island. Its object was to make formal application to the Pope in the name of the Irish Church for a pallium or pall for each of the archbishops both of the old and new creation. St.

Malachy set out for France to meet the Pope, as we have already seen, but died on his way at Clairvaux on the 2nd of November in the same year.