St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh Part 25

such mourning is based on custom, not on reason. If the Lord _hath given His beloved one sleep_, and such sleep, in which there is _an heritage of the Lord_, even _children, and the reward, the fruit of the womb_,[911] which of these things seems to call for weeping? Must I weep for him who has escaped from weeping? He rejoices, he triumphs, he has been brought _into the joy of his Lord_,[912] and I, must I lament for him? I desire these things for myself, I do not grudge them to him.

Meanwhile the obsequies are prepared, the sacrifice is offered for him,[913] all is performed according to custom with the greatest devotion. There stood some way off a boy whose arm hung by his side dead, rather burdensome to him than useful. When I discovered him I signed to him to come near, and taking his withered hand I laid it on the hand of the bishop, and it restored it to life. For in truth _the grace of healings_[914] lived in the dead; and his hand was to the dead hand what Elisha was to the dead man.[915] The boy _had come from far_[916] and the hand which he brought hanging down, he carried back whole to his own country. Now, all things having been duly accomplished in the very oratory of Saint Mary, Mother of G.o.d, _in which he was well pleased_,[917] Malachy is carried to his burial[918] in the eleven hundred and forty-eighth year from the Incarnation of the Lord, on the fourth of the Nones of November.[919] Thine, good Jesus, is _the deposit_ which has been committed to us,[920] Thine is the treasure which is laid up with us.[921] We _keep_ it[922] to be given back at the time when Thou shalt see fit to recall it; only that he may not go forth without his comrades, but that him whom we have had as our guest we may have also as our leader, when we _shall reign_ with Thee, and with him also, _for ever and ever_.[923] Amen.

FOOTNOTES:

[821] _I.e._ "If I die in Ireland."

[822] In Armagh. See -- 19, 65.

[823] All Souls' Day, November 2.

[824] Matt. v. 18.

[825] Ps. xlviii. 8.

[826] Note that the pall is called a sacrament.

[827] See - 38.

[828] Bernard Paganelli, a monk of Clairvaux, was sent to Rome by St.

Bernard at the request of Innocent II. and was appointed abbot of the monastery of St. Anastasius. On the death of Lucius II. he was elected Pope, February 15, 1144, and a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of Eugenius III. (H. K.

Mann, _Lives of the Popes_, ix. 131 ff.)

[829] Eugenius left Viterbo at the beginning of 1147. He was at Lyons in March, and at Troyes on April 10 (Jaffe, p. 624 ff.; Mann, ix.

185).

[830] In accordance with the instructions of Innocent II. (- 38): "A Synod was convened at Inis Patraic by Mael Maedoc, coarb of Patrick, at which were present fifteen bishops and two hundred priests, to establish rules and morals for all, both laity and clergy; and Mael Maedoc Ua Morgair, by the advice of the Synod, went a second time to Rome (_sic_) to confer with the comarb of Peter" (_A.F.M._ 1148).

Inispatrick is a small island off Skerries, co. Dublin. For the date see _R.A.I._ x.x.xv. 249 f. In the same year Malachy had consecrated the monastery of Knock (_A.F.M._ See p. 67, n. 3).

[831] St. Bernard seems to have thought that St. Malachy set sail immediately after the Synod, and from a port not far from the place where it met. But this is impossible, for one day's sail brought him to Scotland (- 68). He seems to have embarked at Bangor, which is about a hundred miles north of Inispatrick.

[832] Cp. Lam. ii. 11.

[833] Ruth i. 14.

[834] Matt. xx. 20, combined with Mark x. 35, 36.

[835] Susanna, 22.

[836] That is, the first day after his landing in Scotland.

[837] The Green Lake. It is now Soulseat, about eight miles from Cairngarroch. At this place Fergus, lord of Galloway (p. 76, n. 4), founded a famous monastery of Premonstratensian canons (Grub, _Eccl.

Hist. of Scotland_, i. 269), which must not be confused with Malachy's more humble community.

[838] The abbot was Michael, who had belonged to the community at Bangor (- 15). As this new community is called "a convent of monks" we may infer that it was of the Cistercian Order.

[839] Note the leisureliness of the journey in its earlier stages.

Later on Malachy encountered difficulties, which no doubt involved further delay (Serm. i. - 1).

[840] Gisburn is a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire on the river Ribble, not far from the border of Lancashire. It is clear that on this occasion Malachy followed the line of Watling Street, which ran through Ribchester, on the Ribble, about fourteen miles from Gisburn. His road probably pa.s.sed within three miles of that place between Settle and Chetburn. He seems to have avoided entering England as long as possible--supposing no doubt, and with good reason, that he was safer in the dominions of David than in those of Stephen. For details of the journey see _R.I.A._ x.x.xv. 239 ff., 249. The monastery of Gisburn, of which the ruins remain to the south of the parish church, was founded for Augustinian canons, in 1129, by Robert de Brus (Dugdale, vi. 1, 265 ff.).

[841] Malachy was probably suspected (not without cause) of being an emissary of the supporters of the Empress Matilda. He had just spent some days with David I., and with him and his stepson Waltheof he was on terms of intimate friendship (-- 36, 40). King David invaded England in the following year.

[842] The reference is apparently to King Stephen's attempt to prevent Theobald of Canterbury and other bishops from attending the Council of Rheims in March 1148. But Malachy does not seem to have been summoned to the Council, and he did not reach the Channel till long after it was over (see next note).

[843] Eugenius left Clairvaux on April 27, and Lausanne on May 20 (Jaffe, p. 634). At this rate he might have been expected to reach Rome by the end of July. About that time, therefore, we may conjecture that Malachy was on the coast of Kent. Actually, the Pope was not near Rome till he reached Viterbo on November 30 (_ibid._ 636). St.

Bernard, therefore, when he wrote this pa.s.sage, was ignorant of his movements for a considerable time before Malachy's death.

[844] _Oriens_: literally, "east."

[845] Luke i. 78.

[846] Ps. cxviii. 24.

[847] St. Bernard's life-long and ever-increasing frailty is constantly alluded to by his biographers. It was largely due to his extreme austerity. In this incident we have an example of the way in which, on many occasions, the strength of his mind conquered the weakness of his body (_V. P._ v. 4).

[848] Gen. xxix. 13.

[849] Cant. iii. 4.

[850] Ps. cx.x.xiii. 1.

[851] Matt. xii. 42; Luke xi. 31.

[852] October 18. Malachy had therefore reached Clairvaux on October 13 or 14. In the interval he met St. Gilbert of Sempringham and presented him with a pastoral staff (Dugdale, vi. 2, p. xii.). In France Malachy travelled alone--having been parted from his companions in England--and probably on horseback (- 36). He may, therefore, have left England about September 30, and traversed the 270 miles from Wissant to Clairvaux by October 14. He apparently intended to start for Rome on St. Luke's Day (Serm. i. - 1).

[853] That is, in the presence of the community.

[854] Prov. xiv. 13 (inexact quotation).

[855] Luke x. 40.

[856] Cp. 2 Tim. iv. 6, in which the phraseology of the vg. differs entirely from that of the text.

[857] Not strictly accurate. Malachy reached Clairvaux before his companions. See p. 123, n. 3.

[858] The physicians said the same (Serm. i. - 2).

[859] This saying is quoted in a slightly different form in Serm. i. - 2.

[860] 2 Tim. iv. 6.

[861] 2 Tim. i. 12.

[862] Ps. lxxviii. 30 (vg.).

[863] Ps. cx.x.xii. 14 (inexact quotation).

[864] Ps. xvii. 7.