CHAPTER I. FROM THE CLOSE OF THE SYNOD OF RATHBREASAIL TO THE CLOSE OF THE SYNOD OF CASHEL, A.D. IIIO TO A.D. 1172. IF the arrangements adopted by the Synod of Rathbreasail were intended to promote the moral improvement of the country, they proved completely inefficient. In the generation which followed, Ireland presented a scene of confusion and crime such as it had, perhaps, never before exhibited since the days of its great apostle.1 It is not difficult to account for this result. Other causes may have contributed to aggravate the evils arising from the introduction of ecclesiastical novelties; but the measures now employed to change the religious usages of the people had apparently a demoralizing influence. By the high-handed interference of King Murtogh and a few aspiring churchmen, the majority of the pastors had been degraded, and the national worship set aside. The interference with vested rights involved in the carrying out of the canons of Rathbreasail awakened the fiercest opposition. Many of the old families of the country 1 In the Annals of the Four Masters, at A.D. 1145, the following strange entry appears :-"Great war in this year, so that Ireland was a trembling sod." 2 Keating, according to O'Connor's translation, gives the following account of the proceedings at Rathbreasail :—"In this convention the revenue of the clergy and the church lands were confirmed to the several bishops of the island for their maintenance and support of the episcopal character, which lands were to be exempted from tribute and chief rents, and other public contributions, and so remain in that state of freedom and independency for ever." O'Mahony's translation is here not quite so intelligible. It is "It was upon this occasion that had, as they conceived, a hereditary interest in the property belonging to the monasteries; and, when their claims were ignored by the regulations now established, they prepared to resist, by force, what they considered spoliation. The organization of the system of diocesan episcopacy, with an adequate provision for the new lords spiritual, was accomplished by the power of the sword, and produced frightful scenes of commotion. Civil war raged throughout the land;1 the ties of nature were disregarded; and the most horrid crimes were perpetrated. It is significant that, among the acts of violence recorded, we read frequently of the pillage or destruction of churches and monasteries. The depredators were professing Christians, who complained that they were aggrieved, and who employed this mode of protesting against ecclesiastical injustice. The reckless violation of oaths forms another melancholy feature in the history of this period.* Religion must have lost its hold on the conscience when such crimes were committed. One of the most remarkable men with whom we meet in the ecclesiastical history of Ireland, presents himself, at this time, to our notice. His name is Malachy O'Morgair.5 His life has been written by a personage even more distinguished than himself the famous Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux in France, an author who has often been designated "The last of the churches of Ireland were given up, in full possession, to the Irish prelates, who were thenceforth to hold them for ever free from the authority or rent of any temporal lord."—O'MAHONY'S Keating, p. 597. No wonder that this sudden transference of such a large amount of landed property created civil war. 1 Thus we read in the Annals of the Four Masters, at A.D. 1126 :—“A great storm of war throughout Ireland in general, so that Celsus, successor of Patrick, was obliged to be for one month and a year absent from Armagh, establishing peace among the men of Ireland, and promulgating rules and good customs in every district among the laity and the clergy." 2 See O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, ii. 1051, note f. and Leland, i. 12. 3 See Annals of the Four Masters, at A.D. 1129, 1135, 1149, 1154, 1156, 1158, and 1163. See also Lanigan, iv. 55. 4 See this illustrated in the Annals of the Four Masters, at A.D. 1139, 1143, and 1159. In the last case the annalist exclaims :-"Woe to the country in which this deed was perpetrated." In the Irish Annals he is called Maelmaedhog O'Morgair. the Fathers." Bernard had never been in Ireland; but he was well acquainted with the subject of his memoir; for Malachy had been repeatedly at Clairvaux; and, on the occasion of his last visit to the monastery, had expired in the presence of his biographer. Malachy and Bernard were kindred spirits; both were noted for their ardent temperament; both were men of sincere piety; and both had wonderful influence over all around them. Bernard obtained some of the materials of his narrative from Malachy himself; but the larger portion was furnished by an Irish abbot named Congan,1 at whose request he engaged in its composition. Whilst the mind of his biographer was beclouded by superstition, both his informants were extremely credulous, and both were prepared to give a very partial account of passing occurrences. As might have been expected, Bernard's production is one-sided; so that from it we can form a most imperfect estimate of the state of matters in Ireland at the time when it was written. Malachy was born about A.D. 1095. He was the son of an Irish clergyman—a theological professor in the monastery of Armagh. Bernard does not record this fact; and others have attempted its concealment; but it can be clearly established by the evidence of the native annals.2 Malachy is said to have been of noble lineage; and the situation held by his father was one of high respectability; as the lecturer at Armagh was next in dignity to the abbot. His mother was 1 He is said to have been abbot of Surium. Lanigan, iv. 128, 130. This place seems to have been somewhere near the river Suir. Bernard expressly tells us that his materials were furnished by Congan. "Praefatio ad finem." According to some, Congan was abbot of Bangor. See O'Hanlon's Life of Malachy, p. 3, note. Dublin, 1859. 2 His father's name was Muron O'Morgair. He died when Malachy was about seven years of age. As to the evidence that Muron was a clergyman, see King's Memoir of the Primacy, p. 87. Muron had another son, named Christian, who was bishop of Clogher. 3 "The Fearleighlinn, or Lector, was the chief superintendent in the monastic school of those studies which were there cultivated; and among which theology, or the elements of the Christian religion, and especially a knowledge of the Word of God, held a first place."--KING's Memoir, p. 87. In A.D. 1049, on the death of Abbot Awley, the Fearleighlinn or Lector, was raised to the abbacy, and the bishop |