In 1193, Dervorgilla died at the monastery of Mellifont. The _Annals of
the Four Masters_ and other Annals simply relate the fact of her having
died there in the 85th year of her age, without alluding to the place of
her sepulture.
In that year, also, portions of the Relics of St. Malachy were brought to
Mellifont and were distributed to the other houses of the Order in
Ireland. Several of our Annals say that the Saint's body was brought over
from Clairvaux, but that is obviously a mistake; for until the French
Revolution, the bodies of St. Malachy and St. Bernard occupied two
magnificent altar-tombs of red marble within the chancel, at Clairvaux. A
charter, dated 1273, is still extant, whereby Robert Bruce, the rival of
John Baliol for the Scottish Crown, conveys his land of Osticroft to the
Abbot of Clairvaux for the maintenance of a lamp before St. Malachy's tomb
in that church. And the General Chapter of the Order held in 1323, when
raising the Saint's festival to a higher rank, expressly mentioned that
his body "rested" at Clairvaux. Meglinger, a German Cistercian monk, who
visited Clairvaux in 1667, and wrote a description of that famous abbey as
he beheld it, says that he was shown the heads of Saints Malachy and
Bernard, which were preserved in silver cases. He also mentions the superb
altar-tombs of the two Saints. Later on, the two celebrated Benedictine
monks, Dom Martène and Dom Durand, when in quest of MSS., called at
Clairvaux, and were shown the tombs and heads of the Saints. It is
scarcely necessary to remark that this respect and veneration were
entertained for the tombs only because they contained the bodies of the
holy men.
In 1194, Abbot Moelisa, who then governed Mellifont, was made Bishop of
Clogher.
CHAPTER VI.
MELLIFONT IN TROUBLOUS TIMES.
"But I must needs confess
That 'tis a thing impossible to frame
Conceptions equal to the soul's desires;
And the most difficult of tasks to keep
Heights which the soul is competent to gain."
(_Wordsworth._)
Sixty years of uninterrupted prosperity have passed over Mellifont, during
which period it has been honoured by princes and people alike, and even
the English Kings have marked their esteem for it by heaping fresh favours
on it. It was still flourishing in 1201, when Thomas O'Connor, Archbishop
of Armagh, whom the Annals of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, style "a noble and
worthy man," chose it as his burial-place, and was buried there with great
honour. He was brother to Roderick O'Connor, King of Connaught. It was at
his instance that Joceline wrote his Life of St. Patrick.
In 1203, King John "of his own fee" granted a new charter confirming that
given by his father some years before, and also giving the monks free
customs, together with the fishery on both sides of the Boyne.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account