He was legate when in 1108 or 1109 he wrote his tract _De Statu Ecclesiæ_ (see above, p. xxx. ff.); and in 1110, as legate, he presided over the Synod of Rathbreasail. In 1139 or 1140, being old and infirm, he resigned his legatine commission and his see (§ 38 and p. 73, note 1). He died in 1145. Gilbert was evidently a strong man, who had much influence on the affairs of the Irish Church. It is therefore surprising that the only reference to him in the native Annals is the notice of his death in the _Chronicon Scotorum_. [386] _Senior._ This is almost a technical word for the head of a religious community. Malchus is called _ard senóir Gaoidheal_ (high senior of the Irish) in _A.F.M._ 1135. [387] His dissimulation was his disregard of the divine call in the vision described in § 21. [388] Cp. _A.F.M._ 1132: "Mael Maedoc Ua Morgair sat in the coarbate of Patrick _by the request of the clerics of Ireland_." [389] Ps. lxxxiii. 12 (vg.).--See Additional Note B, p. 165. [390] Gen. ix. 6. [391] The diocese of Connor. [392] Matt. xix. 2; Mark x. 2. [393] Ezek. xxxiii. 30. [394] Jer. l. 11. [395] The church of Armagh. [396] The "spouse" is primarily the diocese of Connor. His voluntary poverty is especially associated with his episcopate there in Serm. i. § 6. [397] It can hardly be doubted that this means the diocese of Armagh (cp. p. 45, n. 4). Both § 19 and the title "son of purity" (_A.U._ 1129) imply that Cellach was not married. [398] Rom. ix. 19. [399] That Malachy was in 1132 recognized by many as coarb of Patrick is confirmed by the Annals (see p. 48, n. 3). But that he exercised his episcopal office "throughout the entire province" is inconsistent with the fact that in 1133 Murtough "made a visitation of Tír Eoghain [counties of Derry and Tyrone] and received his tribute of cows and imparted his blessing" (_A.F.M._). [400] September 17, 1134 (_A.F.M._). Sudden death is not suggested by the Annals. [401] St. Bernard puns on the Latin name by which he represents Niall. It is a diminutive of _niger_, black. [402] Josh. ix. 24 (vg.). [403] The meaning of this somewhat difficult sentence is made clear by the reference to the Gibeonites (Josh. ix). By their stratagem they "made provision for their lives," that is, that they should continue to live instead of being exterminated with the rest of the Canaanites. In like manner Murtough provided that he should, as it were, live on and pursue his evil course, in the person of Niall. [404] He was Murtough's cousin, and Cellach's brother. See the table, Additional Note B, p. 164. [405] That the king was either Conor O'Brien or Cormac Mac Carthy is highly probable. To them Cellach had confided the duty of seeing that Malachy should be his successor (§ 19), and in this very year they reached the border of the diocese of Armagh (p. 43, n. 5). See p. 53, n. 5. [406] Ps. xxii. 16.