her person
attempted to continue it; but popular feeling was so strong against the
wretched man, that he was obliged to fly. Ecclesiastical discipline was
soon restored; and after Malachy had made a partition of the diocese, he
was permitted to resign in favour of Gelasius, then Abbot of the great
Columbian Monastery of Derry.

But peace was not yet established in Ireland. I shall return again to
the narrative of domestic feuds, which made it a "trembling sod," the
O'Loughlins of Tyrone being the chief aggressors; for the present we
must follow the course of ecclesiastical history briefly. St. Malachy
was now appointed Bishop of Down, to which his old see of Connor was
united. He had long a desire to visit Rome--a devotional pilgrimage of
the men of Erinn from the earliest period. He was specially anxious to
obtain a formal recognition of the archiepiscopal sees in Ireland, by
the granting of palliums. On his way to the Holy City he visited St.
Bernard at Clairvaux, and thus commenced and cemented the friendship
which forms so interesting a feature in the lives of the French and
Irish saints. It is probable that his account of the state of the Irish
Church took a tinge of gloom from the heavy trials he had endured in his
efforts to remove its temporary abuses. St. Bernard's ardent and
impetuous character, even his very affectionateness, would lead him also
to look darkly on the picture: hence the somewhat over-coloured accounts
he has given of its state at that eventful period. St. Malachy returned
to Ireland after an interview with the reigning Pontiff, Pope Innocent
II. His Holiness had received him with open arms, and appointed him
Apostolic Legate; but he declined to give the palliums, until they were
formally demanded by the Irish prelates.

In virtue of his legatine power, the saint assembled local synods in
several places. He rebuilt and restored many churches; and in 1142 he
erected the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont, near Drogheda. This
monastery was liberally endowed by O'Carroll, King of Oriel, and was
peopled by Irish monks, whom St. Malachy had sent to Clairvaux, to be
trained in the Benedictine rule and observances. But his great act was
the convocation of the Synod of Inis Padraig. It was held in the year
1148. St. Malachy presided as Legate of the Holy See; fifteen bishops,
two hundred priests, and some religious were present at the
deliberations, which lasted for four days. The members of the syn