he Abbey of Mellifont, attended by the
Bishop of Lismore, Legate of the Holy See, the Primate, and seventeen
other bishops. Murtough O'Loughlin, the Monarch of Ireland, and several
other kings, were also present. The principal object of this meeting was
the consecration of the abbey church and the excommunication of Donough
O'Melaghlin, who had become the common pest of the country. He was, as
might be expected, the particular friend and ally of Dermod Mac
Murrough. His last exploit was the murder of a neighbouring chief,
despite the most solemn pledges. In an old translation of the Annals of
Ulster, he is termed, with more force than elegance, "a cursed atheist."
After his excommunication, his brother Dermod was made King of Meath, in
his place.

At this synod several rich gifts were made to the abbey. O'Carroll,
Prince of Oriel, presented sixty ounces of gold. O'Loughlin made a grant
of lands, gave one hundred and forty cows and sixty ounces of gold. The
Lady Dervorgil gave the same donation in gold, together with a golden
chalice for the altar of Mary, with gifts for each of the other nine
altars of the church. Dervorgil was the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Lord
of Breffni, who had been dispossessed of his territories in 1152; at the
same time she was carried off by Dermod Mac Murrough. Her abduction
seems to have been effected with her own consent, as she carried off the
cattle which had formed her dowry. Her husband, it would appear, had
treated her harshly. Eventually she retired to the Monastery of
Mellifont, where she endeavoured to atone for her past misconduct by a
life of penance.

Another synod was held in the year 1158, at Trim. Derry was then erected
into an episcopal see, and Flahertach O'Brolchain, Abbot of St.
Columba's Monastery, was consecrated its first bishop. The bishops of
Connaught were intercepted and plundered by Dermod's soldiers; they
therefore returned and held a provincial synod in Roscommon.

In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to succeed Greine, or Gregory,
the Danish Archbishop of Dublin. He belonged to one of the most noble
ancient families of Leinster. His father was chieftain of the district
of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the present county Kildare. St. Laurence had
chosen the ecclesiastical state early in life; at the age of twenty-five
he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's Monastery, at Glendalough. The Danish
Bishop of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
but