which he
received his name,[286] the prince[287] made over to him, that there he
might build, or rather rebuild, a monastery. For indeed there had been
formerly a very celebrated one under the first father, Comgall,[288]
which produced many thousands of monks, and was the head of many
monasteries. A truly holy place it was and prolific of saints, _bringing
forth_ most abundant _fruit to God_,[289] so that one of the sons of
that holy community, Lugaid[290] by name, is said to have been the
founder--himself alone--of a hundred monasteries. I mention this in
order that the reader may infer from this one instance what an immense
number of others there were. In fine, to such an extent did its shoots
fill Ireland and Scotland[291] that those verses of David seem to have
sung beforehand especially of these times, _Thou visitest the earth and
blessest it; thou makest it very plenteous. The river of God is full of
water: thou preparest their corn, for so thou providest for the earth,
blessing its rivers, multiplying its shoots. With its drops of rain
shall it rejoice while it germinates_;[292] and in like manner the
verses that follow. Nor was it only into the regions just mentioned, but
also into foreign lands that those swarms of saints poured forth as
though a _flood had risen_;[293] of whom one, St. Columbanus, came up to
our Gallican parts, and built the monastery of Luxovium, and was _made
there a great people_.[294] So great a people was it, they say, that
the choirs succeeding one another in turn, the solemnities of the divine
offices went on continuously, so that not a moment day or night was
empty of praises.[295]

13. (8) Enough has been said about the ancient glory of the monastery of
Bangor. This, long ago destroyed by pirates,[296] Malachy eagerly
cherished on account of its remarkable and long-standing prestige, as
though he were about to _replant a paradise_,[297] and because _many
bodies of the saints slept_ there.[298] For, not to speak of those which
were _buried in peace_,[299] it is said that nine hundred persons were
slain together in one day by pirates.[300] Vast, indeed, were the
possessions of that place;[301] but Malachy, content with the holy place
alone, resigned all the possessions and lands to another. For indeed
from the time when the monastery was destroyed there was always someone
to hold it with its possessions. For they were both appointed by
election and were even called abbots, preserving i