t that he gave
"himself" to Malachy seems to mean that he placed himself under his
rule in the new community.

[285] If the identification suggested in the preceding note is
correct, Malachy's mother belonged to the family of O'Hanratty, which
in the eleventh and twelfth centuries held the chieftaincy of Ui Meith
Macha or Ui Meith Tire, now the barony of Monaghan, in the county of
the same name.

[286] _Cognominabatur._ This verb occurs seventeen times in the
Vulgate, and almost always indicates a new or alternative name. In the
present passage it certainly applies, not to Malachy's baptismal name,
but to its Latin equivalent, Malachias, which he probably assumed when
he became abbot of Bangor, or bishop of Down. The remark that he
received it from Bangor is to be explained thus. A legend, which has a
place in Jocelin's _Life of St. Patrick_ (Sec. 98) and is therefore at
least as old as the twelfth century, relates that Patrick, viewing the
valley in which the monastery of Comgall was afterwards constructed,
perceived that it was "filled with a multitude of the heavenly host."
From this story, no doubt, came the name "Valley of Angels (_Vallis
Angelorum_)," by which it was known in the early seventeenth century,
and probably long before (Reeves, p. 199). If this name, or the legend
on which it was based, was known to Malachy it is quite conceivable
that on account of his connexion with Bangor, he adopted, as the Latin
alternative of Mael Maedoc, a name which is only the Hebrew for _my
angel_ with a Latin termination. That St. Bernard was aware of the
significance of the name, and liked to dwell upon it, is clear from
Sermon ii. Sec. 5. It may be added that the legend just mentioned is
connected with a folk-etymology of the word Bangor (_Bennchor_) which
explained it as "white choir." For the true etymology see Kuno Meyer,
"Zur Keltischen Wortkunde," Sec. 66 (_Preuss. Akad. Sitz._, 1913).

[287] _Princeps._ This word does not necessarily imply that the donor
of Bangor was a secular chieftain. St. Bernard is somewhat arbitrary
in his use of such titles; and _princeps_ occurs very frequently in
_A.U._ up to the tenth century as an equivalent of _abbot_.

[288] Comgall, who was a Pict of Dal Araide (Adamnan, i. 49), was born
at Magheramorne, near Larne, co. Antrim (Reeves, p. 269), between 516
and 520. He founded the monastery of Bangor when he was about forty
years old, probably in 559, and presided over it till his de