Saint Malachy of Armagh

Malachy was thus the worthy minister of the people of God; but he still wished to become a disciple of a holy bishop of Lismore (province of Munster, County Waterford). This personage, venerable for his old age, commendable for his doctrine, and illustrious for his miracles, was named Malchus. He received this new disciple with all possible approval and gave him the instructions necessary for his ministry. However, it happened that the King of Munster was driven from his throne by the unjust usurpation of his brother. This unfortunate prince found nothing in his disgrace more suitable to console him than to have recourse to Bishop Malchus. It was not to ask him for help against the violence of the tyrant, but to learn from him how to make good use of his misfortune; he did not even want him to have any regard for the splendor of his royal majesty, but begged him to treat him as the least of his disciples. The bishop admired his fervor, and, to support his intentions, he placed him under the guidance of Saint Malachy. It was a great happiness for this prince to be king; he lived only on bread, salt, and water like the other brothers; but he found, in the conversation of the holy priest, a continual feast with which his soul was abundantly satiated. He opened his eyes, and, recognizing the vanity of all earthly things, he began to cherish the poor, humble, and private life that he had embraced only out of necessity; so that when a neighboring king offered to restore him to the throne by driving out and punishing the usurper, he could not bring himself to consent to it, and it was necessary for Malchus and Malachy to command him to do so; which they only did because his brother was oppressing the people and declaring himself the enemy of God and men by his impious and tyrannical way of reigning. He was easily restored to all his states by a glorious victory that his benefactor won over the tyrant, and he always had thereafter a singular veneration for Saint Malachy, whose merit he had come to know through the occasion of his disgrace.

The sister of this worthy minister of the holy altars died at that time. Her worldly and libertine life had extremely displeased him; and he had even resolved to see her no more, because she took no account of his remonstrances, and he had no hope left of being able to convert her. When he learned of her death, accompanied by contrition for her sins, he prayed and said Mass for her. But shortly after, he thought of it no more. At the end of thirty days, he heard in a dream a voice that told him his sister was outside, at the entrance of the house, and that it had been thirty whole days since she had eaten anything. He awoke and had no trouble understanding what kind of nourishment she needed; then, counting the days, he found that it was exactly the number of those he had spent without offering for her the living bread descended from heaven. Thus, not hating her soul, but only her sin, he began again to render her the duties of piety he had discontinued. They were not useless to her; for, shortly after, he saw her again in a dream dressed in a black robe near the door of the church, without being able to enter. He continued to offer the holy sacrifice for her, and he saw her with a half-white robe, entering the church, without being able to approach the altar; finally, never ceasing to say Mass for her rest, he saw her all dressed in white and in the company of the just. This story, reported and approved by Saint Bernard, teaches us great secrets about Purgatory, namely: that it exists, that souls there suffer the punishment due to their sins, for which they have not made satisfaction in this life; that they can be helped there by the suffrages of the Church, especially by the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and that their pains do not cease all at once, but little by little, and by diminishing.

God gave Saint Malachy another subject of consolation, greater and more powerful than the first; this was the conversion of his uncle, who was the commendatory abbot of the famous abbey of Banchor , later Banchor Irish monastery where Columbanus began his monastic life. called Bangor. This convent had once been a nursery of Saints. A single one of its religious, named Luan, had built as many as one hundred monasteries in Ireland and Scotland. Saint Columbanus had come from there to France, where he founded the famous abbey of Luxeuil, in which the praises of God were sung day and night without ceasing. Bangor having been ruined by pirates, who martyred nine hundred monks in a single day, it was unfortunately given in commendam, with all its revenues, without anyone taking the trouble to rebuild it or receive religious there. It had long been in Malachy's family in this way, and his uncle, who possessed it, wishing to save his soul, handed it over to him with all its goods, in order to re-establish the monastic discipline, of which he wished to be the first to make profession.

Our Saint, seeing himself abbot by the authority of the local bishop and by the counsel of Imar, his former master, left the management of temporal affairs to a secular steward; but, having taken ten religious with him, he endeavored to restore this house of God to its former regularity. His entirely holy life was a living rule for the conduct of his brothers; he was not content with giving them the example of retreat, penance, and devotion, he was also the first in manual exercises. It happened one day that, as he raised his axe to cut a piece of wood, a workman, having advanced imprudently, received the blow and was knocked to the ground. They ran to him immediately, believing that his spine had been split in two and that he would soon die; but they found only his garment cut, and the flesh was so lightly grazed that the mark was barely visible, which gave the workmen great courage to continue the building of the church. This was the first miracle of our Saint. The demon made other efforts to prevent his good designs; for, having made himself master of the imagination of one of his boarders who was ill, he suggested that he stab him when he came to see him, and this wretch indeed took the resolution to do so. The Saint, being warned of this, made his prayer before going to his room, and he came out of this exercise so full of the strength of God that, by the mere sign of the cross that he then made over his body, he healed him perfectly, not only of his infirmity, but also of the power of the evil spirit that had taken hold of his soul. The latter later received the religious habit, and, as he was a man of letters, he was advanced in orders and even promoted to the episcopate.

The great miracles that Saint Malachy performed at all times led to his election as Bishop of Connor, a small town in Ireland, in the county of Antrim. There was nothing he did not do to defend himself against this dignity; but the continual insistence of the people and the express order of the metropolitan and of the blessed Imar, whom he always honored as his director, constrained him to accept it, being then thirty years old. After having been consecrated and having entered his episcopal city, he applied himself with ardor to the functions of his office; but he soon recognized that he had been engaged to lead brutes rather than men. He had never seen anything like it even among the most barbaric nations. They were Christians in name, but pagans in fact; they were libertines in their morals, abrupt in their customs, impious in their belief, enemies of the laws, incapable of discipline, and dissolute in their whole lives. They did not know what it was to confess, to receive penance, to approach the holy table, and to contract legitimate marriages. The few ecclesiastics who were there had nothing to do, because people would not listen to the word of God, nor participate in the sacraments. Such a general disorder would have frightened and disconcerted anyone other than Malachy; but this true pastor, considering that he was called to the care of his flock, resolved to stand firm and to sacrifice himself for their salvation. One cannot worthily represent either what he did or what he endured to reduce them and put them on the path of piety. He instructed them with patience, warned them with gentleness, reproved them with charity, and corrected them with prudence. When no one came to church due to inexcusable negligence, he went himself to look for them in the streets and public squares to force them, so to speak, to become good in spite of themselves. He even ran to the countryside, into the villages and hamlets, with his disciples, to distribute to these ungrateful souls the heavenly bread they did not want, and he made all this journey on foot like an apostolic man. How many insults did he not receive! How many outrages did he not endure! What pains did hunger and thirst, cold and heat, nakedness and weariness not cause him in the holy eagerness he had to restore the reign of true Christianity in this country. God finally heard his vows and his tears. The hardness of his people softened; they began to listen to his voice and to receive his instructions. The barbaric laws were abolished and apostolic laws took their place. The customs of the Catholic Church were received everywhere and the abuses that were contrary to them were renounced. Temples were built and dedicated to the true God; the clergy was regulated; people began to frequent places of devotion, to confess, and to receive communion. Concubinage yielded to the sanctity of marriage, and all things changed in such a way that one could say of this people what God said through Hosea: "He who previously did not know me has now become my people."

A few years later, the king of the part of Ireland that faces the north having taken and ruined the city of Connor, which was the episcopal seat of our Saint, he saw himself obliged to leave it and to withdraw elsewhere with one hundred and twenty religious whom he had assembled in community. He withdrew to the kingdom of Munster or Momonie, by the favor of King Cormac, that pious prince whom he had so well supported and c onsole Cormac King of Munster supported by Malachy. d in his disgrace. He built the monastery of Ibrac and lodged there. Cormac fed him there with all his religious, and this state of liberality drew upon his person and his kingdom a thousand spiritual and temporal blessings. Malachy resumed in this place all the practices of religious life that his pastoral functions had caused him to interrupt. The more his merit raised him above others, the more he took pleasure in lowering himself through actions of very profound humility. He was a bishop, but he did not cease to serve in his rank of deacon, acolyte, and reader. He was an abbot, but he did not cease to work in the kitchen, to sweep the regular places, and to carry tables to the refectory. He was a preacher, but he did not cease to assist day and night at the divine offices, to help the sick in the infirmary, and to put his hand to the spade to help the gardener.

However, God, who knows how to raise the humble from the dust to set them upon thrones, willed that Celsus, Archbishop of Armagh, being near death, should name him as his successor and conjure, by word of mouth and by letters, all the powerful men in Ireland, and even the two kings of Munster, to receive him as their prelate. There was, however, a great difficulty; for as the archbishopric was very considerable and the princes themselves, out of respect for Saint Patrick, their apostle, who had been its founder, submitted to whoever was provided with it, one of the first families of the island had made it so hereditary that for fifteen promotions no one other than this house had been raised to it, and when there were no ecclesiastics to fill it, married laymen without ordination had occupied the see and held themselves out as archbishops, which had already happened eight times before Celsus. This is what had caused the ruin of ecclesiastical discipline, the contempt for canonical censures, the depravation of morals, and the almost general annihilation of piety and religion throughout all of Ireland. Celsus, who was of this race, had not, however, approved of this disorder, and it was to destroy it that he wished Malachy to be put in his place to the prejudice of his own relatives, whom he knew to be unworthy, so that, by his wisdom and his great piety, joined to an intrepid courage, he might effectively remedy so many evils. But he had hardly died when his heir, named Maurice, who regarded his prelacy as a rich inheritance that had fallen to him, seized it visibly and protested that he would keep it against all opposition from the clergy and the people. Saint Malachy was urged to take possession of it, according to the will of his predecessor and the wishes of all good people; but he refused for a long time, as much because he deemed himself incapable as because he saw well that it was impossible to dethrone this unjust usurper without it costing much blood.

Finally, two holy bishops, Malchus of Lismore and Gilbert, the first legate of the Holy See in all of Ireland, made such entreaties to him and demonstrated so effectively that the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of an infinity of souls were at stake, and that he could not defend himself further without rendering himself worthy of the indignation of God and the anathemas of the Church, that he yielded to their desires on these two conditions: first, that he would not enter the metropolitan city until after the death or flight of the false bishop, for fear of being the cause of the death of those whose salvation he wished to procure; second, that as soon as the inheritance of the Lord was delivered from the tyranny of Maurice and his adherents and enjoyed perfect liberty, he would be permitted to retire to his bishopric of Connor and that another archbishop would be elected in his place, because he accepted this archbishopric only to restore it, as in ancient times, to the right of a legitimate succession. What further led him to this acceptance was that he remembered that at the time of the death of Celsus, a lady of pleasant appearance and majestic bearing appeared to him, and, having declared that she was the Spouse, that is to say, the Church of this prelate, she had presented to him and placed in his hands her pastoral staff.

We will not stop here to describe all the trials and persecutions he suffered in the exercise of his office. He was two years without entering Armagh and performed his episcopal functions only in the other places of the province. Maurice was on his throne and enjoyed its income, and as a reward for the incredible labors that his zeal caused him to undertake, he slandered him and continually laid snares for him. Finally, the last hour of this false bishop arrived, and, to fill the measure of his crimes, he named on his deathbed as his successor one called Nigel, who was of that detestable race and his first cousin. The latter was no less an heir to his fury than to his usurpation. He even raised troops to prevent the king and the princes from putting Saint Malachy in possession of Armagh; but God took the cause of his servant into his own hands. A lightning bolt, in the midst of a thunderstorm and a frightful tempest, killed the leader and the principal men of this squad, scattered all the rest, and Nigel, hated and despised by everyone, was forced to flee and wander from place to place without having any place where he could be at rest. A lord of the same family, who had called the Saint to his home to have him massacred in his presence, was so seized with respect upon seeing him that he threw himself at his feet and protested eternal friendship. Another who tore him apart everywhere with his slander and who even had the effrontery to resist him in the largest assemblies, was punished in a horrible manner; for his tongue swelled and rotted, to the point that worms came out of it in abundance, and, this corruption spreading further, he died miserably at the end of seven days. Finally, a lady of this same family having dared to interrupt him while he was preaching, by calling him a hypocrite and a usurper of the property of others and also reproaching him for being bald, she immediately lost her mind and shortly after her life in a lamentable manner, crying out that it was Malachy who was suffocating her.

All these visible punishments and others similar, by which the family of these false archbishops was entirely exterminated, gave so much credit to our Saint that it was easy for him to reform the diocese.

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from Armagh the great disorders that this long succession of wolves and mercenaries had introduced there; but no sooner had peace and ecclesiastical discipline been strengthened by the wise ordinances he enacted, than, according to the condition under which he had accepted this high prelacy, he assembled the clergy and the people to resign it and give them in his place a very holy personage, named Gelasius, who was truly worthy of this charge. Everyone felt great sorrow at this; but, as they had promised to consent to it, they could not refuse what he asked. He then returned to his first bishopric, which he always regarded as his true and only title, never having had the intention of possessing two churches, nor of leaving a lesser one to take a better one. What is admirable, and which shows the greatness of his detachment and the solidity of his humility, is that, having divided this same bishopric into two, as it had been several years before his promotion, because the mere ambition of his predecessors had caused its reunion, he took for himself only the smaller one and left the city of Connor to his colleague, to establish his see in that of Down, which has since been the homeland of the famous John Duns Scotus, of the Order of Saint Francis, surnamed the Subtle Doctor.

As soon as this admirable man had resumed the government of this church, he founded there a house of religious destined for the choir and the divine offices; as if he had done nothing until then for the glory of God, he began anew to exercise himself in the practices of the monastic life; this was nevertheless only with many interruptions, for his charge obliged him to make frequent visits in his diocese, and the high esteem that all of Ireland had conceived for him attracted under his guidance an infinity of persons who wished to put their salvation in safety and work for their perfection. He also extended his care over all the churches of this island and, by the movement of the divine Spirit that governed him, he cut off abuses and made very useful establishments for the maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline. The zeal that inspired him to do so many things for the glory of God and the happiness of his country led him to undertake the journey to Rome, in order to have his regulations fortified with apostolic authority and at the same time to procure the Pallium for the Archbishop of Armagh and the confirmation of a second archbishopric in Ireland, dependent on the first as a primacy. He was granted this journey with difficulty; his brother Christian, who was also a very holy bishop, having died at that time, the Irish could not resolve to lose both of these firm columns of their Churches at once; but God made it known, by some signs, that this design came from His inspiration; thus, all obstacles being removed, he consecrated a good religious, named Edan, in place of his brother and set out on his way. At York, a holy priest, called Sycar, who had never seen him, published his merit and declared to everyone that he was a great prophet who penetrated the most secret thoughts of men. At Clairvaux, he contracted a very close friendship with Saint Bernard and with all his religious, and edified this holy commun ity marvelous saint Bernard Contemporary and admirer of Guigo. ly by the rare examples of his virtues. At Ivrea, in Italy, he healed the son of his host who was near to giving up the ghost. At Rome, he was received by Pope Innocent II and his entire court as an angel come from heaven, and besi des obtaini Innocent II Pope reigning during the saint's lifetime. ng what he asked, he was named legate of the Holy See throughout Ireland. His Holiness himself, being in admiration of the prodigious actions he had performed, the signal services he had rendered to the Churches of his country, and his eminent piety, placed his own miter on his head, gave him the stole and the maniple he was accustomed to use when he officiated, then, after having embraced and blessed him, he permitted him to return.

He had asked the Pope to be allowed to leave his prelacy to retire to Clairvaux and spend the rest of his days there in the practice of the religious life; but not having been able to obtain it, he did not fail to pass through this monastery again to enjoy once more the dear company and sweet conversation of the divine men who dwelt there, and especially that of the great Saint Bernard, who was its honor and delight. He left four of his disciples there to be formed in the monastic life, according to the rules practiced there; then he sent four others, so that, being eight, they could form in Ireland, upon their return, a house of the Order of Cîteaux, which would be the mother of many others.

When he arrived in Scotland, he found the son of King David so ill that his health was despaired of; he prayed for him, and, sprinkling him with holy water, he said to him: "Take courage, my son, you shall not die this time"; and, by this word of blessing, he restored him to perfect health. The glory of this miracle forced him to flee; but on the way he healed a mute girl and a frantic woman, and gave such virtue to a cemetery he blessed that all the sick who were brought there immediately received their healing. The winds having been favorable, he arrived in Ireland in a short time. His first visit was to his former monastery of Bangor, where his religious were filled with joy to have the happiness of his presence. Then he traveled throughout the island, and one could see towns and villages emptying on all sides to go and meet him. The office of legate that he had received did not remain useless in his hands. He held assemblies, convened synods, renewed old ordinances and made new ones; he traveled through the dioceses, reformed abuses, encouraged the cowardly, intimidated sinners, and planted religion and piety everywhere.

His life, more angelic than human, and the greatness of his miracles helped much to ensure his regulations were observed. For, without speaking of his interior, says Saint Bernard, whose beauty, excellence, and purity were sufficiently known by his morals, his exterior was always so composed that one could not notice the slightest defect in it. He was never heard to say an idle word, nor to make a gesture or take an indecent posture. There was nothing but edifying in his clothes, his looks, and his gait. His joy was without dissolution and his gravity simple and without affectation. Everything appeared admirably regulated in his conduct, and he did nothing that could not serve others as an excellent model of virtue; he was serious without being austere; he only relaxed his mind with restraint; he knew how to take his time for business, and he never neglected a single one. From the day of his conversion until the day of his death, he had nothing that was his own, not even when he was a bishop. The charity of his parishioners served as his house and income. Although apostolic legate, he always went on foot to preach the word of God, and he was only distinguished among those who accompanied him because he was the most humble and the poorest. O truly apostolic man, you have well shown by so many great actions that you were the worthy successor of the first masters of the Church! And is it any wonder after that that you performed so many wonders, since you are

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yourself so admirable, or, to put it better, that God was so adorable in you?

Saint Bernard, after these beautiful expressions which we have only given in summary, cites still more new miracles of Saint Malachy. He cast out demons from several possessed persons, among others from two women whom the same demon, as if wanting to play, seized one after the other. He delivered a woman who could not bring forth the child she carried in her womb. He changed a fourth, whom her angry and furious mood made unbearable to her own children: she became as gentle and patient as a lamb. He also resurrected one who had died without having received the sacrament of Extreme Unction. A sick and possessed man, having only lain on the straw that had served as his bed, found himself perfectly healed. His word, on the contrary, rendered sick unto death an ecclesiastic who had dared to fight the truth of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, and forced him, by this means, to confess this great mystery, which a rash and presumptuous ignorance had made him fight. One day a dove, shining like the sun, was seen fluttering around him while he was saying Mass; the altar before which he prayed, in the cemetery of Saint Patrick, was also seen all covered in flames, and this great servant of God, who himself burned with the ardor of divine love, threw himself into the midst of these flames without being consumed.

It was time for him to receive the reward for so many labors and for a life so holy and so penitent: but it was to be in France and not in Ireland. One day, while he was in recreation with his religious, he was asked, if he had the choice, in what place and at what time he would wish to die; he replied that if he had to die in Ireland, he would wish it to be near the sepulcher of Saint Patrick; but that if it were outside his country, he would desire it to be at Clairvaux, and that for the time, he would choose the day of the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, because then the living powerfully assist the dead. These desires were prophetic. He undertook a second journey to Pope Eugene III, for the general good of the Churches of Ireland, and especially as a deputy of the clergy, to obtain the Pallium for the two metropolitans of the island. He passed through Scotland and England, leaving everywhere vestiges of his virtue and of the miraculous power that God had given him.

He came to Clairvaux and was received there by Saint Bernard and his children as their old friend, and as a chosen vessel of God. Let us even say that he was received there as a founder and their confrere; for he had established in his country several houses of their Order, and it is held that he had even taken the habit, as the author of the Menology of Cîteaux proves to this day; but four days later, when he had celebrated the conventual mass for the feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist, he was seized by a high fever which forced him to take to his bed. He knew immediately by this that Our Lord wished to satisfy his desires and have him finish his pilgrimage in this place. The illness increasing more and more, he descended from the room where he was to receive Extreme Unction and the holy Viaticum; and having recommended himself to the prayers of his brothers, he went back up by himself to return to bed. His face did not appear sick, but he knew that the father of the family was calling him. Finally, after having celebrated the feast of All Saints with a marvelous joy and tranquility, he had the whole community come before him in the evening, asked for the assistance of their prayers, and assisted them also with his own with an entire confidence in God. After midnight, the day of the commemoration of the dead having begun, he rendered his soul to Our Lord with such tranquility that no one could perceive it; it was therefore November 2, 1148, at the age of fifty-four. He seemed rather asleep than dead, and his face did not change at all, but always retained the same vivacity it had before. His holy body was carried on the shoulders of the abbots who were then at Clairvaux, into the chapel of the glorious Virgin, as he had ordered. Masses were said for him and the entire office of his burial was performed. During this time, Saint Bernard, perceiving a young boy who had a paralyzed arm that hung at his side, and which instead of serving him only inconvenienced him, signaled him to approach; and, taking his withered hand, he stretched it out upon that of the holy bishop. Then this arm and this hand regained their former vigor, so that the inanimate body of our Saint was a source of life and health for these limbs that appeared to be dead. The blessed abbot then wrote the life of this faithful friend, and also gave a sermon in his honor. He had written him several letters during his lifetime.

The Roman Martyrology makes memory of him on November 3, although his death occurred on the 2nd.

Insigne relics of Saint Malachy are preserved in the cathedral church of Troyes, whi ch cel Troyes Episcopal see of Manasses. ebrates his particular office by concession of February 6, 1868.

He is represented in his cell instructing a king who has placed his crown on the ground.

Life of Saint Malachy, written by Saint Bernard; Discourse of Saint Bernard on Saint Malachy.

--SAINT PAPOUL, PRIEST AND MARTYR IN LAURAGUAIS (1st century).

Papoul, an apostolic man, came to Gaul in the company of Saint Saturnin, the first bishop of Toulouse. As they were on their way to that city, they were arrested in Carcassonne by the judge Ruffin and locked in a tower, near which a church dedicated to Saint Saturnin was built; it was destroyed by the revolutionary storm. Delivered from this prison by help from above, according to an ancient tradition preserved in Carcassonne, they set out again and finally reached Toulouse. There they converted a great number of people to the worship of the true God. Papoul faithfully seconded Saturnin, for when the latter left for Spain to win new provinces for Jesus Christ, he entrusted the church of Toulouse to Papoul so that he might govern it during his absence.

Although far from his leader, Papoul did not remain inactive, but, authorizing his assiduous preaching with frequent miracles and making the good news resound, not only in Toulouse but throughout the region, he added numerous conquests to those he had made in common with the illustrious Saint Saturnin. The hardened pagans became worried about these successes; they thought that the surest and shortest way to bring down the whole edifice of the religion of Jesus Christ was to cause the public and striking fall of the one who was at once its active worker and its firm pillar. They therefore wanted to make Papoul apostatize; they flattered him, they threatened him, they struck him, they tortured him; but it was in vain: all the imaginable torments could do nothing against the constancy of the athlete of Christ. The hope of making him abjure lost, there remained only death, which the martyr suffered by the edge of the sword, in the Lauraguais country, at the very place which, subsequently, bore his name. A church was first built on his tomb, later a monastery, mentioned under the reign of Louis the Pious. The great gathering of pilgrims in this place gave birth to a village which, with the passing of years, became a town (Saint-Papoul, Aude, arrondissement and canton of Castelnaudary). Finally, in the 14th century, the monastery church was raised to the dignity of a cathedral church by Pope John XXII, and Abbot Bernard de la Tour was created bishop of this new see. The Chapter was composed of regular canons until 1678; at that time, Pope Clement VII changed it into a chapter of secular canons. The body of Saint Papoul was transferred to the church of Saint-Saturnin of Toulouse where it is still religiously kept and honored.

*Proper of Carcassonne.*