[ 230 ] 



VI. 



NOTES OX ST. BEKNAED'S LIFE OF ST. MALACHY, AND HIS 

 TWO SEEM0X8 OX THE PASSING OF ST. MALACHY. 



By REV. H. .T. LAWLOE, D.D., Litt.D. 



Read Januaicy 27. Published .\piiil 24, 1919. 



St. Bernard's Life of St. Malacliy of Armagh, if its statements are reliable, 

 is the most important existing document for the history of the Irish Church 

 in the first half of the twelfth century. And probably no one who has read 

 it, and who has made himself acquainted with the character of its author, 

 will be disposed to deny its bona Jidcs. Some allowance must of course be 

 made for the temperament of St. Bernard. His descriptions of the barbarism 

 of the Irish people, and of the corruption of the Irish Church, may be over- 

 drawn. But he can scarcely be accused of being inspired by a special animus 

 against the Irish. His denunciations of continental ecclesiastics and lloman 

 citizens are not less severe than those which are directed against the clergy 

 and people of Ireland.' Possible exaggeration in a few rhetorical passages 

 does not seriously detract from the historical value of his work as a whole. 

 Our estimate of it must be determined in the first place by an investigation 

 of the sources from which he derived liis detailed statements of fact, and the 

 manner in which he made use of them ; and secondly by a comparison of the 

 statements made in the Life with those of independent documents. That 

 investigation and comparison I propo.se to make in the present paper. I 

 shall also discuss the cognate question of the dates of the Life, and of 

 St. Bernard's two .sennons on St. Malachy, which in some particulars 

 supplement tlie information given by the Life. 



1. St. Bernard's Authorities. 



St. Bernard was an eye-witness of many of the events of the life of 

 St. Malachy which he records. It is well known that Malachy was on three 

 occasions the guest of St. Bernard. Some years after his resignation of the 

 see of Armagh he went to Rome to demand from Pope Innocent II palls for 

 the Archbishops of Armagh and Uashel. Both on his journey to Italy and 

 when he was returning to Ireland he stayed at Clairvau.x. Eight or nine 



' Vila, Prnef . 1 ; De Cmai-i. iv, 2, 4, 6. 



