Malachy

(1094–1148)

   Saint and Archbishop.

   Malachy was Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland. He became a close friend of bernard of clairvaux who later wrote his biography. After staying with Bernard, he was determined to establish his order in Ireland and the first Cistercian monastery was built in Mellifont, County Louth, in 1142. He was involved in the struggle to bring the traditional Celtic Church under the supervision of Rome. To this end, he made two journeys to Rome to receive the pallium, the traditional sign of office. He died in Clairvaux before he could complete the second journey. The Prophecies of Malachy, which supposedly gave a suitable motto for every future Pope, was a later document and, despite its ascription, had no connection with Malachy.

   A. Gwynn, ‘St Malachy of Armagh’, in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, lxx (1948), lxxi (1949);

   H.J. Lawlor, St Malachy of Armagh (1920).