as,--

"1146, a violent tempest blew down sixty oaks in Derry-Columbkille."
"1178, a storm prostrated one hundred and twenty oaks in
Derry-Columbkille."

* * * * *

These little tokens of reverence for the trees, which had been
sanctified by his presence and love, show us how deep a root his memory
had in the affections of the Donegal Franciscans, when they paused in
their serious and compendious work to record every little accident that
happened to his monastery. But, alas, all the protection that
O'Donnell's clan might afford, all the fear that Columba's "Woe" might
inspire, could not save his grove. Like many a similar one in Ireland,
storms, and the destructive hand of man, have combined to blot it off
the face of the landscape, and nothing now remains but the name.

The monastery, too, shared the same fate. Burned by the Danes in 812,
989, 997 and 1095, phoenix-like it rose again from its ashes, each
time in greater beauty. The church, after one of these burnings, was
rebuilt of stone; and from its charred and blackened appearance after
the next burning, received the name of Dubh-Regles or Black Church of
the Abbey--a name by which in the Annals the monastery itself is often
called.

But Derry had other enemies than the Danes. In 1124 we find "Ardgar,
Prince of Aileach, killed by the ecclesiastics of Doire-Columbkille in
the defence of their church. His followers in revenge burned the town
and churches." The then abbot was St. Gelasius, who, after presiding
sixteen years over the monastery, which he had entered a novice in early
youth, was, in 1137, raised to the Primatial See of Armagh; and dying in
1174, nearly closes the long calendar of Irish Saints. The first year of
his abbacy (1121) had been marked by the death in the monastery of
"Domwald Magloughlin Ardrigh of Erin, a generous prince, charitable to
the poor and liberal to the rich, who, feeling his end approaching, had
withdrawn thither,"--a fact which shows the great veneration in which
this monastery was held.

The name of the next abbot, Flathbert O'Brolcan, or Bradley, is one of
the brightest in the Annals of Derry. He was greatly distinguished for
his sanctity and learning, but still more for his administrative
abilities. As abbot of Derry he was present at the Synod of Kells in
1152. Six years after, at the Synod of Brightaig (near Trim, county
Meath), a continuation or prorogation of that of Kells, Derr