father was apparently the poet of a
Tyrone sept, named Dermot (O'Hanlon, _Saints_, iii. 965). About 1121
he was appointed abbot of Derry, and held that office till he became
archbishop of Armagh in 1137. He had a long episcopate and seems to
have been a vigorous prelate. His age and infirmity (says Giraldus)
prevented him from attending the Synod of Cashel in 1172. But he
subsequently visited Henry II. in Dublin. Thither he brought the white
cow, whose milk was his only food (Giraldus, _Expug._ i. 35). He died
March 27, 1174, in his eighty-seventh year. For a Life of Gelasius,
see Colgan, _A.S.H._ p. 772.

[493] See Sec. 21.

[494] _I.e._ diocese.

[495] The two episcopal sees are evidently Connor and Down. But in
early time there were many more sees than two in that district (see
Reeves, p. 138), and there is no evidence that any one of them was the
seat of a diocesan bishop. But, even if it were so, St. Bernard's
statement that the two supposed dioceses were "welded into one" by
some ambitious prelate prior to Malachy is unhistorical. A bishop of
Connor and a bishop of Down both died in 1117, just seven years before
Malachy became bishop of the diocese which included these two places;
and there is no trace of a bishop in either of them in the interval.
The fact seems to be that the diocese of Connor or Down was
constituted for the first time at the Synod of Rathbreasail in 1110.
It remained on paper until Malachy was appointed its first bishop. For
the probable reason of Malachy's division of the diocese, see p. lvii.
f.

[496] This cannot be the true reason for Malachy's choice of Down
rather than Connor. If he had wished to go to Connor on his retirement
from Armagh he could have consecrated a bishop for Down. It is more
probable that his preference was due to his love for Bangor, where he
resided during his first episcopate, and where he probably resided
also when he was bishop of Down. But, however that may be, Bangor was
necessarily under his jurisdiction as bishop of Down; his connexion
with it would have been severed if he had assumed the oversight of the
new diocese of Connor.

[497] Isa. li. 9; Amos ix. 11.

[498] Cp. Cant. i. 15; iv. i.; v. 12.--St. Bernard himself is said to
have had "dove-like eyes" (_V.P._ v. 12); and the meaning of the
phrase is explained thus: "In his eyes there shone a certain angelic
_purity_ and a dove-like _simplicity_ (single-mindedness)" (_ibid._
iii. 1).

[499] Amos i