A.D. 1185. The bodies of the Saints Patrick, Columb, and Brigid, were discovered in this abbey, with the following epitaph written over them : Hi tres in Duno tumulo tumulantur in uno, 1186. Bishop Malachy and Sir John de Courcey sent an embassy to Pope Urban III. to obtain a bull for the translation of those sacred reliques; and on the 5th of June in same year, a solemn translation was accordingly made by the Pope's nuncio.h 1201. Bishop Malachy, the great benefactor of this abbey, died about this year.i 1210. Sir John de Courcey, the conqueror of Ulster and founder of this abbey, yielded to fate.k War. Bps., p. 24. h War. Annal., Hist., County of Down, p. 27. Bps., p. 196. Monast. Angl., vol. 2, p. 1019. 64 i War. Downpatrick was visited by King John in the year 1210, who, on his way to Carrickfergus, encamped on the 16th of July at the meadows of Down," at a place called Kingsfield, and again, on his return, he spent the 2nd and 3rd of August Dun." at The English suffered repeated disasters in skirmishes with the Irish, and the Benedictine Abbey of Down shared in their fortunes, as the following letter, written to Henry III., in the year 1220, sufficiently testifies : "To their Venerable Lord, Henry, by the Grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy, Count of Anjou and Aquitane. "The Prior and Convent of the Church of St. Patrick of Down, health and prayers in Christ.-We transmit to your Excellency our monk with the shrine of the patrons of Ireland, Patrick, Columba, and Brigid, and their relics. Inasmuch as for the reverence to them, and for the promise that our lord, your father, promised forsooth that he would be a benefactor of our church, and for yourself, who are the lord of all the land, and the patron of the patrons of Ireland, that you would give to us and to charity some small dwelling in England, in which, when need be, we may lodge. "For the Monastery of St. Patrick has frequently been. during the war, destroyed and burned, along with the church, which has commenced to be entirely rebuilt, hence we very much stand in need of your assistance." There is given in Theiner's "Vetera Monumenta" a bull of Pope Innocent IV., dated March 5th, 1254. in which the Pope confirms a decision made by the Primate, that the Abbey Church of Bangor was not the Cathedral of Down, but that the Church of Down, of the Order of St. Benedict, was the cathedral, and that to it alone belonged the right of electing the bishop. The vacillating and unsettled system of government pursued during the reign of Henry III., and the constant domestic and foreign wars in which the king was engaged, weakened the English power in Ireland, and induced the Northern Irish to hope that a favourable opportunity had at length come to drive them out of Ulster. Bryan O'Neill, King of the Kinel-Owen, assisted by the Irish of Connaught, attacked the town of Down which was defended by the Lord Justice, Stephen de Longespey. The battle was fought on Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension, in the year 1260, at a place called " Druim Derg (the red ridge), near Dunda-leathghlas," but according to others," in the streets of Down." It is not unlikely that it was fought on the hill between Scotch-street and Irish-street. In the angle formed by these streets, about seven perches to the rere of the former and sixteen to the right of the latter, human bones were found in such quantities as to indicate a cemetery. Bryan O'Neill and three hundred and fifty-two of the Irish, among whom were fifteen 1220. The Benedictin monks of Downpatrick humbly prayed that the King, Henry III., would grant them some habitation in England where they might sojourn or reside when business called them thither, and that of his royal goodness he would charitably assist in rebuilding their church, which had been destroyed by fire in the late wars. We know not the issue of the petition. 1224. W was prior about this time.m 1237. R was prior." 1276. The prior Nicholas was made bishop of Down, and died in 1304.° 1 Rymer Fad., vol. 1, p. 250. m See Holy Trinity, Dubl. Newry. • War. Bps., p. 198. n See Lacie's chart. to O'Neill's head was chief men of the O'Kanes, perished on that disastrous field. "Alas that his noble head was removed from Down, It is grievous to us that the king of Caiseal Is not (interred) near the relics of Tailginn (St. Patrick).” A similar testimony is borne by the bard O'Dugan in the year 1372: "From Dun-da-lethglas of the Cassocks It is the royal cemetery of Erin, Without any heed or gain there; A town wherein the clay of Columb was covered, Brigid, the victory of females, And as we leave them every victory, Patrick of Macha (Ardmagh) is in the same grave." In the Pope Nicholas Valuation the Church of St. Patrick in Down was valued at five marks, and the Temporalities of the Abbot were valued at £41 5s. 4d. The brilliant and decisive victory achieved by the Scots over the English at Bannockburn, in 1314, having awakened among the Northern Irish hopes of similar success, they offered the crown of Ireland to Edward Bruce, the brother of King Robert of Scotland. Edward accepted the offer, and the country was deluged with blood during three years while the war lasted. Grace's Annals, at the year 1316, say "The monasteries of St. Patrick of Down and of Saul, with many others are plundered. . The Church of Bright, in Ulster, full of persons of both sexes, is burned." "The Annals of the Four Masters" record, at the year 1375-"A great victory was gained by Niall O'Neill over the English at Downpatrick, when Sir James (Talbot), of Baile-atha-thid (Malahide), the King of England's Deputy, Burke of Camline, and many others not enumerated, were slain in the conflict.' This defeat of the English is not noticed by any of the English historians, and consequently it cannot have been so important as the Irish writers pretend; nevertheless, the English are forced to draw a very gloomy picture of the state of their colony in Ireland about this epoch. There is preserved in the Chapter House, Westminster, a memorial forwarded to Henry IV., about the year 1410, from the Clergy and nobles of Down, in which they depict the terrible state to which they were reduced. To this document are annexed, amongst others, the signatures and seals of the Bishop of Down, of the Prior of Down, and of the Archdeacon of Down. The seal of the town of Down is broken off. 1297. The prior, taking upon him to hold pleas, and the delivery of felons within his jurisdiction, &c., the sheriff was commanded to summon the said prior, to show by what warrant he presumed to exercise powers which belonged only to the crown.00 1301. Roger was prior.P 1314. Thomas Bright the prior was made bishop of Down. 1316. Edward Bruce, at the head of his army of Scots, destroyed the abbey." 1327. Thomas Bright, bishop of Down, and late prior of this abbey, died, and was interred here. 1353. Richard Calf, the prior, was made bishop of Down, and dying on 26th of October, 1365, was interred here.t Tiberius, Bishop of Down and Connor, repaired and ornamented the Cathedral, or Abbey Church, and the following document, preserved in an archiepiscopal registry of Armagh, tells the means which he adopted for that end : Tiberius by the Grace of God Bishop of Down and Connor, &c.-Know that we, with the consent of the Prior of Down and of the convent of the same, have made certain unions for the repairs of the Cathedral Church of Down, which is gone to ruin in walls and roof, and for the augmentation of Divine worship in the aforesaid church, as also on account of the venerable relics of the holy persons, St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Brigid, lying in one tomb in that place. The monastery which formerly, from ancient times, was governed by nuns (which same monastery is now destroyed), and the Monastery of John the Baptist, and the Monastery of St Thomas, proto-martyr, and the Monastery of the Irish, and the Rectory of the Parish Church of Ardglass, and the Prebend of Ros, and the Prebend of Ballengallbee (Ballykilbeg), and the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, at the just and laudable petition of Lord Gelasius Magennis, Commendatory of Down, we have united, annexed, and incorporated all and each of the aforesaid on account of the foresaid causes, that it is better to endow the Cathedral Church than that each should go to ruin. Given at Carrickfergus the 20th day of February, A.D. 1512." The Gelasius Magennis (spoken of in the bishop's letter) is called in Irish documents Glasny; he was Prior of St. John's in Down, of Saul, of St. Patrick's in Down, and Abbot of Newry. "The Annals of the Four Masters" record his death in the year 1526. Glasny, the son of Hugh Magennis, Abbot of Newry and Prior of Down and Saul, was slain by the sons of Donnell Magennis-namely, by Donnell Oge and his kinsmen." The union of the endowments of the smaller houses to the cathedral was confirmed by the Primate, October 12, 1541, and the instrument was directed to "Conosius (Eugenius) Magennis, Commendatory of Down Sede Vacante." A.D. 1538.-The abbey was burned, and the shrine containing the relics of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columbkille was destroyed by Lord Leonard de Grey, which is said to have been one of the counts in the indictment on which he was afterwards condemned and beheaded. A.D. 1539.-The prior of this abbey resigned it to the King upon being allowed a pension during his life. Father Edmund MacCanna, in his Itinerary, says :"The impiety of an Englishman, whose name was Cromwell, deserves to be mentioned in this place with abhorrence. This son of earth, and foul spot on the human race, having been sent to Ireland by Queen Elizabeth in command, came with an army to the city of Down, and set fire to the noble church and monastery of St. Patrick, where even the reliques of Saints Patrick, Columba, and Brigid were exposed to the fury of the flames. And there cannot be a doubt W 1380. About this time it was enacted by Parliament, that no mere Irishman should be admitted to profess himself in this abbey. Same year, John Rosse was prior; it is observable that this man's character was marked with almost every vice; and in this year he obtained the King's pardon, on the payment of the fine of six marcs, for all treasons, transgressions, felonies, extortions, usurpations, and excesses whatsoever, whereof he had been indicted; he obtained the bishoprick of Down in 1387, and died in 1394. 1413. John Cely, the prior, was made bishop of Down, but twenty-eight years afterwards he was deprived of his see, being found guilty of adultery and other atrocious crimes." 1442. William Stawley was prior.a 1526. The Prior Glaisne, who was abbot of Newry and of Saul, and son of Hugh M'Gennis, was slain by Donell Oge and his brothers, sons of Donell M‘Gennis.aa W King, p. 93. * Id. War. Bps., 201. " Id., p. 202. aa Ann. Four Masters. a Id., p. 223. that many other sacred monuments and very ancient writings, as I was told by old men who were alive at that time, perished in that conflagration. And not content with this wickedness, the impious infidel burned all the other churches of Ultonia, especially in the regions of Down and Antrim, very few of which have since been restored. I have been told by my grandfather that he was an eye-witness of that sacrilegious incendiarism; and, further, that all the churches previous te that consumption were lightly roofed, and highly adorned with statues and images. Our natives give him the name of Maol-na-teampull, from his impiety. I have heard many old men say that they were born in that year; for so notorious was the sacrilege of that impious man, that numbers of old men reckoned their age from it as from a national visitation." What Father MacCana here says of Lord Cromwell was previously laid to the charge of Lord Leonard Gray, Lord Deputy in 1538. It is probable that as the Cromwell family were in this time possessed of the lands, he supposed that the sacrilege had been committed by their ancestor. Lord Leonard Gray seems to have obtained the name of Maol-na-teampull-the Maol, or bald man of the churches-from a prophecy attributed to St. Columbkille, which foretells many evils that were to be perpetrated by "Maol, the son of Donn (the brownhaired man), who shall prove injurious to Leith Cuinn (the North of Ireland), the seat of literature." Thus perished that great abbey, the priors of which were peers of Ireland, and possessed of a third of the lands of Lecale. Its venerable ruins were repaired, and formed into the present Protestant Cathedral in the year 1790. Harris thus describes its ruins in 1740:-"The roof was supported by five handsome arches, and compose a central aisle of twenty-six feet broad, and two lateral aisles of thirteen feet wide each, and the whole structure is one hundred feet long. The heads of the pillars and arches, the tops of the windows, and many niches in the walls were adorned with a variety of sculpture in stone, some parts of which yet remain. Over the east window, which is very lofty and august, are three handsome ancient niches, in which the pedestals still continue, whereon it is supposed the statues of St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba formerly stood.” Harris gives a copy of an illegible inscription which was on a stone over the east window on the inside. He also says that there was found in the ruins an Agnus Dei, or figure of a lamb, cut in freestone, as big as life, in sculpture not very bad." There is built into the western gable on the inside a stone on which is carved the figure of a bishop holding in his hand one of the short Irish croziers. A portable altar stone of the thirteenth century was found in the graveyard. Occasionally stone-lined graves are found, such as have been found at Saul, St. John's Point, and other ancient churches throughout the diocese. 66 |