Malachy, St, Archbishop of Armagh, and the greatest of St Patrick's successors, was born about 1095 at Armagh, and was brought up at the university or school there under the anchorite Imar. About 1119 he received orders, and went to study theology at Lismore, where he was confirmed in his preference for the Roman over the old Celtic system. In 1121 he became abbot of Bangor. Archbishop Celsus, who had made him his vicar, procured his election to the see of Connor (1125), and on his deathbed (1129) recommended him as his successor in the primacy. It was not, however, till 1134 that Malachy could establish himself therein, and, that done, he withdrew three years later to the see of Down, though retaining the virtual headship of the Irish Church. In 1140 he journeyed to Rome, seeking the pallium, and Innocent II. appointed him papal legate for Ireland. On his way out, and again on his way back, he visited St Bernard at Clairvaux, and returned to Ireland (q.v., p. 210) with four Cistercian monks. In 1148 he once more repaired to France, to renew to Eugenius III. his request for the pallium; but before his arrival the pope had gone back to Rome, and at Clairvaux, on All-Saints' Day, 1st November, Malachy died of a fever in St Bernard's arms. He was canonised by Clement IV.
The curious 'Prophecies of St Malachy' were first published in his Lignum Vitæ (Venice, 1595) by the Flemish Benedictine, Arnold Wion, who deemed them a recent forgery. They consist of 111 Latin mottoes, forecasting as many pontiffs from 1143 to about 1996. The first 74 (down to 1590) are 'almost without exception,' says Lord Bute, 'transparent indications of the individuals to whom they apply. In the case of Urban VI. the very family name, Pregnani, is given (De inferno Pregnani); and the overwhelming majority of the others are simple puns or plays upon the Christian name, the origin or native place, the previous employment, or the coat-of-arms.' The last are extremely frequent, though—unless to a prophet—Heraldry (q.v.) was unknown in 1143. The thirty-seven forecasts after 1590, as a rule, are strangely vague in contrast to their predecessors, and have sorely taxed the ingenuity of students of prophecy. Still, it cannot be denied that there are a few good shots—none better than Rastrum in portu ('the rake at the gate') for Innocent XII. (1691), who was one of the Pignatelli of Rastello at the gates of Naples. Then Peregrinus Apostolicus fits nicely for Pius VII., and Aquila rapax for Pius VIII., carried off to France by Napoleon, whose emblem was an eagle. For Pius IX. the motto was Crux de cruce, and Lumen in Celo for Leo XIII., his arms bearing a fiery star. The nine prophecies still unfulfilled in 1890 were Ignis ardens, Religio depopulata, Fides intrepida, Pastor angelicus, Pastor et nauta (this shepherd will belike make a voyage), Flos florum, De medietate lunæ, De labore solis, and Gloria oliveæ. After which 'the City of the Seven Hills shall be destroyed.'
See St Bernard's Vita Malachie (in Migne's Patr. Cursus, clxxi. 1074); Prof. G. T. Stokes's Ireland and the Celtic Church (2d ed. 1888); and, for the 'Prophecies,' Moreri's Dict. Historique (ed. 1759; vii. 117), and an admirable article by the Marquis of Bute in the Dublin Review for October 1885.