Bishop Alan celebrates Mass on Feast of St Malachy
On Sunday 3rd November, Bishop Alan celebrated Mass in St Peter's Cathedral on the Feast of St Malachy, the Patron Saint of the Diocese.
Many people I think have been blindsided by the fact that we are celebrating the Mass of the Feast of St Malachy as a Solemnity today rather than the Mass of the 31st Sunday of the year. The Church takes Sunday extremely seriously so there must be something important about this.
St Malachy is the Patron Saint of our diocese of Down and Connor. He was both the Bishop of Connor and the Bishop of Down and by all accounts he was a good and holy bishop. He went on to have a powerful influence on the Church in all of Ireland as the Archbishop of Armagh.
Before we talk about Malachy’s holiness, I want us to remember that it is really important that we are a diocese. We Catholics are not called to follow Jesus on our own; when we are baptised, we are baptised into a community, the Body of Christ. How can you be sure that you are part of a Catholic community? The Church teaches that you know that you are part of a Catholic community when you are united in faith with the bishop.
The Second Vatican Council reminded us that ‘bishops by divine institution are the successors of the apostles, as shepherds of the Church, and he who hears them, hears Christ … In the bishops, therefore, for whom priests are assistants, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Supreme High Priest, is present in the midst of those who believe.’
A diocese is not a convenient management unit within the Church in the same way that a country can be divided into counties or constituencies for administrative purposes. A diocese, understood with the eyes of faith, is a community of believers gathered around a bishop who is a successor of the Apostles. St Ignatius of Antioch, who was a disciple of St John the Apostle, famously said: ‘where the bishop is there is the catholic church.’
As your bishop I say this to you with great humility and a deep sense of inadequacy but it is good for me to say it and for you to hear it because the faith tells us that our unity in Christ is intimately tied up with our communion with one another. It is our communion in Christ that we celebrate on the Feast of St Malachy.
St Malachy was born in 1094 around Armagh. At that time, the earlier glory days of the Church in Ireland were well and truly past. The monasteries, including the great Abbey of Bangor had grown lax and clergy, religious and lay people had all lost their zeal. St Bernard, who wrote the life of Malachy, said that Ireland had fallen into barbarism and immorality.
In that bleak context the young man, Malachy, was attracted to a small group of people committed to the reform of the Church and he became a priest. At the age of 29 he was made the Abbot of Bangor and set about the renewal of the monastic life there. Appointed a bishop at the same time he restored discipline among the clergy, called lay people back to fidelity in marriage and family life and fostered a renewal of the practice of the faith. Like all true saints he was famous for his love for the poor and needy. He had a reputation as a miracle worker.
Malachy made two trips to Rome, evidence of his determination to cement the unity of the Church in Ireland with the Church of the Apostle Peter. On his way there he spent time at the Cistercian Abbey of Clairvaux where he met and became close friends with St Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the great saints of the Middle Ages. Bernard recognised Malachy as a deeply holy man and determined to support him in his work to renew the Irish Church. Bernard sent five monks to Ireland who founded the great Abbey of Mellifont, the first Cistercian foundation in the country, the beginning of a great wave of renewal of faith in Ireland.
St Malachy was our bishop at the beginning of the 12th century and the church and the country were in serious need of renewal. Here we are again at the beginning the 21st century and things are no better; probably no worse.
I took part in the Synod in Rome last month where we were motivated by the dream of Pope Francis that we would build a more united, ‘synodal’ church in which the gifts of every single person would be harnessed for the mission of Christ and the building of the Kingdom of God. There was and will be a big emphasis on the responsibility of every member of the baptised to be committed to the mission of the Church. St Paul captured this challenge well in the letter to the Ephesians:
Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ.
Pope Francis has a dream of renewal of the Church in which everyone is welcome, and everyone is committed to the mission of Christ. When I was in Rome, I was thinking a lot about that vision, and it struck me that it will only become a reality if there are saints in our time. In my few words this morning I spoke of two saints. Bernard of Clairvaux inspired the Cistercians who grew and spread and changed the face of Europe, including Ireland. Malachy was raised up as a saint here, in Bangor, in Down, Connor and Armagh and he inspired others. Together they made real the challenge of today’s Gospel; they ‘brought good news to the poor, bound up hearts that were broken; proclaimed liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison and proclaimed a year of favour from the Lord.’
When God raises up saints there is always the joy and freedom that comes from knowing that everything depends on God and not on us. In our day we need the joy and freedom of some saints among us.
Just as Malachy was called at the beginning of the 12th century to let Christ renew the church and the world, we are called to do the same at the beginning of the 21st century. Back in the 12th century, Catholics in this part of the world were probably tempted to despair; it probably looked pretty bleak, and pessimists doubtless thought it would never get better. And then God raised up Malachy.
We must pray that God will raise up saints again, here, in our diocese. Let us hope and pray that God is already raising up saints among us. And let us remember again that the biggest lesson of all from the Second Vatican Council was that we are all called to be saints.
