Armagh
Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Patrick South Portal (liturgically west) of the
Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Patrick in Armagh. The statues left and
right of the arch depict St. Patrick (left) and St. Malachy (right). Above are
statues of the eleven faithful apostles which were created by Pietro Lazzerini.
Inscription: “SOLI DEO OMNIPOTENTI TRINO IN PERSONIS SUB INVOCATIONE ST
PATRITII HIBERNORUM APOSTOLI AD MDCCCLVI”. (See Kevin V. Mulligan, The
Buildings of Ireland: South Ulster, p. 111.)
Saint Gélase
Abbé de Derry, évêque
d'Armagh (+ 1174)
Abbé de Derry en Irlande,
il devint archevêque d'Armagh à la suite de saint
Malachie et aurait été le premier évêque à recevoir le pallium. Primat
d'Irlande jusqu'en 1174, il consacra saint
Laurent O'Toole archevêque de Dublin.
Prélat infatigable, il
parcourut l'Irlande, réorganisa les monastères et organisa des synodes.
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/871/Saint-Gelase.html
Also
known as
Giolla Iosa
Gioua-Mac-Liag
Gilla Meic Liac mac
Diarmata
Profile
Son of the Irish poet Diarmaid. Abbot in
Derry, Ireland for
16 years. Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland in 1138;
he served for 36 years. First Irish bishop to
receive the pallium.
Rebuilt the cathedral of Armagh.
As the primate bishop of Ireland,
Gelasius travelled widely, preaching to
the faithful, re-building old monasteries,
convening synods, encouraging teachers.
Ordained Saint Lawrence
O’Toole as archbishop of Dublin in 1162.
Convened a synod in Armagh in 1170 to
look for a way to defend against invading Anglo-Normans.
27 March 1174 of
natural causes
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
MLA
Citation
“Saint Gelasius of
Armagh“. CatholicSaints.Info. 26 May 2020. Web. 5 September 2026.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-gelasius-of-armagh/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-gelasius-of-armagh/
Gelasius of Armagh B (AC)
(also known as Giolla
Iosa, Gioua-Mac-Liag)
Died March 27, 1174. Son
of the Irish poet Diarmaid, Saint Gelasius (meaning `servant of Jesus') was the
learned abbot of Derry for 16 years. He was consecrated bishop of Armagh c.
1138, when Saint Malachy resigned and served as primate of Ireland until 1174.
During his long
episcopacy Gelasius had to deal with the events before and after the Norman
invasion, including the alleged Donation of Ireland by Pope Adrian IV to Henry
II of England, Henry's arrival in Ireland in 1171, and Pope Alexander III's
confirmation of everything granted by Adrian IV.
He reconstructed the
Cathedral of Armagh, and, in 1162, consecrated Saint Laurence O'Toole
archbishop of Dublin, although the invasion and settlement of Dublin by
Norsemen meant that the Christians of that see were looking more to Canterbury
than Armagh. That same year, during the Synod of Clane in County Kildare, a
uniform liturgy was ensured throughout Ireland by requiring that only
Armagh-trained or Armagh-accredited teachers of divinity may teach in any
school attached to the Irish Church.
Gelasius was an
indefatigable prelate. He made constant visitations throughout Ireland,
reorganized old monasteries, and convened synods. He is said to have been the
first Irish bishop to whom the pallium was sent; Eugenius III's papal legate,
Cardinal Paparo, brought four pallia with him to the Synod of Kells in 1152 for
the archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, Dublin, and Tuam. The records of this synod
include the firsts mention of tithes in Irish annals, which Cardinal Paparo
proposed but none of the participants supported. The matter of tithes and the
Peter's Pence was an important consideration in subsequent negotiations between
Pope Adrian IV and Henry II of England.
Gelasius convened another
synod at Armagh in 1170 in the hope of finding some means to expel the Anglo-Norman,
who had invaded the country the previous year, before they became too
entrenched. In 1171, Henry II arrived, lavishly entertained the civic and
ecclesiastic Irish leaders, and requested the convening of the Synod of Cashel,
during which he presented a plan for improving the Church of Ireland. At this
time there was no mention of any claim of Canterbury or the Donation; however,
the eighth canon of the synod decreed that the Irish Church would celebrate the
Divine Office according to the usage of the Church of England (which was still
Catholic).
The bishop of Armagh did
not attend the Synod of Cashel. At that time he was occupied in a visitation of
Connacht and Ulster in an attempt (in concert with the high king) to organize a
defense of Ireland. He realized that Henry had duped many of Irish princes by
masking his true intentions.
The following year Henry
fell under interdict for his murder of Saint Thomas Becket. When news of
Henry's penitential, bare-foot walk to the shrine of Saint Thomas and his plans
for the `uplift' of the Irish Church reached Rome, Alexander III confirmed the
Donation of Ireland made by Adrian IV. Shortly thereafter the Church of Ireland
became English: the School of Armagh was closed (c. 1188) and the last native
bishop of Armagh until the Reformation died in 1313 (Benedictines, D'Arcy,
Encyclopedia, Healy, Husenbeth, Kenney, MacNeill, O'Hanlon, Stokes).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0327.shtm
ST. GELASIUS OF ARMAGH
Authored By: Rev.
Clifford Stevens
Feast: March 27
In 1169, the English
pope, Adrian IV, by the bull <Laudabiliter>, granted sovereignty over
Ireland to King Henry II of England, who wreaked havoc in the Irish Church by
pillaging monasteries and replacing Irish bishops with Norman bishops. The
archbishop of Armagh at the time was St. Gelasius who tried desperately to undo
the damage done by the Normans and work for the upbuilding of the Irish Church.
Before the Norman
takeover, Ireland was undergoing something of a religious renaissance:
literary, artistic, and architectural activity flourished throughout Ireland;
the art of illumination was recovered; monastic centers, like Clonmacnoise, were
flourishing; Clonfert was rebuilt; Mellifont had been founded; and Irish monks
were staffing the remarkable monastery founded by Marianus Scotus in
Regensburg.
No one really knows the
reason for Adrian IV's "donation of Ireland" to Henry II, but it
spelled the end of a uniquely Irish Church.
Gelasius had been abbot
of Derry, St. Columba's famous monastery. His father was a bard, an honored
profession among the Irish and most probably a teacher at Derry, where Gelasius
was educated.
Gelasius called a synod
at Armagh in 1170 to try to deal with the Anglo-Norman takeover, but a synod at
Cashel in the following year called by the papal legate who supported the
Normans made any effort of the Irish useless. Norman usages and customs were
imposed on the Irish, many Irish princes submitted to Henry II, and the English
king's religious decrees became the law of the land. In 1172, Pope Alexander II
confirmed Adrian's "donation" to Henry, with Gelasius trying to undo
the harm until his death in 1174. It was a sad time in the history of the Irish
Church, and Gelasius died a broken man with a broken heart.
Gerald of Wales thus
describes what happened in the time of Gelasius: "The clergy of Ireland
are reduced to beggary, the cathedral churches have been stripped of their
possessions." It would take almost seven hundred years for Ireland to
recover.
Thought for the Day:
Sometimes we have to face complete failure, and there is often a mystery of
Divine Providence in the work of the Church. God does not always ask us to succeed,
only to give our best. When that best is not enough, we have to leave the rest
in His hands.
From 'The Catholic One
Year Bible': "You must obey all the commandments I give you today. If you
do, you will not only live, you will multiply and go in and take over the land
promised to your fathers by the Lord.... Obey the laws of your God. Walk in his
ways and fear him."—Deuteronomy 8:1, 6
Taken from "The One
Year Book of Saints" by Rev. Clifford Stevens published by Our Sunday
Visitor Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., Huntington, IN 46750.
SOURCE : https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/st-gelasius-of-armagh-5503