MALACHIA, saint — Beginning of the prophecies of the pseudo-M. according to the 1595 edition of Venice; the continuation will be found on plate cxxv.
14–15, 18), and that the defective offerings (Mal. 1:8, 13, 14) are those prepared by the kings of Persia (Eid. 7:20–26). This would indicate the post-Nehemian period and would also justify the silence concerning M. in Ezra–Nehemiah. Almost nothing is known about M.
The Septuagint in Mal. 1:1 calls him the angel (ἔγγελος), translating the Hebrew Malé’áhlí (= “messenger of Yahweh” or “my messenger”). According to Pseudo-Epiphanius, De vitis prophet., 22 (PG 43, 412 ff.), he was born at Sopha of the tribe of Zebulun. For others, he was an angel or an angelic man. Since he treats the worship, the priests, and the Temple with precision and particular predilection, his Levitical descent cannot be excluded. His feast is celebrated on 14 January.
The historical setting is characterized by a general relaxation of morals, the unworthiness of the priests, mixed marriages, divorces, avarice, hypocrisy, fatalism and moral blindness, the failure to render tithes and tribute, discouragement caused by poverty, social injustices, economic and political inferiority in relation to the pagans, distrust of God’s providence, goodness, and justice, and disillusionment with an ideal believed to have vanished. Above all, religious disorders were such that the abolition of worship and the priesthood was invoked as a remedy. Yet messianism remained alive, and the “Ruler” was eagerly awaited for the triumph of justice. Israel claimed to have only credits and no debts with God.
The book of M. may be divided into two parts: the first part (1:1–2:16) treats: a) the people’s complaint that God does not love Israel, which is unjust, since from the beginning he preferred it to Edom; b) the priests despise the name of God, failing to revere him as father and lord, declaring the altar contemptible and offering upon it things unworthy even of a governor (peháh). It would therefore be better to close the Temple. On the contrary: “From east to west my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and, moreover, with a pure offering.” They, however, consider the table of the Lord defiled and unprofitable, and so through indolence they make unlawful offerings obtained from theft. The curse will strike the seed; God will throw the dung of their offerings in their faces; c) he sharply reproaches the whole people for divorces and mixed marriages (2:10–16). These are cruelty, an insult to the dignity of their descent (from Abraham), and an offense against the law; an abomination that profanes what is holy.
The second part (2:17–3:22; according to the Vulgate, 2:17–4:3) responds to the accusations against divine providence: a) 2:17–3:6: God does not approve of the wicked and is not unjust, but he will send his messenger to prepare the way for him, and “suddenly” the long-desired “Ruler and Angel of the Covenant” will enter his temple. But he will be like fire and potash, rigorously testing first of all the Levites, so that they may offer sacrifices with justice, and the offering of Judah. Jerusalem will be pleasing to God; then he will come to judge the wicked; b) 3:7–12: the failure to render tithes and offerings is robbing God. Therefore the curse has struck them. Repentance will be followed by such abundance of harvests as to arouse the envy of the nations; c) 3:13–4:3: he responds to the accusation, “There is no gain in serving God, who makes the wicked prosper.” God hears the lamentations of the good, and for their remembrance a book is written before him. On the day of Judgment he will treat them as his special possession, as sons, while the wicked will be burned like stubble, leaving no trace. The good will see the sun of justice, in whose wings there is healing; they will leap like calves and trample the wicked like ashes beneath their feet.
The epilogue (3:23–24; 4:4–6 according to the Vulgate) recalls the law of Moses containing the prescriptions given by God at Horeb. Before the Judgment, God will send the prophet Elijah to turn the heart of the fathers toward their children and the heart of the children toward their fathers, so that they may escape the curse.
The canonicity and authenticity of the book of M. are undisputed. Some doubt the conclusion 4:4–6 (3:22–24), and 2:11, or regard 2:16b as a repetition of 2:15b; but the reasons are weak.
M. is cited in Lc. 1:17; Mt. 11:10, 14; 17:12; Rom. 9:13.
MALACHIA, saint. — In the world O’ Morgair, born at Armagh around 1095, died at Clairvaux on 2 November 1148. Ordained a priest at the age of twenty-five, he was taken on by Celso, archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland, as a collaborator in the ecclesiastical reform that M. began Bangor (v.); elected bishop of Connor (c. 1125), a completely abandoned diocese, he was forced to flee because of a revolt that broke out in Ulster and took refuge in County Kerry, where he built the monastery of Ibrach.
Designated by Celso as his successor, he had to struggle for six years with two intruders before taking possession of the see. After three years of prudent government, he renounced the dignity of primate and returned to Connor, where he surrounded himself with monks, sharing their austerities and being venerated by all as the spiritual head of Irish Christianity. Fearing that the division between southern and northern Ireland, which was then emerging, might affect the Church’s hierarchical structure, he set out for Rome (1138). But, stopping at York, he became acquainted with the Cistercians of Rievaulx and decided to pass through Clairvaux, where he met s. Bernard. Received benevolently by Innocent II, he reported to him on the religious and social condition of Ireland and asked permission to retire to Clairvaux; the Pope instead sent him back to his homeland as his legate.
He resumed the reform with greater vigor, especially that of the monasteries, and, now a friend of s. Bernard, sent young Irishmen to complete their novitiate at Clairvaux. After a few years, the Cistercian abbey of Millefont (1142) arose in the diocese of Armagh, from which originated those five monasteries that s. Bernard mentioned with pride. In 1148 M. resumed his journey to Rome to discuss with Eugene III the question of the pallium of the Irish archbishops. Tired and ill, he reached Clairvaux around the middle of October, and died there on 2 November, assisted by s. Bernard. At the request of Abbot Congano, the great monk wrote that Vita s. Malachiae (PL 182, 1073–1118), which is regarded as the pearl of medieval hagiography.
Of interest are the references to the use of Extreme Unction (chs. 24 and 31, cols. 1104 and 1115) and to Eucharistic doctrine (ch. 26, cols. 1105–1106), as well as the incisive parallel between the life of the holy bishop and that of the other prelates (ch. 19, cols. 1098–1099). S. Bernard also delivered two discourses in transitu Malachiae (PL 183, 481–90), which constitute an anticipatory canonization, later completed by Clement III on 6 July 1190 (PL 204, 1466).