An old prophecy of St.Columba regarding his interment runs thus:-- "My prosperity in guiltless Hy, And my soul in Derry, And my body under the flag Beneath which are Patrick and Brigid." The relics of the three saints escaped the fury of the Danes, who burned the town and pillaged the cathedral six or seven times, between the years 940 and 1111.

In 1177, John de Courcy took possession of the town, and founded a church attached to a house of Secular Canons, under the invocation of the Blessed Trinity.

In 1183 they were replaced by a community of Benedictine monks, from St.Wirburgh's Abbey, at Chester.
Malachy, who was then bishop, granted the church to the English monks and prior, and changed the name to that of the Church of St.Patrick.
This prelate was extremely anxious to discover the relics of the saints, which a constant tradition averred were there concealed.

It is said, that one day, as he prayed in the church, his attention was directed miraculously to an obscure part of it; or, according to another and more probable account, to a particular spot in the abbey-yard, where, when the earth was removed, their remains were found in a triple cave,--Patrick in the middle, Columba and Brigid on either side.
At the request of De Courcy, delegates were despatched to Rome by the bishop to acquaint Urban III.

of the discovery of the bodies.