Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, $c. 1 ( J7 



guinis fruantur lesu Christi. Alms vero paries pavimentum domus in duas aequales divides 

 partes a parte Oriental! vsque ad transversum in latitudine parietem extensus est. Et hsec tenet 

 Ecclesia in se multas fenestras & vnam in latere dextro ornatam portam, per quam sacerdotes & 

 populus fidelis masculini generis sexus intrat Ecclesiam ; & alteram portam in sinistro latere, per 

 quarn virginum & fidelium foeminarum congregatio intrare solet. Et sic in vna Basilica maxima 

 populus grandis in ordine, & gradibus, & sexu, & locis diuersis, interiectis inter se parietibus, diverse 

 ordine, & vno animo Dominum omnipotentem orant. Et cum ostium antiquum portse sinistralis, 

 per quod solebat S. Brigida Ecclesiam intrare, ab artificibus in suis esset cardinibus situm, totam 

 concludere portam instauratam & nouam non potuit. Quarta enim portae pars aperta sine c5clu- 

 sione & patefacta apparebat. Et si addita & iuncta ad altitudinem ostij quarta pars fuisset, tune 

 totam concludere portam posset altam & instauratam. Et cum artifices alterum maius nouum 

 facere ostium deliberarent, quod totam concluderet portam ; aut tabulam facere iunctam in vetus 

 ostium, vt postea sufficere posset ; pradictus doctor, & omnium praeuius artifex Hibernensium, 

 prudenti locutus est consilio : In hac superuentura nocte orare Dominum iuxta S. Brigidam fide- 

 liter debemus, vt ipsa nobis de mane quid in opere hoc acturi sumus provideat. Et sic orans iuxta 

 monumentum S. Brigidse totam nocte transegit. Et mane surgens oratione praemissa ostium an- 

 tiquu trudens ac ponens in suo cardine, ianuam conclusit totam, nee aliquid defuit de ipsius 

 plenitudine, nee vlla in eius magnitudine superflua pars reperta est. Et sic S. Brigida illud ostium 

 extendit in altitudinem, vt tota porta ilia ab eo sit conclusa, nee in ea vllus locus patefactus videa- 

 tur, nisi cum ostium retruditur vt Ecclesia intretur. Et hoc virtu tis Dominicse, oculis omnium 

 videntium, miraculum, illam ianuam & valuam manifeste patet." Florilegium, p. 199 ; and Trias 

 Thaum. pp. 523, 524. 



As portions of the above description have been variously understood by 

 learned writers, I consider it necessary, before I offer any observation upon it, 

 to give a translation of it as literal as possible : 



" Nor is the miracle, that occurred in repairing the church, to be passed over in silence, in which 

 repose the bodies of both, that is, Bishop Conlaeth and this holy virgin St. Bridget, on the right and 

 left of the decorated altar, deposited in monuments adorned with various embellishments of gold and 

 silver and gems and precious stones, with crowns of gold and silver depending from above. For the 

 number of the faithful of both sexes increasing, the church, occupying a spacious area, and elevated 

 to a menacing height, and adorned with painted pictures, having within three oratories large and sepa- 

 rated by partitions of planks under one roof of the greater house, wherein one partition decorated 

 and painted with figures, and covered with linen hangings extended along the breadth in the eastern 

 part of the church, from the one to the other party wall of the church, which [partition] has at its ex- 

 tremities two doors, and through the one door, placed in the right side, the chief prelate enters the 

 sanctuary accompanied by his regular school, and those who are deputed to the sacred ministry of 

 offering sacred and dominical sacrifices : through the other door, placed in the left part of the par- 

 tition above-mentioned, and lying transversely, none enter but the abbess with her virgins and 

 widows among the faithful, when going to participate in the banquet of the body and blood of Jesus 



