185 



of a new proselyte, converted the pseans, in which he had celebrated 

 false gods, to hymns in praise of the Almighty and his sacred minis- 

 ters.* 



After these successes the venerable missionary retired to the 

 seclusion of Croagh Patrick, a mountain in the province of Con- 

 naught, where he passed forty days in exercises of devotion and mor- 

 tification ;-f- a part of the narrative which Matthew of Westminster 

 confirms. From this retreat he came forth with renovated enthu- 

 siasm, and wherever he traversed the country, Christianity beamed 

 and churches sprang up around him. About A. D. 455 he founded 

 the Cathedral of Armagh, (" et adificavit in eo monasteria et habi- 

 tationes religiosorum virorum, in quo loco jam civitas est Ardmach 

 nominata, ubi sedes episcopatus et regiminis est Hiberniae ;").j; invest- 

 ing it with a traditional supremacy, which William of Newborough§ 

 confirms, and on this occasion he deposited there his celebrated cro- 

 sier, which became so famous under the name of the staflP of Jesus, II 

 Saint Bernard, indeed, insinuates that the possession of it and of 

 Saint Patrick's text of the gospels almost conferred the bishopric;** 

 and Cambrensis intimates that it was removed to Dublin, possibly to 

 aid the claim of supremacy advanced by that province. -f-f- 



* " Carmina, quae quondam studio florente peregit in laudem falsorum Deorum, jam in 

 usum meliorem mentem mutans et linguam, poemata clariora composuit in laudem omnipo- 

 tentis Dei et sanctorum ejus praeconum." — Jocelin, Vit S. Patr. c. 44. 



f " Diebus xl totidemque noctibus in cacumine collis Eli jejunavit, id est Cruachan- 

 eli."— Nennii, Hist. Britt. c. 59. 



* Probus, Vita S. Patricii, c. 44. § Hist. lib. 3. c. 9. 



II Jocelin writes of this relic, " baculus iste in Hibernia magaae venerationis habetur, et 

 usque in praesens baculus Jesu nominatur." — Jocelin, Vit. Patr. c. 24. 



1* " In ea reverentia sunt apud omnes, ut qui ilia habere visus fuerit, ipsum babeat Epis- 

 copum." — Vita Malachiae in Messingham. Florileg. c. 8. 



-f f " Virtuosus ille et famosus (baculus), quern baculum Jesu vocant, non immerito pri- 



VOL. XVI. B B 



