The Rev. J. H. Todd on an Ancient Irish Missal. 



15 



or combination of characters, the meaning of which is unknown. The follow- 

 ing is a fixc-simile of the fragment which now remains of this inscription: — 



^on:Bie: 



QHOoef 



The first word is plainly Oiioic, a prayer; but I can make no satisflictory 

 guess as to the meaning of the remaining words ; nor can I explain the con- 

 traction which follows OR. The remainder of this inscription is possibly 

 [■5iU]a]iuaem, the same as jiUainiaoan, which occurs in the next, or fourth 

 inscription, on the left-hand side of the square, as follows: — 



OR t)0 siLLauu 

 t)OKi comaTJba La 



Crys- 

 tal. 



qDqn umacaN 

 SQR cumt)ai5et) 



' A Prater for Gilla- 



THE COMHARB, BY WHOM 



RCADAN O'MaCAN, 

 THIS WAS COVERED." 



i. e. by whose instrumentality, or at whose expense, the cover was made. I 

 have not been able to ascertain who this Gillaruadan O'Macan was ; but his 

 name, Gilla Ruadhan, or servant of St. Ruadhan, connects him with Lower 

 Ormond; and it is therefore highly probable that he was comharb or suc- 

 cessor of St. Ruadhan of Lothra, or Lorha, in Lower Ormond, that is to say, 

 abbot of that monastery, which was the principal church of O'Kennedy's country. 

 It is certain, however, from these inscriptions, that the MS. for which this 

 precious shrine was made, belonged to some church of Munster, — for the older 

 inscriptions represent it as having been enshrined by Donnchadh, son of Brian 

 Borumha, and by ]\Iac Raith O'Donnchadha, the great grandson of Callaclian 

 Caisil, both of them Kings of Cashel, or of Munster ; and the later inscriptions 

 connect it with O'Kennedy's country, or Lower Ormond, and in all probability 

 with the Irish monastery of Lothra, or Lorha. I say, with the Irish monastery, 

 of which St. Ruadhan was the founder, because there was at that time also an 



