COBNISH DEDICATIONS. 117 



Ere is entitled Bishop of Slane. This spot was the hill of 

 the Graves of the Men of Fiacc, so called from its being a Tribal 

 Cemetery. At the period there were no territorial bishoprics. 

 He constituted Slane his monastic and ecclesiastical centre, whence 

 radiated his missions. 



As he was son of a noted Brehon, or lawyer, and had been 

 educated to the same profession, Patrick employed him to regulate 

 all such matters as came before him for judgment, and consulted 

 him on points where his action conflicted with established law. 

 The Apostle had the highest respect for his abilities and for his 

 rectitude. He said of him : — 

 "Episcopus Ere 

 Quicquid judieavit rectum erat 

 Quisquis tulerit aequum judicium 

 Benedictionem feret Episcopi Erci." 



Which is sorry enough Latin to be a genuine production of 

 S. Patrick. The lines are quoted by Tighernach in the 11th 

 century. 



If Ere were the father of Eoghain, then the latter must 

 have been born about 460. 



Ere was a friend of Muircheartach, or Murtogh Mac Earca, 

 a great scoundrel, but who was, nevertheless, the first Christian 

 King of Ireland. He reigned fi'om 509 to 513. For something 

 about him see S. Carantoc. 



Several Saints were akin to Ere, as Brendan of Birr — not 

 the Brendan who was his foster-son — Caiman and Lethan and the 

 holy daughters of Ernan, of whom one was S. Crida or S. Creed. 



When Ere came to Cornwall we do not know. Unhappily 

 no detailed biography of the Saint exists, and all we know of 

 him is picked up from allusions in the lives of other Saints who 

 were his contemporaries. But his period is precisely that of the 

 beginning of the saintly migration to Cornwall. 



There is a very curious story called " The Banquet of Dunna 

 n-Gedh," published by the Irish Society. It was written before 

 the end of the 12th Century. It concerns Ere, but contains 

 anachronisms. 



One day Domnhal, King of Ireland, sent his servants to 

 collect for him goose eggs. They came on a woman carrying a 



