583 



" The death of this distinguished man is thus recorded in 

 the Annals of the Four Masters : 



" ' A. D. 1150. Muireadhach O'Duffy, archbishop of Con- 

 naught, the arch-senior of all Ireland in wisdom, in chastity, 

 in the bestowal of gifts and food, died at Cong on the 16th 

 day of May, at the festival of St. Brendan, in the seventy- 

 fifth year of his age.' 



" The bishop,' whose name is preserved in the third com- 

 partment of these inscriptions, as the person under whose super- 

 intendence the shrine was made, was also of distinguished ce- 

 lebrity in his time, and was, no doubt, of the same family with, 

 and intimately related to the senior of Ireland. 



" Like the former, he was archbishop of Connaught, and 

 also bishop or abbot of Clonmacnoise and Roscommon. His 

 death is thus recorded in the Book of Clonmacnoise, as trans- 

 lated by Mac Geoghegan : — 



" ' A.D. 1136.— Donnell O'Duffy, archbishop of Con- 

 naught, and coarb of St. Ciarin, immediately after celebrating 

 mass by himself, died, and was buried on St. Patrick's Day, 

 at Clonfert, where he died and celebrated the said mass.' 



" I should observe that it appears from our annals that this 

 family of O'Duffy in Connaught appears to have been pecu- 

 liary ecclesiastical, or devoted to religion. The father of 

 Donnell, that is, as the inscription states, Flanagan O'Duffy, 

 was, as appears from our annals, abbot of Roscommon, and 

 died in 1097. Another of his family, Florence O'Duffy, was 

 bishop of Elphin, and died at Cong in 1168. Cadley, or Ca- 

 tholicus O'Duffy, was archbishop of Connaught, and atten- 

 ded as such at the synod held at Clonfert in 1170 ; and from 

 an inscription on the market-cross, still remaining at Cong, 

 which has not hitherto been deciphered, we find that it was 

 erected by two of this name, who were abbots of that place. 



"Of the history of this shrine, subsequent to the time of its 

 fabrication, our annalists are silent, and even the traditions of 

 the place where it had been so long preserved have been erro- 

 VOL. IV. 2 V 



