264 Gtarstin — Ancient Irish Crozier-head. 



!N"ote A. 



USE AS EELIQTJARrES. 



There seems good reason for supposing that the heads of some of 

 the still extant Irish croziers were used to contain relics. In a few 

 cases the flat portion in front is moveahle, and almost invariably there 

 is a hollow space adapted for the purpose here suggested. Such a use 

 may help to account for the great veneration in which they were held. 

 Croziers, however, have their vicissitudes. One of those in the 

 Academy's collection is said to have been used as a walking-stick, and 

 the bronze described in this paper had evidently at some time done 

 duty as a receptacle for tobacco. 



At page 289 of the " Book of Fenagh" (4to, Dublin ; printed by 

 Thorn, 1875), " Done into English by D. H. Kelly, M. It. I. A.," in 

 one of the notes contributed by Mr. W. M. Hennessy, M.B.I. A., it is 

 said of St. Caillin, a contemporary of St. Patrick, that "He foretold 

 that clerics would come towards the end of the world to disseminate 

 religion, and that they would subject the relics, croziers, and bells of 

 the saints to contempt and disrespect." The MS. from which the 

 R. I. A. copy of this book was taken was transcribed in 1516. May 

 not St. Caillin be counted among the Prophets ? 



It must be allowed, however, that disrespect would be unintentional 

 while the true nature of the relic remained unknown. 



ITote B. 



MEANING AND DEB.IVATION OF THE W0BD CEOZIEE. 



In the foregoing brief paper, not only has the now prevalent spell- 

 ing, crosier, been avoided, but the word has been used throughout as 

 applicable to the pastoral staff of a Bishop, as distinguished from that 

 of an Archbishop. This has been done advisedly, though against the 

 authority of most modern ecclesiologists. 



Mr. A. W. Pugin, Dean Hook, the Rev. Precentor "Walcott, and 

 others, maintain that the word properly belongs to the " cross on a 

 staff borne by an Archbishop." They derive it from " cross," or its 

 equivalents. But the emblem is to be traced, not to the cross, but to 

 the shepherd's crook, and the low-latin crocea is the medium through 

 which the English word is derived ; and hence — to use homely illustra-. 

 tions — we have also the terms a crutch, a crotchet in music, and a 

 crochet-hook, in each of which there are the elements of the same 

 form — a staff or stem with a crook'd head. This question can only be 

 glanced at here. The writer has collected many proofs in support of 

 the view he has adopted. 



