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XVIII. 



ON TWO MONASTIC SEALS THAT HAVE LATELY COME 

 INTO THE POSSESSION OE THE ACADEMY. By the 

 EEY. DENIS MURPHy, S.J. 



[Eead January 22, 1894.] 



Two seals have lately come into the possession of the Academy : one 

 by purchase, the other by gift. 



The first is the seal of the abbot of the Monastery of Canons 

 Regular of Premontre, in Trinity Island, Lough Ce, Co. Roscommon. 

 This Order, the members of which are usually called Premonstraten- 

 sians, took its name from Premontre, in Picardy, where its first house 

 was established in 1120 by the founder of the Order, St. Norbert, after- 

 wards Archbishop of Magdeburg. Several of its houses were dedicated 

 to the B. Trinity ; hence it is sometimes confounded with the Trini- 

 tarian, a totally different Order, established by St. John De Matha 

 for the redemption of Christian captives from the hands of the Moors. 

 Of this Order, too, there were several houses — priories and hospitals 

 they were called — in Ireland. The Premonstratensians had nine 

 houses, either abbeys or priories, in Ireland. Their great benefactor 

 seems to have been Clarus Mac Maoilin, Archdeacon of Elphin ; he 

 founded four of their abbeys, this among the number. The date of 

 its foundation, according to De Burgo, is about 12] 5. An abbot of 

 this house, probably the last, Eugene O'Mulchiran, was put to death 

 in Dublin in 1580, together with his neighbour, the Cistercian Abbot 

 of Boyle, as may be seen at p. 255 of Triumphalia 8. Crucis. 



This seal was found on the strand, near Galway, many years ago, 

 and was kept by the finder and his family as a sort of relic. It has 

 been lately purchased for the Museum, from Mr. Lynch, Mainguard- 

 street, Galway. The legend round the edge facing inwards is : 



S ABBATIS SCE TEITATIS, DE LOCH QTJ E. 



In the field of the seal there is a standing figure, over the head 

 of which is a star, but this may be put in only to mark the end of 

 the legend ; he holds in his left hand a book (it may be the Rule 



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