Olden — The Paten of Gourdon. 785 



of the Irish word miassa which Mr. "Whitley Stokes here renders 

 "tables," but I have altered to patens. 



I called Mr. Stokes's attention to the mistake in his version, and 

 he agrees with me that it ought to be patens. The Irish word mias 

 cognate if not derived from the Latin mensa, is used for table, 

 or paten, or dish ; but that it should be paten here is perfectly 

 clear, as the passage is translated word for word from Tirechan by 

 the author of the Tripartite, and there the corresponding word is 

 patinos. 



The circumstance then that quadrangular patens were made in 

 Ireland in St. Patrick's time shows that Padre Garucci's objection is 

 unfounded, and it establishes the interesting aud impoi'tant fact that 

 the Book of Armagh preserves the knowledge of a kind of early 

 Christian art-work of which no trace is found elsewhere in European 

 literature. 



Tirechan, writing in the middle of the seventh century, evidently 

 considered the fact of the manufacture of these patens in St. Patrick's 

 time so curious as to need some further proof ; for he goes on to say 

 "Three of those patens I saw," and he also tells his reader where 

 they were. One was at Armagh, as we might expect ; another at 

 Elphin which was founded by St. Patrick who placed Assicus there ; 

 the third was at Domnach mor maige Seolai, otherwise known as 

 Domnach Padruig or Patrick's Church at Lough Hackett in the 

 county of Galway. 



Thus they were all preserved in churches founded by St. Patrick, 

 and were evidently bestowed on them by him, and were the work of 

 his artist. 



The angular form would thus appear to have been the earliest in 

 use, and this may be accounted for by the circumstance that the vessels 

 used for Eucharistic purposes in the beginning were either such as had 

 served for domestic uses, or were formed on the same models. In the 

 present instance the paten of Gourdon corresponds in shape with the 

 Roman silver vessels of, probably, the fifth century, now in the British 

 Museum. It seems to be of about the same date, as, with it was 

 found a hoard of coins of the early part of the sixth century, and the 

 vessel may be assumed to be somewhat older. 



Assicus could only have learned his art abroad when patens of 

 this form were in use, and he as St. Patrick's artist introduced them 

 into Ireland. 



The angular form seems to have been abandoned for the circular 

 everywhere at an early period, though naturally later in Ireland than 



