Macalister — The History and Antiquities of Inis Cealtra. 149 

 The inscription on the sinister side is as follows : — 



OR 00 aROseNom eReNN • i • Oo ccichasach 



(" A Prayer for the Chief Elder of Ireland, i.e., for Gathasach ") 



The last two letters, which are on the top of the side panel, are so worn as 

 to be almost invisible, but they can be detected if carefully looked for. 



Of the numerous Oathasachs recorded in the Annals, the most probable 

 owner of this monument is the " head of religion of Ireland," who, as the 

 Annals of Inisfallen tell us, rested in Christ on Inis Cealtra in 1094. I 

 cannot trace him with certainty in any of the other Annals ; the nearest is the 

 Abbot Cathasach of Mungret, cinn chrecli fer Muman or " head of the clergy of 

 the Munstermen," who died in 1070, according to the Four Masters. It is 

 curious to find pure interlacements, free from dragonesque developments, and 

 especially to find spiral devices, at so late a date ; and on the evidence of the 

 art alone I would have been inclined to put the cross back to 957, the date of 

 the obit of Cathasach, successor of Patrick and siii-i\spucc Gaoidel," sage-bishop 

 of the Gaedhil " (Four Masters). But there is nothing to connect this 

 prelate with Inis Cealtra ; and the definite association of the Inisfallen 

 Cathasach with the island makes the identification of the owner of the 

 monument with the latter ecclesiastic the more probable. 



It is a palaeographical point worth a passing notice that this is the only 

 case known of the use of the familiar abbreviation for edon, id est, in a lapidary 

 inscription. I think also that this is the only ancient inscription containing 

 the name of Ireland. 



The inscription on the dexter side is as follows : — 



OR 00 C]10R[N]0C 00 RlNgNlT CR01S[S] 

 ("A Prayer for Tornoc, who made the cross ") 



It is much less easy to read than the first inscription. The fourth letter 

 of the name is clogged with cement, but there can scarcely be a doubt that it 

 was N. The final S is likewise concealed. The artist's name was therefore 

 a diminutive of the well-known name Torna. Nothing seems to be recorded 

 of this Tornoc, who was probably a stonecutter, and at the same time an 

 inmate of this monastery ; but it is at least satisfactory to recover from 

 oblivion the name of one more of the sculptors of ancient Ireland, and to 

 know his precise date. This and the preceding monument are lettered on the 

 plate in the Board of Works Keport, "Crosses found in vicinity of 

 St. Caiman's [sic] Church." 



(16). CNN 14, Plate XVI, fig. 4. A small wheel cross; the openings 



p. I. A, PROC, VOL. XXXJII., SECT. C, [22] 



