Lawlor — The Cathach of St, Columba. 3^5 



Attached to the rim on the dexter side by a silver chain of trichinopoly 

 work, is a small silver censer or bell engraved with Gothic lettering, now so 

 much defaced that only the following can be read, doubtfully : me fecit (?). 



The earlier portions of the Cumdacli may be compared with other book- 

 shrines in the Eoyal Irish Academy's Collection, such as the Soiscel Molaise 

 and the earlier parts of the Domnach Airgicl ; the former appears from an 

 inscription engraved upon it to have been made between the years 1001 

 and 1025 A.D. ;' the earlier portion of the latter is known to have existed in 

 the eleventh century." Like the Cathach Shrine, the Domnach Airgicl was 

 repaired in later times ; its present outer case was the work of John 

 O'Barrdan ; it was made for John O'Karbri, abbot of Clones, whose death is 

 recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 1353 a.d. The lid 

 of the Cathach shrine resembles the outer case of the Domnach Airgicl, while 

 the style of its decoration is also like that of the shrine known as the 

 Fiacail Phddraig, which was made in the fourteenth century.' The cumdach 

 of the Stowe Missal,* which has had a very similar history to the Cathach 

 shrine, having been made in the eleventh century, and having had a front 

 added to it in the fourteenth century, should also be examined for points of 

 comparison. 



The Shrine of the Cathach appears to have been repaired on several 

 occasions ; but, in the writer's opinion, it seems possible broadly to separate 

 its existing parts into two well-defined periods, to the first of which belong 

 the base, known from the inscription to have been made in the eleventh 

 century, and the older portions of the sides and ends ; to the second belongs 

 the lid, which is almost certainly of fourteenth-century date ; the additions to 

 the sides and ends being possibly contemporary with it. 



In 1723, Brigadier- General Daniel O'Donel caused a silver case to be 

 made to support the sides and ends of the shrine, the lid and base being left 

 uncovered. This case is a simple oblong frame, with a small ledge on the 

 under side to hold up the shrine. It measures 252 mm. by 195 mm., and is 

 45 mm. in height. The sides and ends are engraved on the outside with inter- 

 laced scrolls, of Renaissance type, containing panels forming diaper-work 

 and conventional flowers. On the projecting portion that covers the 



' " Arohaeologia," vol. xliii, p. 144; " R.I.A. Celtic Christian Guide," pp. 44 and 

 45. 



^ For descriptions of this shrine and the ms. it contained see the memoirs by Petrie 

 and Bernard, Transactions Royal Irish Academy, vol. xviii, p. 14, and vol. xxx, 

 p. 303. 



3 "R.I.A. Celtic Christian Guide," p. 95. 



* See Sir George F. Warner's description of this casket in his edition of the Stowe 

 Missal, Henry Bradshaw Society, vol. xxxii, 1906, p. xliv. 



[55*] 



