210 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
part of the ninth to the twelfth century, but many have, we fear, 
been lost." Dr. Petrie, writing in the year 1821, says: — "Some 
thirty years ago the tomb of St. Ciaran was searched in the expectation 
of finding treasure, when a rosary of brass wire was discovered, a 
hollow ball of the same material, which opened, a chalice and wine 
vessel for the altar, and the ' Crozier of St. Ciaran,' were also found. 
These curious relics fell into ignorant hands, and were probably 
deemed unworthy of preservation, but there is reason to believe that 
the last-mentioned relic, the ' Crozier of St. Ciaran,' still exists." Then 
follows a few words that are evidently erroneous : — " It was exhibited 
to the Society of Antiquaries about the year 1760," with a reference 
to Gough's Camden, which I have searched to no purpose ; but if a 
crozier was discovered thirty years before the alleged date of 1821, it 
is obvious that it never could have been shown in 1760. 
This discovery of a crozier and other relics, enumerated by Petrie, 
within the precincts of Clonmacnoise, appears a reliable fact, for he 
was careful in his assertions, and, no doubt, had sufficient information 
to warrant his statement. That they were discovered concealed in an 
old tomb, and even in that ascribed to St. Ciaran, may be equally 
true, but the enumeration of the objects thus found bears intrinsic 
evidence of the concealment of relics and altar furniture, a genuine 
Cache" at some time of trouble; and beyond any question, such a 
miscellaneous gathering was never buried with the saint's body at the 
time of his interment. Now I am disposed, after careful investiga- 
tion, to believe this is the missing crozier — nay, more, that its older 
portion was accepted and revered as a genuine relic of St. Ciaran 
at the time that the great processional crozier was being made ; and 
as I have already ventured to state, I consider it was at that time 
specially decorated by the addition of its ornamental and jewelled 
staff by the workmen employed in making the latter. 
I have already pointed out how these croziers resemble each 
other in their decoration, and especially in the rams' heads, rings 
of metal, and attached little ornaments found alike on both. I will 
now proceed to demonstrate how certain conspicuous features in the 
early relic were utilized and imitated in the production of the handle 
or crook portion of the Clonmacnoise staff itself. 
In support of my views, I would direct attention to the projecting 
representation, in metal, of a bishop's head, on the anterior portion of 
my baculus, where it forms a prominent and rather exceptional decora- 
tion. The head is covered with a mitre of early shape, and on the 
plane surface of the staff, underneath the head, are deeply-incised lines, 
