Patrick's interment \^° and there, too, at the present time, have several interesting
religious
memorials been erected, to consecrate, as it were, the popular tradition.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v3
Someevenstated,
persons watching the body of his sister Ma- "htiAi^ Afi'oich Ia Vl6fu ing^iAn, ^^m bAf crina sang psalms during the whole night. niriA cL6en,
See Vita Macrinse. To this singing by CiAfu ch|\ebt\ech bA huifr^j foillp >'l\i
night, during the obsequies of St. Patrick, is probably to be referred what we find in
Fiech's Hymn, at stroph. 31, in Colgan's
eici'echc ha noeb.
They are thus rendered into English :
" He (St. Patrick) put an end to night ; light ceased not with him ;
To a year's end there was radiance ; it wasalongdayofpeace.
" At the battle fought around Beth-horou against the Canaanites by the son of Nun
"
superni reddebat ipsos sopore irruente ubi
Latin translation :
Sonus concentus
humi decumbentes.
"
By concentus superni,
we may understand, "singing psalms and "
hymns, thisbeingasortofcelestialmusic.
In Lynch's translation, we have, instead of concentus superni, the "musical instru- ment. " Could it be that instrumental music was allowed, at the obsequies of our saint ? This should form a singular exception to the Church's practice in those days. Although the Jews, in their watchings or wakes of the dead, had that custom (Matt. ix. 23. ) ; yet, among Christians, no other than vocal music seems to have been allowed in their religious ceremonies, at least until a period, much later than that of St. Patrick's death. Dr. Lanigan tells us, that he knew too little of the Irish language, to be able to unravel that obscure passage ; but, if anything like a musical instrument were mentioned in it,
he should be—inclined to think, that it was either a bell for —the use of bells was very ancient in Ireland or some sonorous in- strument, such as the trumpets of those ancient Egyptian monks, by which the time for attending service was announced. The effect of this instrumental sound or noise should be, to rouse people from their sleep, not to bury them in sleep, as Lynch's trans- lation runs.
•sjocelyn, at cap. cxciii. , ^. 108, and
Probus —have (lib. ii. , cap. xxxiv. ), p. 60,
this statement. The —Life both Tripartite
'*
The sun stood still at Gabaon : this it is that the Scripture tells us.
The sun lasted with Josue, unto the death
of the wicked : this indeed was be-
fitting ;
It was more befitting that there should be
radiance, at the death of the saints. "
Vita S.
the Latin and Irish version is also of This account seems to have been borrowed
accord. See lib. iii. , cv. , 168. cap. p.
5° —
In St. Fiach's Hymn, stanzas 28, 29,
from the words of Fiech's " Hymn :
Spatio Prima
30, the matter is thus related
SAniAigef ciMcli \\A Ai'ochi, <\]\ riA cAice Lei' occAi,
Co cenn bliA'onA bAi foiLlfe, bA he pcli I/Aiche focAi.
1n cAch ^. -echcA iinbec1ii\on, \\a cuaicIi CAiiAn l,A in AC nuin,
^I'^oicli 111 5i\iAn ppi SAbori iffet) atji-cic ucc^xi 'oun.
Vita S.
translation has :
—from the 17th March—"continued the
:
Patricii,
28, p. 3. Lynch's Till the year's end," viz.
S' This mode of celebrating funeral ob- sequies seems to have been an ancient practice, in the Christian Church, Thus,
St. Jerome, in Epitaph. Fabiolas, cap. iv. , "
Sona- baijt Psalmi, et aurata templorum tecta re-
thus describes her funeral service
:
boans in sublime quatiebat Alleluia. "
s= In the Hymn of St. Fiech, it is com- pared to the long day caused by the stand- ing of the sun for Joshua against Gabaon. See Prima Vita S. Patricii, stanzas 29, 30,
P-3-
53 According to the Tripartite Life of St.
Patrick, some said, that this preternatural
lasted for a whole See
light year. Septima
unius anni
continuata lux erat. " See
Patricii,
lib.
iii. , cap. cvi. , p.
168.
stanza
"
The
lights. "
clear, from the sequel.
continuation of light or lights, to the cele- bration of St. Patrick's obsequies, and to the conflux of clergymen. As to his making it
last for a year, or great part of a year, it can be explained by supposing, that various commemorations were held, from time to
time, which might have been repeated, until
meaning
very
of the author is
He attributes this
—
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 787
that there was light in Magh-Inis, for the duration of a year,s3 after St. Patrick's death. 54
When due honour had been shown to the precious remains of this ever- glorious Apostle, and when the strains of sacred music had ceased, as also the clerical and lay watching over his body, preparations were made for—the
ve for their interment. That enthusiastic lo—
benefactors so inherentintheCelticcharacter causedapassionateeagerness,amongthe people, to possess St. Patrick's remains, and to have these interred in their
particularlocality. Thus,theUlidians,againsttheUi-NeillandAirghialla,ss contended for their right to preserve, in Uiidia, the venerated relics of the holy man. The Airghialla and Ui-Neill tried to take the body to Ard- Macha, because he had there founded his Archiepiscopal See. Thus arose a great conflict, between those provinces of Erin, already named ; while, the opposing parties met in battle array, and with arms, to enforce their hostile purposes. Yet, even in this emergency, from the Heavens was heard a voice, whichthedisputantsbelievedtobethatofSt. Patrick. ^^ Inaccordancewith an advice, given by the Angel, before the Apostle's death, and following an account, which is found in the Book of Armagh,57 in the place wljich is called Clogher,s8 at the east of Findubrec, the people selected oxen, from among the cattle of Conail, and they departed, the Son of God guiding them to Dun-leth-glaisse, or Down. For, when the Angel came to St. Patrick, he
gave this advice, regarding his burial
they closed with the anniversary. That St. Fiech, or the author of the Hymn, did not
mean day-light, during that whole time, is evident from his saying, that Angels at- tended on the first night of the obsequies. See ibid. , stanza 32. Probus, also, mentions nights, during this celebration. See Quinta Vita S. Patricii, lib. ii. , cap. xxxvi. , p. 60. Hence, Dr. Lanigan suspects, that what occurs, about the miraculous long day, is an interpolation, and more especially, as it is rather misplaced. See ibid. , cap. xxxiv. , and also Rev. Ur.
:
" Let the untamed oxen be allowed
" Ecclesiasti- cal History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap. vii. ,
p. 168, Colgan incorrectly denominates this as Cloclier, in
sect,
365. 366.
nn.
Lanigan's
138, 139, 140, 141, 145, pp.
the —of inthe country P'innaur, region
of
xiii. ,
5-* The Irish Tripartite Life, relating
Conail that is, Maghery Coiiiial, the
present County Louth ; and, in his notes,
he makes it the churcii of Kill- absurdly
clochar, now the parish of Clogher, in the baronyofFerrard,inthatcounty. Thus,he makes them travel upwards of forty miles for the oxen, whereas it is obviously the
present Finabrogue, in the parish of Inch, on the west margin of the River Quoile or Coyle, in the eastern part of which lies
witli the narrative, in the Book of Armagh," and it is marked, on the Ord- nance Sheet of County Down, No. 37, as lying not more than a mile distant from Saul, the place of the saint's death. The Conail, whose property the oxen were, was, pro- bably, Conal, son of Coelbadh, King of Uiidia, so frequently mentioned in the Lives of the saint. He was ancestor of the family of Magenis, lords of Iveagh, his brother Saran being ancestor of the Macartans,
lords of Kiualarty.
a9 The Book of Armagh has it, that a dire
this wonderful " nulli portent, adds, Quia
adanti viri nieritum declaranduni accidisse dubium est, et ita non visa nox in tota
ilia regione in tempore luctus Patricii, qua- liter Ezechiae langenti in horologio Achaz demonstrato sanitatis indicio, sol per xv. lineas reversus est, et sic sol contra Gabon, et luna contra vallem Achilon stetit. " In some particulars, this differs from the Latin version of the Life.
55 In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, the Ardmachians are distinguished, as the Hua-KcUii and the Origillii. Probus dis- tinguishes the contending factions, as the Ulionians, on the one side ; and the Orien- tal people of Ireland, on the other. This statement serves to show his ignorance of Irish topography. The Ultu and the Har- thirii are named as disputants, in the Third Life.
5* So state the Sixth and Seventh Lives of St. Patrick, when giving the traditional
CloghaghWood. Thisexactlycorresponds "
great departed
story, regarding this miraculous occurrence. 57 Although the "Tripartite" and the " Book of Armagh " are evidently compiled from the same materials, which are now lost ; yet, the latter is much fuller in details, regarding St. Patrick's interment. That translation, by the late Sir William Betham,
"
Irish Antiquarian Re- searches," in 1827, though somewhat faulty and incorrect, is the version here referred
to.
s^ According to W. J. Hanna, in the
" Trias at Ihaumaturga,"
as published in his
7SS LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
to proceed wherever they wish, and where they shall rest, let a church be founded there, in honour of your body. " Wherefore, as the Angel said, those
unsteady steers were chosen, and a cart of steady weight was placed upon their shoulders, on which they carried the sacred body. However, the Ulidians
and Ui-Neills,59 who formerly were friends and neighbours, soon became the direst enemies. Even to the strait,^° which is called Collum Bovis, or Drumbo,^'^ blood was shed, on account of St. Patrick. However, the mercy of God interposed, the sea^^ shaking and swelling with waves, and the hollow summits of the billows breaking, sometimes against the coast and promon- tories, and sometimes, with curled surge, rushing through the yellow valleys to the place of contest, as if to restrain the fury of the enraged natives. ^3 To end that bloody strife, as Jocelyn states. Divine Providence had substituted before the Ardmachians' eyes a phantasmal wain, which resembled so fully the true one, that being persuaded it was the same, which carried the rich treasure of the saint's sacred body, the people followed it, so far as the River Caucune,^+ on the confines of Armagh province. ^5 There, that imaginary
Oisscn—overlooking the river, and also the
adjoining townland of Lisbane,to the north. In Lisbane, where it abuts on Quoile, there
is a portion of low-lying land, called the
Salt Lough, immediately adjoining the present Steamboat Quay, and over which the tide should flow, were it not for an artificial rampart, raised for the express purpose of restraining the sea ; and, this, there can hardly be a doubt, was the Salt Marsh, alluded to in the Lives of the saint. In the same townland, a little further north, is a half-finishedy&r///,or ra/'/4, which may be seen
on the *' Ordnance Town- marked, Survey
land Maps for the County of Down," Sheet wood, brought forward arguments, to 33. The name Drumboe has now become
contention and war arose, between the de-
scendants of Neill, and those of the eastern
parts, the people of Orior.
^°
the Ui-Neill went to a certain water [river] there, when the river rose against them, through the power of God. When the flood left the river, the hosts—the Ui-Neill and
According to the Irish Tripartite Life,
the Ulidians—proceeded to quarrel.
*^ On the identification of this place, a learned paper, by W. J. Hanna of Down- patrick, obtained insertion in the Belfast Examiner,of5thofJanuary,1871. InNo.
XXI. of the "
Papers
on Down and Connor"
the Rev. James O'Laverty, P. P. of Holy-
identify Drumbo, the scene of the conten- tion, between the Ulidians and the Hy- Nialls, for the honour of the sepulture of St. Patrick, as Lismoghan, near the Blackstaff Bridge, on the inner bay of Dundrum. This, too, is the Rev. Dr. Reeves' suggestion.
obsolete ; but, it is very possible, that the
name Quoile or Coyle, although signifying in Irish "a wood," may preserve, in some
"
a hill—the suffix "bo," a cow, being dropped. The place, where the oxen were caught, which conveyed his body to Down, is called, in the " Book of Armagh,"
Clogher, to the east of Findubrec.
" Jocelyn also alludes to this swelling of the sea. From such an allusion, and from other passages in St. Patrick's Acts, of a like
collis,"
Colgan in his
that the Ulidians followed their waggon to Down, and the Oriors theirs to Armagh, both believing themselves to be in possession of the body of our saint. The Fourth Life of Colgan says, that the waggon of the Oriors disappeared, but that the Ultonians had the real waggon, and buried the remains at Down. Probus agrees with the " Book of Armagh," and he writes, that the waggon of the Oriors vanished, at the River Cau- bene, called, as before-mentioned, Cab-
"
Mr. W.
Hanna that *• So this river is in
concludes, Drumboe, or " Collum Bovis," adjoined the sea, not far from Saul, that it lay in the north
import,
Jocelyn's Life.
J.
called,
The Third Life of St. Patrick, published by
"
of Lecale, and could not by any possibility be a Drumbo, near Lisburn, which is com-
pletely inland.
*3 In a note, to his " St. Patrick, Apostle
of Ireland," the Rev. Dr. Todd writes, this was "probably a ford on the narrow inlet of Strangford Lough, called Quoile, which
separates Inch parish from Saul. "—Chap, iii. , n. 2, p. 492. Mr. W. J. Hanna also argues, with much critical acumen, that this unquestionably was the place, where the present Quoile Bridge stands, as it answers all the requirements of the biographers, and it led directly to the county of Armagh. On Quoile hill, above the old castle, which margins the river, were some time past the remains of a small ecclesiasti—cal edifice, near
Book of Armagh. " All the
a spot called Ballyhassan probably
cenna, in the
writers, who mention this river, place it near the city of Armagh. With this loca- tion. Dr. Todd, in his '•Memoir of Saint Patrick," agi-ees, but he writes, that the name is no longer remembered, in the dis- trict. It could not have been the Callan, which runs west of Armagh, on the
de- riving its name from one of the many saints
River
corrupted fashion, the Latin form
Trias Thaumaturga," states,
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS 789
wain disappeared from their sight. ^^ In the meantime, the people of Ulidia, or Ullagh/7 entered the city of Down, and after a great solemnization of
Masses, they interred the holy body, in a place miraculously shown. It ap- peared then, to each of the contending parties, that they were bringing St. Patrick's body into their own country. Thus, God separated them, in this miraculous manner, through his grace, and owing to the great merits of his blessed Apostle. According to the Tripartite Lives of our saint, the oxen carried him to that place, where Dun-da-leth-glas was, in the time of their writers. His re- mains were buried there,^^ with all honour and respect. ^9 In addition to this statement, the authority of nearly all his ancient Acts may be cited, to show that Down was the real place of St.
Patrick's interment \^° and there, too, at the present time, have several interesting religious memorials been erected, to consecrate, as it were, the popular tradition. ? ^ However, some old
opposite side of the city, approaching from the neighbourhood of Downpatrick ; and, it
is most hkely, in the opinion of Mr. Hanna, to have been the stream or river, which flows by Cavanacaw, about two miles south of that city, and which discharges itself into the Callan, about two miles to the east, giving to or taking its name from that town- land. There—it has been supposed—was fought a celebrated battle, A. D. 1188, be- tween the English of Moy-Cova—between Newry and Banbridge — and Donnel O'Loughlin, of Ailech. See Dr. O'Dono- van's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. iii. , pp. 80 to 83, and nn. (q, r, s, t, u. )
^3 According to the " Book of Armagh," these signs of the times were shown, so that an innumerable host of souls should be turned from destraction and death unto salvation, by a happy deception, as the blinded Assyrians of old should have perished, but for the holy prophet Elisha, by whom, under Divine Providence, they were led into Samaria ; and this deception, also, was made the means, for producing concord among the people.
^ See Probus or Quinta Vita S. Patricii, lib. ii. , cap. xxxix. , xl. , p. 61. Septima Vita S. Patricii, lib. iii. , cap. cvii. , cviii. , pp. 168, 169. Also, Tertia Vita S. Patricii, cap. xci. , p. 29. In the foregoing authori- ties, the circumstances of this contest are differently related.
^^ Ulidia, or Ullagh, whence the modern name Ulster, comprehended only a part of this province. It consisted chiefly, at least, of a great part of the present Down County.
^^ The Latin Tripartite Life of our saint,
however, mentions Saul inadvertently, as the place, where St. Patrick was to be in- terred. A subsequent passage contains the correction.
*9 Ussher's Tripartite, as may be seen in the " Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 873, has Down as the place of St. Patrick's deposition. More authorities will be found in Ussher, Ibid. , p.
7° See Tertia Vita S. Patricii, cap. Ixxxviii. , p. 28. Quarta Vita S. Patricii, cap. xcvii. , p. 47. Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cxcvi. , p. 108. Septima Vita S. Patri- cii, lib. iii. , cap. cviii. , p. 169.
7' From the times of Henry VIII. and of
Queen Elizabeth, the Catholic institutes of
Down were profaned, and the Catholic in-
habitants suffered a variety of persecutions.
The more ancient Church and its renowned
monuments are said to have been destroyed,
by the Lord Deputy, Leonard de Grey,
A. D. 1538. SeeMr. andMrs. Hall's"Ire-
land, its Scenery, Character," &c. , vol. iii. ,
pp. 8, 9, 10. A representation of the more
modern Cathedral is there given, as an
illustration. However, we find, by the
Itinerary of Father M'Cann, who had con-
versed with people, on the spot, that the
foul deed was perpetrated, towards the latter
end of Elizabeth's reign, by Edward, Lord
Cromwell, of Okeham, Governor of Lecale,
and grandson of the infamous Thomas
Cromwell, Earl of Essex, the Mephisto-
pheles of Henry VIII. , and who subse-
quently obtained a reversionary grant of the
monastic lands of Down, Saul, and portions
of Grey Abbey. Father M'Cann thus
"
writes :
the human race, having been sent to Ireland by Queen Elizabeth in command, came with an army to the city of Down, and set fire to the noble church and monastery of St. Patrick, where even the reliqiies of Saints Patrick, Columba, and Bridgid were ex- posed to the fury of the flames. And there cannot be a doubt that many other sacred monuments and very ancient writings, as he was told by old men who were alive at that time, perished in that conflagration. And not content with this wickedness, the im- pious infidel burned all the other churches of Ultonia, especially in the regions of Down and Antrim, very i^^^ of which have been since then restored. " It is likely, the reliques alluded to were the statues of the saints, which occupied the three vacant
8S8, and following pages, as also in Colgan's
"Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta Appendix niches over the east window. He also
ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. xxi. , pp. 259 to writes, that the natives gave him the name
263. of
"
This son of earth and foul spot on
Maol-na-teampull," literally signifying
790 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
Calendars? ^ have stated, that the Lipsana, or relics, ot St. Patrick—Senior- thoughttohavebeennootherpersonthanthegreatIrishApostle reposed inthecityofArmagh. 73 TirechanandNenniussay,indeed,thattheplace, in which St. Patrick's remains lie, is unknown. Whatever truth there may
New Catholic Church, Convent, Schools and Presbytery of St. Tatrick, in Downpatrick.
be in this assertion, it need not be understood, with regard to the place in general ; such as, that his body was somewhere, in Down ; but, it ought to
the "flail" or "scourge of the churches. "
His descendants, subsequently created Vis-
counts Lecale and Earls of Ardglass, erected
tlieir mansion-house and pleasure-grounds
on the tenements, stretching westward to the
circular road and Prior's Island. In 1578,
the Franciscan house, founded by Hugh de
Lacy, where the Protestant church now
stands, was destroyed by Andrew Brereton,
an officer who farmed Lecale from the
crown. Baffled in plundering the sacred
vessels previously concealed, he subjected
to torture, and strangled, fiom an adjacent
oak tree, three of the brethren, named
O'Lochran, Fitzsimons, and O'Rorke,
whom he considered to have prevented his
sacrilege. Henceforward, writes Mr. John
W. Hanna, in the Ulster Weekly Examiner,
of June 8th, 1872, we have but scanty re- Scotch-street, beside the Blackamoor's cord of a Catholic place of worship in Down.
In the reigns of Charles II. and James II. ,
Head. Ultimately, he procured a more eligible place on the Stream Brae, from Mr. William Trotter, on which a church was began in 1784, and opened in 1787, a lease in perpetuity being granted on the 2nd of
some slight stay was given to the persecu-
tion code. A few monks and secular clergy
may have -been tolerated in Down, and in
other parts of Lecale, which has been May, 1789, to the bishop, and Messrs.
always eminently Catholic : but, during the existence of the infamous and terrible penal laws, no Catholic church was permitted in the town. The people worshipped, in the
\Yilliam Sawey and John Dogherty, in trust for the congregation. It was frequently
altered, and subsequently, a gallery was erected, to meet the wants of the people.
old ruined chapel at Struel, till about 1751,' when that house, then about being re-
edified, was partially destroyed and unroofed, by the Rev. Thomas Brereton, Protestant curate of the parish. Then, a rude barn, at the Flying Horse, in Ballymote, at the corner of the roads leading to the racecourse and Killough, began to be used as a tempo- rary church. On the opposite side of Kil- lough Road lay the site ol the Presbyterian meeting-house, that denomination also not being permitted to have a place of worship in the town, till about 1724. After the ap- pointment of the Most Rev. Hugh M'Mullan, to be Bishop of Down and Connor, and after his removal to the Stone Park in Erynagh, he sought for a church site within the town, and, at one time, he purposed building in
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 791
be considered, relatively to the particular spot,74 selected for deposition. The illustrious St. Columba, or Columcille, had received part of his ecclesias- tical education, at the Monastery of Moville, near Newtownards ; and, we may naturally presume, that he had frequently visited the grave of our Irish Apostle. He had founded the church of Derry, besides many monasteries, and had acquired great celebrity and paramount influence throughout Ireland. According to the Annals of Ulster, in the year 552, he was called to Down, where he exhumed the relics of our Apostle, then sixty years dead. In the tomb, he found three precious reliquaries, namely, a "Vial, or Coagh, the Angel's Gospel, and the Bell of the Testament. Directed by angelic revela- tion to divide these, he gave the Coagh7S to the church of Down ; the Angel's Gospel, otherwise called the Gospel of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, who had presented it to his relative St. Patrick, fell to Columcille himself, who con- ferred it on Derry, where it subsequently formed the chief reliquary ; while, the Bell of the Testament he assigned to Armagh. ? *^ In the Book of Armagh, it is stated, that according to the command of God, a cubit of earth was placed over St. Patrick's body,77 and that the fulfilment of his prophecy was manifested in after times, when the church was building over his remains. Then, those men, who were digging the foundation, perceived fire to break out from the grave, and they fled with fear from that flame. The site of the
But, at any time, it was a very indifferent liuilding, unworthy of the purpose to which
it was devoted, and the great St. Patrick, to whom it was dedicated. In the latter end
known, yet the place in general was, it being a valley of the land of Moab, over against Phogor. The sacred text adds : " and no man hath known of his sepulchre
of 1863, the Very Rev. Patrick O'Kane, until this present day. " Deuteronomy,
V. F. , on the death of the Very Rev. Bernard M'Auley, was promoted from the curacy to
be parish priest, when with great zeal and
labour, he collected funds to build, as a
memorial to Ireland's patron saint, a fine
Gothic church, with its spacious nave, its
beautiful traceries, its lofty towei", as also
dedicating a chapel to the Virgin, with its
xxxiv. 6.
75 No description of the Coagh, nor its purpose for use, has reached us, nor what be- came of it after the suppression in the reign of HenryVIII. ; though,itishighlyprobable, it escaped profanation from sacrilegious hands, as was the case with the sacred vessels in the Franciscan monastery of the same town,
guardianship
marble altar. The church was de-
dicated on the 30th of June, 1872, when the
Most Rev. George Conroy, Bishop of of the O'Mellans and O'Mulhollans. By Ardagh, preached the opening sermon. one of this latter sept, it was given to Soon, afterwards, the Mercy Convent, Adam M 'Clean, Esq. , of Belfast, and after- Schools, and Presbytery of St. Patrick were
splendid
added and, the grouping of all—on a
wards it passed to the late Very Rev. Dr.
; — charming elevated site
Todd. A valuable account of it was
by Rev. Dr. Reeves, and it was published, with chromo-lithographic drawings of the jewelled shrine, by Marcus Ward, in 1850.
will be understood from the accompan—ying illustration, taken from a photograph kindly furnished to the writer by Rev. Bernard M'Cann, C. C. , Saul —and drawn on the wood, by William F.
77 St. Patrick's body is stated to have been laid, in a very deep pit, to prevent its Wakeman. The engraving is by Mrs. being stolen. See Jocelyn's or Sexta Vita Millard. S. Patricii, cap. cxcvi. , p. 108, and Septima
7^ See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Vita S. Patricii, lib. iii. , cap. cviii. , p. 169.
Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. xxi. , pp. 258 to 263.
To guard against the commission of such a theft, at any time, it might have been thought proper to conceal the spot, as much as possible. We may also suppose, that the accumulation of graves, around that of the
73 This will help us to explain the expres-
sion of St. Bernard, alluding as he does to
Armagh : "in qua et vivus prasfuit et mor-
tuus requiescit. " See "Vita S. Malachise," saint, after a long lapse of time, may have
cap. vii. Ussher in his
"
Primordia," cap.
given occasion to doubt, which was the peculiar resting spot for our holy Apostle's body. Similar doubts have been started, con-
cerning the burying places of several eminent saints, and of various illustrious individuals, who flourished in past ages.
"^ "
xvii. , p. 888, quotes, to the same purpose, an unpublished Life of St. Patrick.
persons watching the body of his sister Ma- "htiAi^ Afi'oich Ia Vl6fu ing^iAn, ^^m bAf crina sang psalms during the whole night. niriA cL6en,
See Vita Macrinse. To this singing by CiAfu ch|\ebt\ech bA huifr^j foillp >'l\i
night, during the obsequies of St. Patrick, is probably to be referred what we find in
Fiech's Hymn, at stroph. 31, in Colgan's
eici'echc ha noeb.
They are thus rendered into English :
" He (St. Patrick) put an end to night ; light ceased not with him ;
To a year's end there was radiance ; it wasalongdayofpeace.
" At the battle fought around Beth-horou against the Canaanites by the son of Nun
"
superni reddebat ipsos sopore irruente ubi
Latin translation :
Sonus concentus
humi decumbentes.
"
By concentus superni,
we may understand, "singing psalms and "
hymns, thisbeingasortofcelestialmusic.
In Lynch's translation, we have, instead of concentus superni, the "musical instru- ment. " Could it be that instrumental music was allowed, at the obsequies of our saint ? This should form a singular exception to the Church's practice in those days. Although the Jews, in their watchings or wakes of the dead, had that custom (Matt. ix. 23. ) ; yet, among Christians, no other than vocal music seems to have been allowed in their religious ceremonies, at least until a period, much later than that of St. Patrick's death. Dr. Lanigan tells us, that he knew too little of the Irish language, to be able to unravel that obscure passage ; but, if anything like a musical instrument were mentioned in it,
he should be—inclined to think, that it was either a bell for —the use of bells was very ancient in Ireland or some sonorous in- strument, such as the trumpets of those ancient Egyptian monks, by which the time for attending service was announced. The effect of this instrumental sound or noise should be, to rouse people from their sleep, not to bury them in sleep, as Lynch's trans- lation runs.
•sjocelyn, at cap. cxciii. , ^. 108, and
Probus —have (lib. ii. , cap. xxxiv. ), p. 60,
this statement. The —Life both Tripartite
'*
The sun stood still at Gabaon : this it is that the Scripture tells us.
The sun lasted with Josue, unto the death
of the wicked : this indeed was be-
fitting ;
It was more befitting that there should be
radiance, at the death of the saints. "
Vita S.
the Latin and Irish version is also of This account seems to have been borrowed
accord. See lib. iii. , cv. , 168. cap. p.
5° —
In St. Fiach's Hymn, stanzas 28, 29,
from the words of Fiech's " Hymn :
Spatio Prima
30, the matter is thus related
SAniAigef ciMcli \\A Ai'ochi, <\]\ riA cAice Lei' occAi,
Co cenn bliA'onA bAi foiLlfe, bA he pcli I/Aiche focAi.
1n cAch ^. -echcA iinbec1ii\on, \\a cuaicIi CAiiAn l,A in AC nuin,
^I'^oicli 111 5i\iAn ppi SAbori iffet) atji-cic ucc^xi 'oun.
Vita S.
translation has :
—from the 17th March—"continued the
:
Patricii,
28, p. 3. Lynch's Till the year's end," viz.
S' This mode of celebrating funeral ob- sequies seems to have been an ancient practice, in the Christian Church, Thus,
St. Jerome, in Epitaph. Fabiolas, cap. iv. , "
Sona- baijt Psalmi, et aurata templorum tecta re-
thus describes her funeral service
:
boans in sublime quatiebat Alleluia. "
s= In the Hymn of St. Fiech, it is com- pared to the long day caused by the stand- ing of the sun for Joshua against Gabaon. See Prima Vita S. Patricii, stanzas 29, 30,
P-3-
53 According to the Tripartite Life of St.
Patrick, some said, that this preternatural
lasted for a whole See
light year. Septima
unius anni
continuata lux erat. " See
Patricii,
lib.
iii. , cap. cvi. , p.
168.
stanza
"
The
lights. "
clear, from the sequel.
continuation of light or lights, to the cele- bration of St. Patrick's obsequies, and to the conflux of clergymen. As to his making it
last for a year, or great part of a year, it can be explained by supposing, that various commemorations were held, from time to
time, which might have been repeated, until
meaning
very
of the author is
He attributes this
—
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 787
that there was light in Magh-Inis, for the duration of a year,s3 after St. Patrick's death. 54
When due honour had been shown to the precious remains of this ever- glorious Apostle, and when the strains of sacred music had ceased, as also the clerical and lay watching over his body, preparations were made for—the
ve for their interment. That enthusiastic lo—
benefactors so inherentintheCelticcharacter causedapassionateeagerness,amongthe people, to possess St. Patrick's remains, and to have these interred in their
particularlocality. Thus,theUlidians,againsttheUi-NeillandAirghialla,ss contended for their right to preserve, in Uiidia, the venerated relics of the holy man. The Airghialla and Ui-Neill tried to take the body to Ard- Macha, because he had there founded his Archiepiscopal See. Thus arose a great conflict, between those provinces of Erin, already named ; while, the opposing parties met in battle array, and with arms, to enforce their hostile purposes. Yet, even in this emergency, from the Heavens was heard a voice, whichthedisputantsbelievedtobethatofSt. Patrick. ^^ Inaccordancewith an advice, given by the Angel, before the Apostle's death, and following an account, which is found in the Book of Armagh,57 in the place wljich is called Clogher,s8 at the east of Findubrec, the people selected oxen, from among the cattle of Conail, and they departed, the Son of God guiding them to Dun-leth-glaisse, or Down. For, when the Angel came to St. Patrick, he
gave this advice, regarding his burial
they closed with the anniversary. That St. Fiech, or the author of the Hymn, did not
mean day-light, during that whole time, is evident from his saying, that Angels at- tended on the first night of the obsequies. See ibid. , stanza 32. Probus, also, mentions nights, during this celebration. See Quinta Vita S. Patricii, lib. ii. , cap. xxxvi. , p. 60. Hence, Dr. Lanigan suspects, that what occurs, about the miraculous long day, is an interpolation, and more especially, as it is rather misplaced. See ibid. , cap. xxxiv. , and also Rev. Ur.
:
" Let the untamed oxen be allowed
" Ecclesiasti- cal History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap. vii. ,
p. 168, Colgan incorrectly denominates this as Cloclier, in
sect,
365. 366.
nn.
Lanigan's
138, 139, 140, 141, 145, pp.
the —of inthe country P'innaur, region
of
xiii. ,
5-* The Irish Tripartite Life, relating
Conail that is, Maghery Coiiiial, the
present County Louth ; and, in his notes,
he makes it the churcii of Kill- absurdly
clochar, now the parish of Clogher, in the baronyofFerrard,inthatcounty. Thus,he makes them travel upwards of forty miles for the oxen, whereas it is obviously the
present Finabrogue, in the parish of Inch, on the west margin of the River Quoile or Coyle, in the eastern part of which lies
witli the narrative, in the Book of Armagh," and it is marked, on the Ord- nance Sheet of County Down, No. 37, as lying not more than a mile distant from Saul, the place of the saint's death. The Conail, whose property the oxen were, was, pro- bably, Conal, son of Coelbadh, King of Uiidia, so frequently mentioned in the Lives of the saint. He was ancestor of the family of Magenis, lords of Iveagh, his brother Saran being ancestor of the Macartans,
lords of Kiualarty.
a9 The Book of Armagh has it, that a dire
this wonderful " nulli portent, adds, Quia
adanti viri nieritum declaranduni accidisse dubium est, et ita non visa nox in tota
ilia regione in tempore luctus Patricii, qua- liter Ezechiae langenti in horologio Achaz demonstrato sanitatis indicio, sol per xv. lineas reversus est, et sic sol contra Gabon, et luna contra vallem Achilon stetit. " In some particulars, this differs from the Latin version of the Life.
55 In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, the Ardmachians are distinguished, as the Hua-KcUii and the Origillii. Probus dis- tinguishes the contending factions, as the Ulionians, on the one side ; and the Orien- tal people of Ireland, on the other. This statement serves to show his ignorance of Irish topography. The Ultu and the Har- thirii are named as disputants, in the Third Life.
5* So state the Sixth and Seventh Lives of St. Patrick, when giving the traditional
CloghaghWood. Thisexactlycorresponds "
great departed
story, regarding this miraculous occurrence. 57 Although the "Tripartite" and the " Book of Armagh " are evidently compiled from the same materials, which are now lost ; yet, the latter is much fuller in details, regarding St. Patrick's interment. That translation, by the late Sir William Betham,
"
Irish Antiquarian Re- searches," in 1827, though somewhat faulty and incorrect, is the version here referred
to.
s^ According to W. J. Hanna, in the
" Trias at Ihaumaturga,"
as published in his
7SS LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
to proceed wherever they wish, and where they shall rest, let a church be founded there, in honour of your body. " Wherefore, as the Angel said, those
unsteady steers were chosen, and a cart of steady weight was placed upon their shoulders, on which they carried the sacred body. However, the Ulidians
and Ui-Neills,59 who formerly were friends and neighbours, soon became the direst enemies. Even to the strait,^° which is called Collum Bovis, or Drumbo,^'^ blood was shed, on account of St. Patrick. However, the mercy of God interposed, the sea^^ shaking and swelling with waves, and the hollow summits of the billows breaking, sometimes against the coast and promon- tories, and sometimes, with curled surge, rushing through the yellow valleys to the place of contest, as if to restrain the fury of the enraged natives. ^3 To end that bloody strife, as Jocelyn states. Divine Providence had substituted before the Ardmachians' eyes a phantasmal wain, which resembled so fully the true one, that being persuaded it was the same, which carried the rich treasure of the saint's sacred body, the people followed it, so far as the River Caucune,^+ on the confines of Armagh province. ^5 There, that imaginary
Oisscn—overlooking the river, and also the
adjoining townland of Lisbane,to the north. In Lisbane, where it abuts on Quoile, there
is a portion of low-lying land, called the
Salt Lough, immediately adjoining the present Steamboat Quay, and over which the tide should flow, were it not for an artificial rampart, raised for the express purpose of restraining the sea ; and, this, there can hardly be a doubt, was the Salt Marsh, alluded to in the Lives of the saint. In the same townland, a little further north, is a half-finishedy&r///,or ra/'/4, which may be seen
on the *' Ordnance Town- marked, Survey
land Maps for the County of Down," Sheet wood, brought forward arguments, to 33. The name Drumboe has now become
contention and war arose, between the de-
scendants of Neill, and those of the eastern
parts, the people of Orior.
^°
the Ui-Neill went to a certain water [river] there, when the river rose against them, through the power of God. When the flood left the river, the hosts—the Ui-Neill and
According to the Irish Tripartite Life,
the Ulidians—proceeded to quarrel.
*^ On the identification of this place, a learned paper, by W. J. Hanna of Down- patrick, obtained insertion in the Belfast Examiner,of5thofJanuary,1871. InNo.
XXI. of the "
Papers
on Down and Connor"
the Rev. James O'Laverty, P. P. of Holy-
identify Drumbo, the scene of the conten- tion, between the Ulidians and the Hy- Nialls, for the honour of the sepulture of St. Patrick, as Lismoghan, near the Blackstaff Bridge, on the inner bay of Dundrum. This, too, is the Rev. Dr. Reeves' suggestion.
obsolete ; but, it is very possible, that the
name Quoile or Coyle, although signifying in Irish "a wood," may preserve, in some
"
a hill—the suffix "bo," a cow, being dropped. The place, where the oxen were caught, which conveyed his body to Down, is called, in the " Book of Armagh,"
Clogher, to the east of Findubrec.
" Jocelyn also alludes to this swelling of the sea. From such an allusion, and from other passages in St. Patrick's Acts, of a like
collis,"
Colgan in his
that the Ulidians followed their waggon to Down, and the Oriors theirs to Armagh, both believing themselves to be in possession of the body of our saint. The Fourth Life of Colgan says, that the waggon of the Oriors disappeared, but that the Ultonians had the real waggon, and buried the remains at Down. Probus agrees with the " Book of Armagh," and he writes, that the waggon of the Oriors vanished, at the River Cau- bene, called, as before-mentioned, Cab-
"
Mr. W.
Hanna that *• So this river is in
concludes, Drumboe, or " Collum Bovis," adjoined the sea, not far from Saul, that it lay in the north
import,
Jocelyn's Life.
J.
called,
The Third Life of St. Patrick, published by
"
of Lecale, and could not by any possibility be a Drumbo, near Lisburn, which is com-
pletely inland.
*3 In a note, to his " St. Patrick, Apostle
of Ireland," the Rev. Dr. Todd writes, this was "probably a ford on the narrow inlet of Strangford Lough, called Quoile, which
separates Inch parish from Saul. "—Chap, iii. , n. 2, p. 492. Mr. W. J. Hanna also argues, with much critical acumen, that this unquestionably was the place, where the present Quoile Bridge stands, as it answers all the requirements of the biographers, and it led directly to the county of Armagh. On Quoile hill, above the old castle, which margins the river, were some time past the remains of a small ecclesiasti—cal edifice, near
Book of Armagh. " All the
a spot called Ballyhassan probably
cenna, in the
writers, who mention this river, place it near the city of Armagh. With this loca- tion. Dr. Todd, in his '•Memoir of Saint Patrick," agi-ees, but he writes, that the name is no longer remembered, in the dis- trict. It could not have been the Callan, which runs west of Armagh, on the
de- riving its name from one of the many saints
River
corrupted fashion, the Latin form
Trias Thaumaturga," states,
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS 789
wain disappeared from their sight. ^^ In the meantime, the people of Ulidia, or Ullagh/7 entered the city of Down, and after a great solemnization of
Masses, they interred the holy body, in a place miraculously shown. It ap- peared then, to each of the contending parties, that they were bringing St. Patrick's body into their own country. Thus, God separated them, in this miraculous manner, through his grace, and owing to the great merits of his blessed Apostle. According to the Tripartite Lives of our saint, the oxen carried him to that place, where Dun-da-leth-glas was, in the time of their writers. His re- mains were buried there,^^ with all honour and respect. ^9 In addition to this statement, the authority of nearly all his ancient Acts may be cited, to show that Down was the real place of St.
Patrick's interment \^° and there, too, at the present time, have several interesting religious memorials been erected, to consecrate, as it were, the popular tradition. ? ^ However, some old
opposite side of the city, approaching from the neighbourhood of Downpatrick ; and, it
is most hkely, in the opinion of Mr. Hanna, to have been the stream or river, which flows by Cavanacaw, about two miles south of that city, and which discharges itself into the Callan, about two miles to the east, giving to or taking its name from that town- land. There—it has been supposed—was fought a celebrated battle, A. D. 1188, be- tween the English of Moy-Cova—between Newry and Banbridge — and Donnel O'Loughlin, of Ailech. See Dr. O'Dono- van's "Annals of the Four Masters," vol. iii. , pp. 80 to 83, and nn. (q, r, s, t, u. )
^3 According to the " Book of Armagh," these signs of the times were shown, so that an innumerable host of souls should be turned from destraction and death unto salvation, by a happy deception, as the blinded Assyrians of old should have perished, but for the holy prophet Elisha, by whom, under Divine Providence, they were led into Samaria ; and this deception, also, was made the means, for producing concord among the people.
^ See Probus or Quinta Vita S. Patricii, lib. ii. , cap. xxxix. , xl. , p. 61. Septima Vita S. Patricii, lib. iii. , cap. cvii. , cviii. , pp. 168, 169. Also, Tertia Vita S. Patricii, cap. xci. , p. 29. In the foregoing authori- ties, the circumstances of this contest are differently related.
^^ Ulidia, or Ullagh, whence the modern name Ulster, comprehended only a part of this province. It consisted chiefly, at least, of a great part of the present Down County.
^^ The Latin Tripartite Life of our saint,
however, mentions Saul inadvertently, as the place, where St. Patrick was to be in- terred. A subsequent passage contains the correction.
*9 Ussher's Tripartite, as may be seen in the " Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 873, has Down as the place of St. Patrick's deposition. More authorities will be found in Ussher, Ibid. , p.
7° See Tertia Vita S. Patricii, cap. Ixxxviii. , p. 28. Quarta Vita S. Patricii, cap. xcvii. , p. 47. Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cxcvi. , p. 108. Septima Vita S. Patri- cii, lib. iii. , cap. cviii. , p. 169.
7' From the times of Henry VIII. and of
Queen Elizabeth, the Catholic institutes of
Down were profaned, and the Catholic in-
habitants suffered a variety of persecutions.
The more ancient Church and its renowned
monuments are said to have been destroyed,
by the Lord Deputy, Leonard de Grey,
A. D. 1538. SeeMr. andMrs. Hall's"Ire-
land, its Scenery, Character," &c. , vol. iii. ,
pp. 8, 9, 10. A representation of the more
modern Cathedral is there given, as an
illustration. However, we find, by the
Itinerary of Father M'Cann, who had con-
versed with people, on the spot, that the
foul deed was perpetrated, towards the latter
end of Elizabeth's reign, by Edward, Lord
Cromwell, of Okeham, Governor of Lecale,
and grandson of the infamous Thomas
Cromwell, Earl of Essex, the Mephisto-
pheles of Henry VIII. , and who subse-
quently obtained a reversionary grant of the
monastic lands of Down, Saul, and portions
of Grey Abbey. Father M'Cann thus
"
writes :
the human race, having been sent to Ireland by Queen Elizabeth in command, came with an army to the city of Down, and set fire to the noble church and monastery of St. Patrick, where even the reliqiies of Saints Patrick, Columba, and Bridgid were ex- posed to the fury of the flames. And there cannot be a doubt that many other sacred monuments and very ancient writings, as he was told by old men who were alive at that time, perished in that conflagration. And not content with this wickedness, the im- pious infidel burned all the other churches of Ultonia, especially in the regions of Down and Antrim, very i^^^ of which have been since then restored. " It is likely, the reliques alluded to were the statues of the saints, which occupied the three vacant
8S8, and following pages, as also in Colgan's
"Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta Appendix niches over the east window. He also
ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. xxi. , pp. 259 to writes, that the natives gave him the name
263. of
"
This son of earth and foul spot on
Maol-na-teampull," literally signifying
790 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
Calendars? ^ have stated, that the Lipsana, or relics, ot St. Patrick—Senior- thoughttohavebeennootherpersonthanthegreatIrishApostle reposed inthecityofArmagh. 73 TirechanandNenniussay,indeed,thattheplace, in which St. Patrick's remains lie, is unknown. Whatever truth there may
New Catholic Church, Convent, Schools and Presbytery of St. Tatrick, in Downpatrick.
be in this assertion, it need not be understood, with regard to the place in general ; such as, that his body was somewhere, in Down ; but, it ought to
the "flail" or "scourge of the churches. "
His descendants, subsequently created Vis-
counts Lecale and Earls of Ardglass, erected
tlieir mansion-house and pleasure-grounds
on the tenements, stretching westward to the
circular road and Prior's Island. In 1578,
the Franciscan house, founded by Hugh de
Lacy, where the Protestant church now
stands, was destroyed by Andrew Brereton,
an officer who farmed Lecale from the
crown. Baffled in plundering the sacred
vessels previously concealed, he subjected
to torture, and strangled, fiom an adjacent
oak tree, three of the brethren, named
O'Lochran, Fitzsimons, and O'Rorke,
whom he considered to have prevented his
sacrilege. Henceforward, writes Mr. John
W. Hanna, in the Ulster Weekly Examiner,
of June 8th, 1872, we have but scanty re- Scotch-street, beside the Blackamoor's cord of a Catholic place of worship in Down.
In the reigns of Charles II. and James II. ,
Head. Ultimately, he procured a more eligible place on the Stream Brae, from Mr. William Trotter, on which a church was began in 1784, and opened in 1787, a lease in perpetuity being granted on the 2nd of
some slight stay was given to the persecu-
tion code. A few monks and secular clergy
may have -been tolerated in Down, and in
other parts of Lecale, which has been May, 1789, to the bishop, and Messrs.
always eminently Catholic : but, during the existence of the infamous and terrible penal laws, no Catholic church was permitted in the town. The people worshipped, in the
\Yilliam Sawey and John Dogherty, in trust for the congregation. It was frequently
altered, and subsequently, a gallery was erected, to meet the wants of the people.
old ruined chapel at Struel, till about 1751,' when that house, then about being re-
edified, was partially destroyed and unroofed, by the Rev. Thomas Brereton, Protestant curate of the parish. Then, a rude barn, at the Flying Horse, in Ballymote, at the corner of the roads leading to the racecourse and Killough, began to be used as a tempo- rary church. On the opposite side of Kil- lough Road lay the site ol the Presbyterian meeting-house, that denomination also not being permitted to have a place of worship in the town, till about 1724. After the ap- pointment of the Most Rev. Hugh M'Mullan, to be Bishop of Down and Connor, and after his removal to the Stone Park in Erynagh, he sought for a church site within the town, and, at one time, he purposed building in
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 791
be considered, relatively to the particular spot,74 selected for deposition. The illustrious St. Columba, or Columcille, had received part of his ecclesias- tical education, at the Monastery of Moville, near Newtownards ; and, we may naturally presume, that he had frequently visited the grave of our Irish Apostle. He had founded the church of Derry, besides many monasteries, and had acquired great celebrity and paramount influence throughout Ireland. According to the Annals of Ulster, in the year 552, he was called to Down, where he exhumed the relics of our Apostle, then sixty years dead. In the tomb, he found three precious reliquaries, namely, a "Vial, or Coagh, the Angel's Gospel, and the Bell of the Testament. Directed by angelic revela- tion to divide these, he gave the Coagh7S to the church of Down ; the Angel's Gospel, otherwise called the Gospel of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, who had presented it to his relative St. Patrick, fell to Columcille himself, who con- ferred it on Derry, where it subsequently formed the chief reliquary ; while, the Bell of the Testament he assigned to Armagh. ? *^ In the Book of Armagh, it is stated, that according to the command of God, a cubit of earth was placed over St. Patrick's body,77 and that the fulfilment of his prophecy was manifested in after times, when the church was building over his remains. Then, those men, who were digging the foundation, perceived fire to break out from the grave, and they fled with fear from that flame. The site of the
But, at any time, it was a very indifferent liuilding, unworthy of the purpose to which
it was devoted, and the great St. Patrick, to whom it was dedicated. In the latter end
known, yet the place in general was, it being a valley of the land of Moab, over against Phogor. The sacred text adds : " and no man hath known of his sepulchre
of 1863, the Very Rev. Patrick O'Kane, until this present day. " Deuteronomy,
V. F. , on the death of the Very Rev. Bernard M'Auley, was promoted from the curacy to
be parish priest, when with great zeal and
labour, he collected funds to build, as a
memorial to Ireland's patron saint, a fine
Gothic church, with its spacious nave, its
beautiful traceries, its lofty towei", as also
dedicating a chapel to the Virgin, with its
xxxiv. 6.
75 No description of the Coagh, nor its purpose for use, has reached us, nor what be- came of it after the suppression in the reign of HenryVIII. ; though,itishighlyprobable, it escaped profanation from sacrilegious hands, as was the case with the sacred vessels in the Franciscan monastery of the same town,
guardianship
marble altar. The church was de-
dicated on the 30th of June, 1872, when the
Most Rev. George Conroy, Bishop of of the O'Mellans and O'Mulhollans. By Ardagh, preached the opening sermon. one of this latter sept, it was given to Soon, afterwards, the Mercy Convent, Adam M 'Clean, Esq. , of Belfast, and after- Schools, and Presbytery of St. Patrick were
splendid
added and, the grouping of all—on a
wards it passed to the late Very Rev. Dr.
; — charming elevated site
Todd. A valuable account of it was
by Rev. Dr. Reeves, and it was published, with chromo-lithographic drawings of the jewelled shrine, by Marcus Ward, in 1850.
will be understood from the accompan—ying illustration, taken from a photograph kindly furnished to the writer by Rev. Bernard M'Cann, C. C. , Saul —and drawn on the wood, by William F.
77 St. Patrick's body is stated to have been laid, in a very deep pit, to prevent its Wakeman. The engraving is by Mrs. being stolen. See Jocelyn's or Sexta Vita Millard. S. Patricii, cap. cxcvi. , p. 108, and Septima
7^ See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga," Vita S. Patricii, lib. iii. , cap. cviii. , p. 169.
Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. xxi. , pp. 258 to 263.
To guard against the commission of such a theft, at any time, it might have been thought proper to conceal the spot, as much as possible. We may also suppose, that the accumulation of graves, around that of the
73 This will help us to explain the expres-
sion of St. Bernard, alluding as he does to
Armagh : "in qua et vivus prasfuit et mor-
tuus requiescit. " See "Vita S. Malachise," saint, after a long lapse of time, may have
cap. vii. Ussher in his
"
Primordia," cap.
given occasion to doubt, which was the peculiar resting spot for our holy Apostle's body. Similar doubts have been started, con-
cerning the burying places of several eminent saints, and of various illustrious individuals, who flourished in past ages.
"^ "
xvii. , p. 888, quotes, to the same purpose, an unpublished Life of St. Patrick.
