International studio (82.1925)

mceRnAcionAL

SHRINE OP SAINT MUNCHAN

Rel iqaavies o f&AEUG SAINTS

rhat era which wit- Centuries old shrines dlS- dred years. The little bell
nessed the rise and p[ay greaj- beauties in silver within the case beIongs to

t^ffl Qf^-T, and stone of Irish crafts- oldest class of Christian

was heralded by the skilled L ' antiquities 01 Ireland and is

craftsmanship of pagan Ire- iiiitiLo iLtjj believed to have been the
land, its dawn marked by EILEElNf -BUCKLEY verY one carried by the

the coming of Patrick, the great apostle himself, who

adoption of whose doctrines resulted in a zeal for was the first to introduce these objects into his

Christian learning unprecedented among other chosen land.

nations. As far as European civilization is con- Dating from the end of the eleventh century,

cerned during that period, the influence of the the reliquary was the gift of the monarch Domnell

Irish element is perhaps second only to that of the O'Lochlainn, to Armagh, the oldest see in Ireland.

Byzantine Empire. The twelfth century found Inscriptions on the back margins record Cudulig

the art of the Occident bright with the promise Ua Inmainen and his sons as the artists, Cathalan

of the golden harvest it was yet to yield, but in Ua Maelchallann as hereditary keeper. In 1441

Ireland growth was abruptly halted when Norman the bell seems to have been transferred to the

barons, having exhausted the parceling of British O'MuIhoIIands, in whose possession it remained

soil, turned to the fresh fields lying westward. until shortly before relinquishment to the Dublin

The Shrine of St. Patrick's Will or Bell of Museum sometime within the past century. The

Armagh might well serve to symbolize the united change of custodian may have merely meant

achievement of Celtic craftsman and missionary another branch of the same family, as O'MuIhoI-

during that age when the star of destiny shone on land would seem to be the Anglicized form of the

the name of Ireland. The splendid relic alone Gaelic Ua Maelchallann.

boasts an authentic history of more than eight Comparatively well preserved, the shrine is

hundred years, and, if we include the rude, iron fourteen inches high, the lower portion constructed

hand bell which it was made to enshrine, the con- of bronze plates overlaid with decoration, the

tinuity stretches backward for over fourteen hun- upper division, or handle, being of silver. Gold

NOVEMBER I925

one thirty-seven