Ireland History – Northern Irish History Belfast Dublin

Above: The Cross of Cong

Early in the Danish raids Forannan fled to Munstcr with the shrine of St. Comhghall, but was captured by the Northmen and the shrine broken.    The Annals of Ulster record in 799 the placing of the relics of Conlaech, first bishop of Kildare, in a shrine of gold and silver.    The following year they note  the placing  of  the  relics   of   Ron an,   patron  of Dromiskin, Louth, in another shrine of gold and silver.    After a further decade, Nuadhat, abbot of Armagh, went to Con-nacht with the Law of Patrick and with his shrine.    Seven years still later Cuana,  abbot of Louth,  went in exile to Munster with the shrine of Mochta ; and Airtre, airchinneach of Armagh, went to Connacht with the shrine of Patrick.    In 823 we read of the plunder of Bangor by foreigners and the relics of Comhghall being stolen out of their shrine.    These are but casual gleanings.    Reference is made to the mausoleum of the kings, Armagh, in 934, 935, 1064 and on other dates.    Gold, silver, horses, cows, and the sword of Carlos were given for the ransom of the Danish king to the king of Breagh.    In 1033, the shrine of Peter and Paul in Armagh is  recorded to  have been  publicly  dropping blood.     The shrine of Colm Cille was carried off by the foreigners of Dublin in 1127 and restored after a month.    Two years later, countless jewels were stolen from the altar of Cluain mic Nois, but   revealed   the   following   year.    The   relics   of   Bishop Maoineann and Cuimin Fada were removed from the earth by the clergy of Brendan and placed in a shrine in 1162.
In   1166  we   find   Ruaidhri   Ua  Conchubhair   extolled  for covering the shrine of Mohill in  as good style as ever was witnessed in Ireland;  and in 1170 it is recorded that the relics of Coman were put in a shrine.  As might be expected, Scandinavia has still a number of shrines and kindred objects of Irish origin, spoils probably of the Norse raids and pillage. The Cross of Cong, one of the treasures of our national relics, was made about 1123 for King Turlough 0 Connor. The Annals of 1nnisfallen record that in that year a portion of the True Cross came into Ireland and was  enshrined at Roscommon.    The exquisite cross in which it was enshrined " is formed of oak,  encased with copper plates,  the sides framed in silver, aud the whole held together by nails ornamented with little heads of animals.    On the front the shaft and arms are divided into a number of small panels by silver strap-work  decorated   at   their  intersections   with  settings alternated with flat silver discs in niello work.    A crystal of quartz set in the centre of the front face of the cross probably covered the relic.    The enrichment of filigree work in the panels immediately adjoining the setting of the crystal is of gold, and the spiral pattern contrasts with the interlaced designs of the other panels.  . .    The shaft is held in the mouth of a grotesque animal surmounting a boss which carries down the interlacements and settings of the shafts and terminates in four small grotesque heads, the whole forming a socket in which was inserted the pole for carrying the cross.    The interlaced ornaments in the panels on the front of the cross are  designed  in  pairs, the  design of  each pair  of  panels is different and in no instance repeated. . .    The interlaced ornament of gilt bronze at the back is larger and more vigorous in treatment than on the front, as is often the case in the work of the period."  The Cross is thirty inches high, and the arms  over  eighteen  inches.    On  it  are inscribed  requests for prayers for Archbishop O Duffy, King Turlough O Connor, Bishop O Duffy and its maker, Maeliosa Ua Eachain.

Above: Shrine of St Patrick’s Bell

The shrine of St. Patrick’s Bell is among our most historic relics. In such esteem was the bell itself held that, in the eleventh century, it was elaborately " enshrined in a manner to suit its noble origin," at the instance of the King of Ireland and the Archbishop of Armagh, whose names with those of the keeper and the artificer were inscribed on it, The Corp Naomh, a bell-shrine with various decorations, including an ecclesiastic holding a book, and horsemen surrounded by birds at either side, belonged formerly to the church of Temple Cross, Meath.
The Loch Erne Shrine is reputed the earliest in Ireland. It was found in 1891 by fishermen on the shore of Loch Eirne, midway between Beleek and Enniskillen. " It consists of a yew-wood box, covered by bronze plates, apparently tinned, and has the remains of a hinge, or suspension, it would seem, at each end." It is seven inches long, half as wide, and near six inches high. The corners have bronze mountings. A smaller undecorated box was found inside it. A similar shrine, found in the Shannon, is preserved in the Edinburgh Museum. Others are preserved at Monymusk House, Aberdeenshire, and in the Copenhagen Museum. A fourth was discovered in a Viking boat burial near Namos, Norway, in 1906.
The Shrine of St. Maedoc, said to preserve the relics brought from Rome by St. Molaise, is of bronze, and resembles the Loch Eirne shrine, than which, however, it is larger. A leather case in which the shrine was carried is one of the few surviving satchels of its kind, dthers being the satchel of the Book of Armagh, in Trinity College, Dublin, and that of the Irish Missal at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The Annals of Ulster under the year 552 refer to an entry in the Book of Cuana, viz.: " The relics of Patrick were placed in a shrine by Colm Cille at the end of three score years after Patrick’s death.   Three splendid mionna were found in the tomb, to wit, his goblet and the Angel’s Gospel and the bell of the Testament. Thus did the Angel distribute the treasures for Colm Cille : the goblet to Down, the Bell of the Testament to Armagh, and the Angel’s Gospel to Colm Cille himself."
The Shrine of St. Lachtin’s Arm, made to enshrine the hand of St. Lachtin, patron of Donaghmore church, Muskerry, is of bronze inlaid with gold and silver and set with blue stones.    In   it  is  yet  preserved  the  ancient  wooden  case which formerly contained the saint’s hand.    It is inscribed with requests for prayers for four persons,  including  the king-bishop who erected Cormac’s chapel, Cashel.    Bede tells us  King  Oswald‘s  arm,   blessed   by  St.   Aidan,   remained uncorrupt after his death and was preserved in a silver shrine at Bamborough.