extreme north of the island, yet associated with the abbot of a midland monastery; and that abbot the member of a family which also was seated in the remote north, supplying herenachs to two churches in St. Columba's region of Tirconnell, and occasionally appearing in the administration of St. Columba's church of Derry. In 1497 the Cathach was employed for military purposes, but failed of procuring victory for its possessors. Con O'Donnell led an army into Moylurg in Connaught, to attack Mac Dermott, but was defeated at the battle of Bealachbuidhe. Mac Robhartaigh, the keeper [maor] of the Cathach of Columcille, was slain, and the Cathach taken from the Tirconallians. Two years after, it was restored.--(Four Masters.) In the early part of the sixteenth century it was still the great reliquary of Tirconnell; and in the following century it continued to be in the custody of the family of Mac Robhartaigh, the official keepers under the Lord of Tirconnell. When it reappears in the next century, it is found in the possession of the head of the O'Donnell family, who recorded his guardianship in an inscription on the silver frame which he made for its preservation: IACOBO 3. M. B. REGE EXULANTE, DANIEL O DONEL IN XTIANISSOo IMPo PROFECTUS REI BELLICE HUSUSCE HRADITARII SANCTI COLUMBANI PIGNORIS VULGÓ CAAH DICTI TEGMEN ARGENTEUM VETUSTATE CONSUMPTUM RESTAURAUIT

ANNO SALUTIS 1723. This most remarkable reliquary, combining so many exciting associations, is the property of Sir Richard Annesley O'Donnell, Bart., a descendant of the Cathbarr Ua Domhnaill, whose name is engraved upon the case, between whom and the present possessor four-and-twenty generations of this illustrious house have passed by. The Caah is at present in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, through the liberal indulgence of its distinguished owner.

3. THE COCHALL.-Cochall is the Irish form of cuculla, a word which occurs in the text at p. 168, where there is evidence to show that, even so early as Adamnan's time, the garment expressed by it was supposed to have been endowed

with supernatural virtue. The old Irish Life, treating of St. Columba's reception at Kells, by Aedh Slaine, proceeds to say:

"He consecrated, therefore, a cowl for him; and he said that he could not be wounded while he had it on him. Aedh Slane, however, committed fratricide, contrary to Columcille's admonition, on Suibhne, son of Colman. At the end of four years he went on an expedition. He forgot his cowl. He was slain that day."

The legend in the Book of Lecan, cited at p. 39 (Orig. Ed.), represents Aedh, son of Ainmire, as the recipient of the favour. O'Donnell copies both statements, and exhibits the two Aedhs as provided respectively with charmed vestments.

4. THE CUILEBADH.-The Annals of Ulster, at 1034, record that

"Macnia Ua hUchtain, lecturer of Kells, was lost on his voyage from Scotland; and Columcille's Culebadh, and three of Patrick's reliques, and thirty men with him."

The old English version, suppressing the first syllable of the word in question, and reading lebar for the rest, translates it "booke;" while the Four Masters omit the preceding conjunction, and, dismembering the word, read cu lebhadh, cum lecto, thus referring us to the "nuda petra" of p. 213. This liberty they took with the original, not knowing, it would seem, what culebadh meant. They found the word again in the following passage of the Annals of Ulster, which relates an outrage committed by Tighernan O'Ruairc in 1128, but they have omitted the whole passage:

"The successor of Patrick was openly outraged in his presence; for his retinue were plundered, and some of them were killed; and a clerical student of his own people, who bore a culebadh, was slain there."

Thus it appears that the word was a general term. We are brought a step further towards the meaning of it by a passage in the Preface to the Amhra Coluim-cille :

"And the way that Columcille came was, with a cere-cloth over his eyes, and his culpait over that, and the hood of his cowl over that; so that he should neither behold the men nor women of Erin."

O'Donnell gives the legend, with the addition that means were taken to prevent Columba from setting foot on Ireland, but he omits the desired word:

"There was a sod of the earth of Alba under his feet:

There was a cere-cloth over his eyes :

There was his woollen-cap drawn over that:

There was his hood, and his cowl, over these outside."

The Annals of Tighernach, at 1090, have the following curious entry:

"The reliquaries of Columcille, viz., the Bell of the Kings, and the Cuillebaigh, came from Tirconnel, with 120 ounces of silver, and Aongus O'Domnallain was the one who brought them from the north [to Kells]."

There remains another notice of this monastic habit, in an extravagant tale called, "The Sea-wanderings of Snedgus and Mac Rigail, two of Columcille's priests:"

"And the bird gave a leaf of the leaves of that tree to the clerics, and it was as large as the hide of a great ox; and told the clerics to take it with them, and place it on the altar of Columcille. And that is the Cuilefaidh of Columcille at this day. And it is at Kells that it is."

In the foregoing extracts the word is variously written culebadh, cuilebadh, culpait, and culefaidh; and in a curious diagram which occurs in a tract on Ogham-writing in the Book of Ballymote, we find the word cuilibad in conjunction with the names Colum cilli and Ceallach. Cormac's Glossary, cited by O'Reilly, explains culpait quasi cail fuit or fuacht, "a defence from cold." Still there is good reason for supposing that, as cochall is the Irish form of cuculla, so culebadh is of colobium, and that it represents the tunica of p. 188.

5. DELG AIDECHTA.-The legend of St. Columba's visit to Rome, mentioned in the Notes on B. III. c. 9, has the following passage:

"Columcille tarried with Gregory, and brought Gregory's brooch away with him, and it is the Testamentary Brooch of the Coarb of Columcille to this day. And he left his style with Gregory."

f

This delg probably belonged to that class of ornament of which so many and such beautiful specimens have been found. in Ireland.

6. MOR BACHALL-The pastoral staff, which St. Columba confided to Scanlann, prince of Ossory, on the occasion of his liberation after the convention of Drumceatt.

“Pedum suum ei tradit, tanquam in lubrico verum baculum, et in omni adversitate præsidium; in Domino fideliter promittens ipsum illius munimine, eam virtutem Christo conferente, per objecta pericula salvum et incolumem evasurum, et monens ut ipsum demum baculum S. Laisreno discipulo suo, Monasterii Darmagensis tunc rectori, retradat."-(Vit. iii. 13, Colg. Tr. Th., p. 433 b.)

From the last line we learn that this reliquary was preserved in Durrow.

7. CAMBO KENTIGERNI.-Jocelin gives an account of a visit which St. Columba paid to his celebrated contemporary, St. Kentigern of Glasgow, and, having related a miracle performed by the latter, proceeds to say:

"In illo loco ubi istud miraculum per Sanctum Kentegernum factum, in conspectu Sancti Columbæ, et aliorum multorum, innotuit; alter alterius baculum, in pignus quoddam et testimonium mutuæ dilectionis, in Christo suscepit. Baculus vero quem Sanctus Columba dederat Sancto pontifici Kentegerno, in ecclesia Sancti Wilfridi episcopi et confessoris apud Ripum, multo tempore conservabatur; et propter utriusque sanctitatem, dantis videlicet et recipientis, magnæ reverentiæ habebatur."-(Vit. Kent., c. 40.)

We further learn from Fordun (Bowar) that, at the commencement of the fifteenth century, this reliquary was still to be seen at Ripon :

"Ac nunc cambo, quem beatus Kentigernus à beato Columba receperat, in ecclesia Sancti Wilfridi de Ripoun, aureis crustulis inclusus, ac margaritarum diversitate circumstellatus, cum magna reverentia adhuc servatur."-(Scotichron., iii. 30.)

8. GOSPEL OF MARTIN.-Concerning this reliquary the old Irish Life briefly says:

"He went at another time from Derry to Tours of Martin, and brought away the Gospel that lay on Martin's breast in the ground for a hundred years, and he left it in Derry."

In the twelfth century it was the chief reliquary of the church of Derry, and we find recorded in the Annals of Ulster, at 1166, the violation of a contract which had been solemnized in presence of the Coarb of Patrick with the Bachall Jesu, and of the Coarb of Columcille with the Gospel of Martin. But it was lost soon after; for, in 1182, "Donnell, son of Hugh O'Loughlin, marched with an army to Dunbo, in Dal-Riada, and there gave battle to the English. The Kinel-Owen were defeated; and Randal O'Breslen, Gilchreest O'Kane, and many others, were killed. On this occasion the English carried off with them the Gospel of St. Martin." The legend concerning the invention of this manuscript is borrowed by O'Donnell from the Acts of St. Eugenius of Ardstraw and St. Mochonna, or Machar, the patron saint of Aberdeen. It relates that the people of Tours had lost the clue to the exact spot where St. Martin's remains were buried, and that on the occasion of St. Columba's visiting their city they applied to him to point out the place where the body of their patron saint lay, which he consented to do on condition that he should receive for his portion everything found in the grave, except the bones of Martin.

"Conditione facile admissa, vir Sanctus locum, in quo sacrum corpus jacebat, indigitat, in eoque mox defosso simul cum desideratis exuviis cum Missarum reperiretur liber; factæ sponsionis Turonenses prope pœnituit, detrectantes inventum Missale Columbæ poscenti consignare, nisi ille priori beneficio alteram adhuc adderet gratiam, et Turonensi Ecclesiæ administrandæ aliquem e suis sociis virum sanctum et idoneum præficiendo relinqueret. Quod ipsum posteaquam vir Sanctus annuerat, et Sanctum illis Mochonnam velut jam antea a summo Pontifice pro Turonensi sede destinatum, præsentarat, assecutus est desideratum B. Martini librum."

"1

Now, though it is very unlikely that St. Columba ever travelled beyond the British islands, the above legend is interesting as an indication of the early connexion which existed between Ireland and the church of Tours. St. Martin is represented as St. Patrick's grand-uncle, and as a principal agent in his mission to Ireland. In the next age his body is reported

1 Colgan, Tr. Th., p. 436 a,