[125] The note is as follows (the contractions expanded):—“Sanctus Patricius iens ad coelum | mandauit totum fructum | laboris sui tam babtismi tam causarum et elemoisina | rum deferendum esse apos | tolicae urbi quae scotice | nominatur arddmacha | sic reperi in beblioticis | scotorum ego scripsi | id est caluus perennis in con | spectu briani imperato | ris scotorum et quod scripsi | finivit pro omnibus regibus maceriae” (i.e., of Cashel). The scribe originally wrote “finit” for “finivit;” he then expunged the “t” by a point under. This is the origin of O’Curry’s ridiculous “figuivit.”
[126] On the Book of Armagh, see Sir W. Betham: Irish Antiquarian Researches; Petrie: Essay on the Round Towers; Bishop Graves, ubi supra; and Bishop Reeves, Proc. R. I. Acad., ser. iii., vol. ii., p. 77.
[127] See a drawing in Curzon’s Monasteries of the Levant.
[128] Published by Bishop Forbes in his Liber Ecclesiæ de Arbuthnott.
[129] This is the story as told to and by Monck Mason, from whom Sir W. Betham bought the MS., and who had himself bought it from a Mr. Harrison of Nenagh. Sir W. Betham not unreasonably questions the truth of the story.
[130] A remarkable instance is the Codex Purpureus N of the Gospels, of which four leaves are in the British Museum, two in Vienna, six in the Vatican, and thirty-three at Patmos.
[131] The MS. is B.3.6. On fol. cxxx. a we read: “Expletis benedictionibus faciat Episcopus Crucem in manus singulorum de oleo et chrismate dicens orationem. Consecrare et sanctificare digneris quaesumus Domine manus istas per istam unctionem et nostram benedictionem ut quaecunque consecraverint consecrentur, et quaecunque benedixerint benedicantur et sanctificentur per Christum Dominum nostrum. Deinde patenam cum oblatis et calicem cum vino det singulis dicens ad eos lenta voce. Accipite potestatem offerre sacrificium Deo missamque celebrare tam pro vivis quam et pro defunctis in nomine Domini. Sequitur ultima benedictio: Benedictio Domini Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti descendat super vos ut sitis benedicti in ordinem sacerdotalem, offerentes placabiles hostias pro peccatis atque offensionibus populi omnipotenti Deo, cui est honor et gloria in saecula saecularum. Amen. Et osculetur singulos et omnes qui ordinati sunt, deferant oblationes ad manus episcopi.” Opposite this in the margin, secunda manu, is a series of different rubrics and prayers, of which the most notable is “Post benedictionem imponat manum super capita ordinatorum dicendo: Accipite Spiritum Sanctum, et quorum remiseritis peccata remissa sunt, et quorum retinueritis retenta sunt.” Then follows, secunda manu, the “Finalis Benedictio.”
[132] On a Syriac MS. belonging to the collection of Archbishop Ussher, by the Very Rev. John Gwynn, D.D., Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxvii.
[133] None of them mentioned by M. Le Roux de Lincy in his Recherches sur Grolier, sa vie, et sa bibliothèque.
[134] Bibl. Egerton, Brit. Mus., MS. No. 75, p. 371.