We are informed in the Chronicon Scotorum that “Turlough O’Conor presented three precious things to Ciaran at Cluain, viz., a drinking horn inlaid with gold, a silver cup with gold, and a patena of copper with gold and silver.” This cup, with its mullocc or patena, was, of course, a chalice; and it was kept for use on the high altar of Clonmacnoise until A.D. 1125; “when the altar of the great stone church of Clonmacnoise was opened, and precious things were taken out of it, that is—the carrachan, or model of Solomon’s Temple—it was probably a tabernacle—which was given by Maelsechlainn, son of Domhnall, and the cuidin of Donnchadh, son of Flann, and the three articles which Turlough O’Conor gave, that is—a silver goblet and a silver cup, with a golden cross over it, and a drinking horn with gold—and the drinking horn of Ua Riata, King of Aradh, and a silver chalice with a burnishing of gold, and an engraving and the silver cup of Ceallach, Comarb of Patrick.”
But shortly after all these precious articles were ‘revealed against the Foreigners of Luimnech,’ after having been stolen by Gillacomghain; and he was hanged for stealing them, at Dun Cluana Ithair, having been given up for that purpose by Conor O’Brian, King of Munster. The thief thought to make his escape from Cork, Lismore, and Waterford; but Ciaran always stopped the vessel in which he embarked to cross the sea, so that she could get no wind to fill her sails; and the wretch made a dying declaration at the gallows that he had seen Ciaran with his crozier stopping every ship in which he attempted to escape.
Now it is a curious fact that the Chalice of Ardagh was dug up from the edge of a rath called Reerasta, close to the village of Ardagh, in the County Limerick, and other smaller golden cups, with five fibulae, were found on the same occasion. Were they secreted there by Gillacomghain, or some of his accomplices, the Danes of Limerick, for we are not told that the family of Clonmacnoise recovered all the plunder? There is a local tradition that Reerasta was occupied by the Danes of Luimnech; and also that in later times Mass was often celebrated there. It may be then, if not secreted by the Danes, that the chalice was given by the family of Cluain to some of the clergy in the neighbourhood when the thieves were discovered, and that they used it for celebrating Mass in this place during the times of persecution, and secreted the chalice on some occasion when forced to fly for their lives.
It is highly probable, therefore, that this beautiful cup was stolen from Clonmacnoise, was secreted at Reerasta, and was accidentally found, as already described, by a young man, who was digging a portion of the old fort which had been levelled for the purpose of tillage.[411] The artist who made the Cross of Cong for King Turlough, was equally well qualified to make the Ardagh chalice. He was, as we have seen, a native of the County Roscommon, he wrought the Cross for King Turlough O’Conor, under the superintendence of Domhnall Mac Flanagan O’Duffy, Bishop of Connaught or Elphin, and Abbot of Roscommon and Clonmacnoise. It is clear that the chalice was made before Mac Egan made the Cross of Cong, yet in all probability it would be difficult to find in all Ireland a second artist who would be capable of executing metal-work with such marvellous fertility of design and delicacy of execution. We think that, on the whole, the evidence justifies us in concluding that it was owing to the munificence of Turlough O’Conor, and the intelligent patronage of the O’Duffys, that this great Western School of Art was created and fostered, which has left so many memorials of its artistic genius at Clonmacnoise Tuam, Boyle, and Cong.
Another most interesting piece of metal-work is the shrine of St. Manchan of Lemanaghan, which seems to have been also a product of the Clonmacnoise School of Art. St. Manchan himself died of the plague in A.D. 664, most likely at his own cell in Lemanaghan which takes its name from the saint—“the grey land of Manchan.” Not inappropriately either, for it was built on a gravelly ridge surrounded by a waste of brown bog, so that the contrast between the colouring of the ridge and the bog is very striking. It is situated about three miles north-east of Ferbane, in the King’s County, on the right of the road to Clara. The remains of Manchan’s cell are still to be seen, and three blessed wells are also close at hand.
In O’Reilly’s Irish Writers, Manchan is set down as the author of a Latin Treatise, De Mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae, which has been printed amongst the works of St. Augustine. But Dr. Reeves has shown[412] that this treatise on the Wonders of Holy Scripture must rather be assigned to an Irish monk of the seventh century named Augustine, of whom hardly anything else is known.
St. Manchan is much better known to moderns on account of the famous shrine or reliquary, which appears to contain some fragments of the bones of the saint, and is, undoubtedly, one of the most beautiful productions of Celtic art, as it has always been considered—opus pulcherrimum quod fecit opifex in Hibernia.[413] The Four Masters bear emphatic testimony to the same effect. A.D. 1166.—“The shrine of Manchan of Maothail (Mohill) was covered by Rory O’Conor, and an embroidering of gold was carried over it by him, in as good a style as a relic was ever covered in Ireland.” St. Manchan had another oratory at Mohill, County Leitrim.
This shrine is at present preserved in the Catholic Church of Boher, near the Prospect Railway Station, on the Athlone and Portarlington line; and a fac-simile may be seen in the Royal Irish Academy. We need not describe it at length here. It is in the usual form of such Celtic shrines, somewhat like the roof of a house—24 inches long, 15 broad, and 19 inches high. On each side there is a large and beautiful cross composed of five bosses, at the extremities elaborately ornamented, and united by the arms of the cross which were covered with plates of enamel, fixed in a yellow ground with red border lines. Above and below the crosses there must have been originally as many as fifty human figures, but at present only ten remain. The metal work throughout was richly gilt, and ornamented with the usual interlaced figures, characteristic of our Celtic ornamentation.
When the shrine was opened it was found to contain a few small fragments of bones, and some pieces of the original box of yew in which they were enclosed, with a few of the silver plates which adorned the original reliquary. As Lemanaghan was originally given to Clonmacnoise as an “Altar-sod,” about the year A.D. 645, there can hardly be any doubt that St. Manchan was sent from Clonmacnoise to occupy it, and that it always continued to be a daughter of Clonmacnoise. Hence we are justified in concluding that Rory O’Conor had this beautiful work of art executed by some of the cerds of that famous monastery.