applicable only to its more ancient or silver plated
case, and which could not with propriety be applied to its more recent
covering, which in its original state had the appearance of being of
gold.

"On these evidences--and more might probably be procured if time had
allowed--we may, I think, with tolerable certainty, rest the following
conclusions:

"1. That the Domnach is the identical reliquary given by St. Patrick to
St. Mac-Carthen.

"2. As the form of the cumdach indicates that it was intended to receive
a book, and as the relics are all attached to the outer and the least
ancient cover, it is manifest that the use of the box as a reliquary was
not its original intention. The natural inference therefore is, that
it contained a manuscript which had belonged to St. Patrick; and us a
manuscript copy of the Gospels, apparently of that early age, is found
within it, there is every reason to believe it to be that identical
one for which the box was originally made, and which the Irish apostle
probably brought with him on his mission into this country. It is
indeed, not merely possible, but even probable, that the existence of
this manuscript was unknown to the Monkish biographers of St. Patrick
and St. Mac-Carthen, who speak of the box as a scrinium or reliquary
only. The outer cover was evidently not made to open; and some, at
least, of the relics attached to it were not introduced into Ireland
before the twelfth century. It will be remembered also that no
superstition was and is more common in connection with the ancient
cumdachs than the dread of their being opened.

"These conclusions will, I think, be strengthened considerably by the
facts, that the word _Domnach_, as applied either to a church, as usual,
or to a reliquary, as in this instance, is only to be found in our
histories in connection with St. Patrick's time; and, that in the latter
sense--its application to a reliquary--it only once occurs in all our
ancient authorities, namely, in the single reference to the gift to
St. Mac-Carthen; no other reliquary in Ireland, as far as can be
ascertained, having ever been known by that appellation. And it should
also be observed, that all the ancient reliques preserved in Ireland,
whether bells, books, croziers, or other remains, have invariably and
without any single exception, been preserved and venerated only as
appertaining to the original founders of the churches to which they
belonged."

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