and (see _R.I.A._ xxxiii. 327 f.). Misled by this description, de
Backer (n. _ad loc._) identifies the book mentioned by St. Bernard
with the so-called "Gospels of St. Patrick," found in the shrine known
as the Domnach Airgid, about 1830, which have no connexion with Armagh
or St. Patrick (_R.I.A. Trans._ xviii., "Antiquities," pp. 14 ff.;
xxx. 303 ff.; _R.I.A._ xxxiv. 108 ff.). For further information about
the _Book of Armagh_ the reader may consult Gwynn, especially pp.
ci.-cxvi.

[436] The staff of Jesus was a wooden crozier (Giraldus, _Top._ iii.
34), richly adorned. The story of its presentation by Christ to St.
Patrick is found in the tenth-century _Trip._ (p. 30), no doubt taken
from an earlier source. The staff was much older than the _Book of
Armagh_; for we find that it was "profaned" in 789, and it was then
apparently regarded as the principal relic of St. Patrick (_A.U._
788). It seems that there was a still more ancient tradition, that St.
Patrick gave it to St. Mac Cairthinn (_R.I.A._ xxxiv. 114), from which
it may be inferred that it once belonged to the church of Clogher. It
was removed from Armagh to Dublin in 1180, and deposited in Christ
Church. It was burnt in 1538 (_A.L.C._). Apparently St. Bernard is the
only authority for the statement that it was "fashioned" by Christ. It
appears that the staff of Jesus, in the twelfth century, was regarded
as a much more important relic than the _Book of Armagh_, and was more
closely associated with the person and office of the coarb of Patrick.
It is frequently mentioned in such a way as to suggest that it was one
of the insignia of his authority (_A.U._ 1015, 1073, 1101, 1113, 1157,
1166, 1167; _A.F.M._ 1135, 1139, 1143, 1148, 1152). Similar references
to the _Book of Armagh_ do not occur till near the close of the
twelfth century, immediately after the removal of the staff from
Armagh (_A.U._ 1179, 1196; Gwynn, p. civ.). A very full account of the
later history of the staff may be read in _O.C.C._ pp. viii-xx.

[437] Deut. xxxii. 6.

[438] _Gyrovagus._ The word is commonly used of a monk who leaves his
proper monastery, and wanders about from one cell to another (see,
_e.g._, St. Bernard, _Ep._ 68, Sec. 4), or to a priest who deserts his
parish (Du Cange, _s.v._).

[439] Job i. 6, 7; ii. 2.

[440] King (_Primacy of Armagh_, p. 97) thought that this was Conor
O'Loughlin. But he could hardly be described as "of the unrighteous
race," or as a "prince," wh