The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-07-31
BEAUTIFUL RELICS
Of M|LES|AN ARTS
Carefully Preserved in the
Museum of Trinity College
and Copies of Same Found
in the Art Museums of the
United States--Evidence of
a High State of Culture in
the Emerald Isle Upwards
of 1000 Years Ago.

At Ardkillan, near Strokestown,
County of Roscommon, Ireland, are the
remains of an ancient crannoge, writes
Rev. Michael O'Flanagan in the Les
Angeles Tidings. From the remains OF
ancient art work found there it must
have been one of the principal art CEN
ters in ancient ireland. Two or three
large showcases in the Dublin mu-
scum are filled with relics discoverca
there. Personal ornaments, ma le
mostly of gold or bronze; pieces Of
armor, of harness and weapons of va
rious kinds, decorated with the pecul-
lar art forms OF ancient ireland, form
the majority of the relics.
There are many other collections
from the various parts of the coun-
try, more or less like the Strokestown
collection. Until recent years little
attention was devoted by writer's up IN
work in the Dublin museum, but it Is
now being gradually recognized that
Dublin holds the key to a great many
of the problems of early European avt
OF prehistoric gold ornaments Dublin
has not merely the richest collection
in Europe, but has one twelve and a
half times as great as the one in the
British museum, notwithstanding the
| fact that Britain, with her usual plum
derins propensity, has got some OF her
art pieces from Ireland to reinforce
those of her own country. What used
to be known as Anglo Saxon art has
now come to be recognized as really
Irish.
The Irish monks, who in the seventh
century. under the leadership of Saint
Aidan, started in the north of England
and converted to Christianity the great
body of Saxon people, brought with
them the artistic forms of Ireland. Rel
les of their work and the copies an
, development of their work made in
England. collected in the British ma
scum, when studied by the scholars &C
the last century, gave the name of
; Anglo-Saxon art to the peculiar forms,
! of interlaced ornament that distin-
guished them. Now, however, that the
much richer collections of Ireland are
beginning to get their share of notice,
the Celt is gradually coming to his
own again and getting credit for the
art work of that period.
The cl1alice of Ardagh, the Tara
brooch and the cross of Cong are not
merely the masterpieces Of mediaeval
metal work. but they are SO perfect III
design and execution that some of the
accomplished jewellers of our own day
have admitted that they cannot now be
copied accurately. The cross of Cong
is the only one Of the pieces mentioned
whose history can be completely
traced. From the inscription upon
the cross, and from certain statements
made in Irish annals, the cross can
be given a well defined place in. his
tory. The inscription is in Irish and
runs around the edge of the cross l.
reads: ....
Pray for Muredach O'Duffy, Arch
bishop of Tuam, and Senior of Ireland,
for whom this cross was made. Pray
for Turlock O'Connor. King of Ire
land, who ordered the cross to be made.
Pray for Donal MacF1annagan O'Dufy.
Bishop Of Connacht and successor OF
Conan and Cieran, under whose SUPER
vision the cross was made. Pray for
Maeliosa MacBradton O'Echan, who
made the cross"
The Irish annals complete the story.
Pope Calixtius the Second presented
King Turloch, Of Ireland, with a relic
of the true cross, and he ordered a
beautiful shrine to be made for this
relic in the town of Roscommon, in
the year 1923 "A. D. This cross was
presented by the king to the Archbish-
op of Tuam and was there used as a pro-
cessional cross. After a time it found
its way into the monastery Of Cong,
where it was preserved for centuries.
In the penal times when the Irish mon
asteries were destroyed the cross came
| into the hands of a family that lived
in the little village of Cong. and was
there handed down from father to son