unfortunately lost 1. A similar fate has attended the relics of St. Kieran (sixth century). When his grave was opened A.D. 1791 his relics comprised beads strung on brass wire, a crozier, a hollow brass ball which opened, resembling the ball (possibly a pome) in the hands of one of the figures on the Breac Moedog (Archaeol. xliii. pl. 18), and a paten and chalice 2.

§ 32. FAN.-The only evidence for the use of this wellknown Eastern accessory of liturgical worship is derived from illuminations in ancient books. There is a flabellum' or fan represented in the right hand of St. Matthew in a Hiberno-Saxon MS. of the Gospels (eighth century) at Treves3, also in the hands of the angels in the monogram of the Book of Kells (sixth century, Irish), where they seem to be constructed of thin plates of metal surrounded by little bells like those used by the Maronites 4.

Plentiful evidence of the early use of the flabellum in Western Christendom is adduced by Gerbert 5, and especially as to Gaul in Smith's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities 6. In a thirteenth-century illumination in a French MS., a facsimile of which is given in Bastard's Peintures et Ornements, a priest vested in an ample chasuble is represented in the act of consecration at Mass. Behind him stands the deacon in a dalmatic, waving a flabellum composed of peacocks' feathers.

Knife. A knife is depicted in the left hand of St. Matthew in the Treves Gospels, and in the right hand of the righthand figure in the monogram of the Garland of Howth. It

1 The circumstances attending its loss are recorded in Wilson's Archaeology of Scotland, pp. 668-9.

There are early and frequent allusions to golden chalices in Gaul; Greg. Tur. De Glor. Confess. clxiii; Hist. Franc. lib. iii. cap. 10; lib. vii. cap. 24. For information as to other countries, see Scudamore, Notit. Eucharist., second edit. p. 558. 3 Westwood, J. O., Facsimiles, &c., plate xx. Ib. plate liii. No. 7; Todd, J. H., Descriptive Remarks, &c. 5 Liturg. Aleman. i. 228. Sub voc. Flabellum.

8 Westwood, J. O., Facsimiles, &c., plate xx.
• Todd, J. H., Descriptive Remarks, &c., plate iii.

7 Tom. iii.

is impossible without further evidence to decide for what purpose this knife was employed, although its character as a sacred symbol is evident. It may have been used as the holy spear (λóyxn) is used in the Eastern Church, for the ceremonial piercing of the Amnos and severing the host into portions during the Liturgy1, or as the knife specially set apart in the Anglo-Saxon Church for the purpose of cutting up the Eulogiae 2.

§ 33. SIGN OF THE CROSS. Frequent mention is made of the use of the sign of the cross for various purposes by the Scottish monks at Iona and by Irish monks under St. Columbanus. It was the sign ordinarily attending the sacerdotal act of benediction. We may infer therefore that it was employed in every Celtic act of consecration, although there is no direct evidence extant to that effect. There are directions for its use once over the chalice in St. Gall MS. 13943; once in the Rite of Unction in the Book of Dimma3, and in the Stowe Missal; once in the Ordo Baptismi, and five times in the Gelasian Canon in the latter volume. Instances of its use at Iona have been collected by Dr. Reeves in his edition of Adamnan. It was made over the pail before milking, over tools before using them", over a spoon, over a lantern. It was considered effectual to banish evil spirits 10, to restrain a river monster 11, to stop a wild boar 12, to unlock a door 13, to endow a pebble with healing virtue 14, or bread 15, or water 16, or salt 17. It deprived a spear 18 or a dagger 19 of its power of hurting, etc. etc. In the first eight of these instances the sign of the cross is mentioned, in the latter seven it is implied in the word 'benedixit.' It was made 'extensa,' or 'elevata manus,' or 'manus protensione.' There are numerous allusions to its use in all the later lives of the saints.

1 There is slight evidence in favour of the use of a knife in the early Gallican Liturgy in the account of the vision recorded by Germanus Paris. in the Expos. Missae, Mart. i. p. 168. col. 2. 2 Rock, D., Church of our Fathers, i. 36. • Ib. § 14. Reg. Columban. cap. i.

3 Ch. iii. §§ 6, 9.

7 Ib. ii. 29.

10 Adamnan, ii. 17.

14 Ib. ii. 33.

18 Ib. ii. 25.

5 P. 351.

• Ib. ii. 16.

• Ib. cap. ii.

11 Ib. ii. 27.

12 Ib. ii. 26.

13 Ib. ii. 35.

15 Ib. ii. 4. 19 Ib. ii 29.

§ 34. FASTING.-There is no direct evidence of the practice of fasting reception of the Communion, but we may infer it from the early hour at which the Eucharist was celebrated1, and from the prominent position assigned to fasting generally in the regulations of the Celtic Church.

Wednesday and Friday were observed as fast-days at Iona, but a dispensation was granted by the abbot in the case of the reception of strangers2, &c.; also at Lindisfarne, where the Celtic custom of fasting till three o'clock (except in Eastertide) had been introduced by St. Aidan from Iona3. The Rule of St. Columbanus prescribed the same custom for the Irish continental monasteries. In the Rule of the Irish Culdees (eighth century) skimmed milk was allowed on St. Patrick's Day even if it fell on a Wednesday or Friday. The noneating of flesh on Wednesdays and Fridays was one of the customary laws by which the soul-friend (an mcara) bound the Irish people".

Lent (dies quadragesimales) was observed at Iona as a season of preparation for Easter 7. The severity of the Lenten Rule may be gathered from the statement of Bishop Cedd that the strict rule which he observed had been learned by him in the Columban monastery in which he had been brought up R.

The three Rogation Days, before the Feast of the Ascen

1 p. 142.

2 Adamnan, Vit. S. Col. i. 26.

3 'Per totum annum, excepta remissione quinquagesimae paschalis, quarta et sexta sabbati jejunium ad nonam usque horam protelare.' Bede, H. E. iii. 5. 'Si quis ante horam nonam quarta sextaque feria manducat, nisi infirmus, duos dies in pane et aqua.' Cap. xiii. p. 23.

5 p. 84. In the Black Book of Caermarthen (Welsh, twelfth century) this charge is brought against an irreligious person: Thou respectedst not Friday, of thy great humility,' &c.; v. 30.

• Senchus Mor, iii. 15.

7 Adamnan, Vit. S. Col. ii. 39.

8 'Diebus cunctis, excepta Dominica, jejunium ad vesperam usque juxta morem protelans, ne tunc quidem nisi panis permodicum, et unum ovum gallinaceum cum parvo lacte aqua mixto percipiebat. Dicebat enim hanc esse consuetudinem eorum, a quibus normam disciplinae regularis didicerat.' Bede, H. E. iii. 23 The rule of St. Benedict was the same as to the hours of food both on Wednesdays and Fridays and in Lent, and it appears to have been still more strict as to quality (cc. 39, 41, 49).

sion, were observed, with fasting up to the ninth hour, and their observation was perpetuated in the Anglo-Saxon Church by the 16th canon of the Council of Clovesho (a.D. 747), which expressly refers to their observation not as a custom derived from Rome, but as a traditional custom of the country: 'Sexto decimo condixerunt capitulo: Ut Laetaniae, id est rogationes, a clero omnique populo his diebus cum magna reverentia agantur, id est, die septimo kalendarum Maiarum, juxta ritum Romanae Ecclesiae, quae et Letania major apud eam vocatur. Et item quoque, secundum morem priorum nostrorum, tres dies ante Ascensionem Domini in caelos cum jejunio usque ad horam nonam et Missarum celebratione venerantur,' &c.

The wording of this canon is noteworthy. The observance of the Rogation Days was a Gallican custom, unknown at that date in the Roman Church, into which it was first introduced by Leo III (795–816); and their recognition in the British Church, and their perpetuation from that source in the Anglo-Saxon Church, if we may see an allusion to that Church in the words 'priores nostri,' is a link in the proof of the early connection between the British and Gallican Churches.

The connection of a special fast with the Celtic rite of the consecration of churches has been already pointed out2.

§ 35. CONFESSION.-There is plentiful evidence of the practice of confession in the Celtic Church, but there is no trace of its connection with or of its use as a preparation for the celebration or reception of the Eucharist. Gildas uses the general expressions 'poenitentiae medicamen' and ' ut peccata sua delerentur humilitate confessionis 3.' The ordinary Irish title for a confessor was 'anmcara' or 'soul's friend,' and every person seems to have attached some priest to himself in that capacity.

2 p. 75.

1 H. and S. iii. 368.

Epist., H. and S. i. 78, 80.

St. Donnan of Eig requested St. Columba to act as his anmcara. "This Donnan went to Columcille to make him his soul's friend; upon which Columcille said to him, “I shall not be soul's friend to a company of red martyrdom; for thou shalt come to red martyrdom, and thy people with thee." And it was so fulfilled1.' St. Columba is said to have been 'anmcara' to Aidan King of Dalriada A.D. 5742.

Adamnan acted as anmcara to Finnsnechta, who became monarch of Ireland A.D. 675. Minute regulations about confession are laid down in the Irish Rule of the Culdees (pp. 88-90). In some of the later entries in the Annals of Ulster the office of chief confessor is named. There are various regulations on the subject of penance and confession in the Welsh laws of Howel 5. In the Black Book of Caermarthen an irreligious Welshman is taunted with the question, What gavest thou of thy wealth before private confession "?'

Three points are worthy of note with regard to the practice of confession in the Celtic Church.

(a) It was public rather than private.

We read how a certain Irishman (de Scotia), named Feachnaus, touched with remorse for some crime committed by him, came to Iona, and falling at St. Columba's feet, lamenting bitterly, 'confessed his sins before all that were there present.' Whereupon St. Columba, weeping together with him, absolved him in these words: Rise up, my son, and be comforted; thy sins which thou hast committed are forgiven, because, as it is written, a contrite and a humble heart God doth not despise".'

1 Félire of Oengus, p. 86. line 3; also p. cxxix and passim.

2 MS. H. 2. 16, Trin. Coll., Dublin, p. 858, quoted in Reeves' Adamnan, p. lxxvi. 3 MS. quoted in Reeves' Adamnan, p. xliii. As in the case of Oengus O'Donnellan, primh anmcara, wrongly translated by O'Conor 'primus anachoreta' of the Columban monks; anno MCIX. 5 H. and S. i. pp. 211-283.

6 V. 21. 7 Feachnaus, cum fletu et lamento, ante pedes ejus [sc. Columbae] ingeniculans flexis genibus amarissime ingemuit, et coram omnibus qui ibidem inerant