Law, custody and the keeper
Long before Cathalán’s name was placed on the bell’s shrine, Irish scholars were collecting laws and writing about the church, its property and its obligations. These texts bring us into that world.
They raise a question that runs through this history: what did it mean to be entrusted with a sacred object, its privileges and the responsibilities that came with it?
The Hibernensis
The Collectio Canonum Hibernensis is a collection of church law compiled in Ireland. Its compilers brought together passages from scripture, church councils and other authorities to consider how Christian society should be ordered.
It discusses ministers, sacred vessels, offerings and provision for people in need. Read alongside later records of the bell, these passages invite us to investigate the world in which a keeper’s office could have developed.
Roy Flechner, ed., The Hibernensis (2019); Hermann Wasserschleben, ed., Die irische Kanonensammlung (2nd ed., 1885). Explore Flechner’s edition → · Open the 1885 Latin edition →
Custodians of sacred things
custodes uasorum
“Guardians of the vessels.”
A passage in the Hibernensis discusses Levites as custodians of vessels and compares their role with church custodians. It places the care of sacred things within a much older scriptural and ecclesiastical tradition.
Working transcription: Hibernensis, passage cited in the project research as 3.5. The numbering and wording need checking against the edition used. The Latin phrase and English rendering above are short working extracts.
A question to follow: How far can this older idea of custody help us understand the later office of maer in chluic, the keeper named on the bell shrine?
Who received, and for whom?
The collection also preserves rules about offerings and the people authorized to administer assistance to the poor. Another passage draws on Deuteronomy and speaks of provision for the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow.
A question to follow: Did any duties of the bell’s keepers include the care or distribution described in such texts? The passages give us a line of enquiry; the later keeper records must be read for what they themselves say.
Project research cites Hibernensis 17.9 and 20.12. Chapter numbering varies between editions; the complete passages and translations are to be checked before they are presented as quotations here.
From the laws to a family Bible
Centuries after the Hibernensis, a family Bible found with the bell held a handwritten note about Bernard Mulhollan. William Reeves reported that the note was on a blank page at the end of Deuteronomy, a book that also contains passages on care for people in need.
The note’s position brings the two parts of the story into conversation. Whether its placement was deliberate remains an open question for readers to consider.
A law recorded in the annals
In 737 the Annals of Ulster record that the Law of Patrick was in force in Ireland. In 783 they record its promulgation at Cruachain by Dub dá Leithe and Tipraite son of Tadc.
The law, the bell and the later records of its keepers are threads of the same wider story. The site follows them across the centuries, connecting each claim to the record that carries it.
Follow Áed Oirdnide and the Law of Patrick into the ninth century →
Read the Annals of Ulster, U737.10 and U783.9 → · Read about the bell’s privilege in 1365 →
Córus Bésgnai
Córus Bésgnai is an Old Irish law tract concerned with the church and society. It forms part of the Senchas Már, a collection of early Irish law. It offers another route into the duties and relationships that shaped this world.
Scholar David Stifter describes the tract as examining relationships in society, with particular attention to the church and reciprocal obligations. His open-access review provides a way into the book and its scholarship.
Read David Stifter’s review of Córus Bésgnai →
The passages in sections 42–45 have been identified as a research lead. We need to consult the edition and its translation before putting their words—or a conclusion about the bell keeper’s mandate—on this page.
Liam Breatnach, ed., Córus Bésgnai: An Old Irish Law Tract on the Church and Society (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2017). National Library of Ireland catalogue →
Questions for the reader
- What did early texts say about the care of sacred objects?
- How were offerings and care for the poor described?
- What does Córus Bésgnai say about church and society?
- How did the Law of Patrick operate?
These searches take you beyond this site. Follow the evidence, compare the readings, and make your own enquiries.