#rabbitring

Scutum Fidei or Shield of the Trinity

Bell of St. Patrick and its Shrine - National Museum of Ireland (8th - 9th century AD)

This bell is reputed to have belonged to St. Patrick. It is made of two sheets of iron which are riveted together and coated with bronze.

The bell, a powerful relic, is frequently mentioned in written sources as one of the principal relics of Ireland. It was also used as a political tool, to legitimise Armagh as the most important Christian site in Ireland through its association with St. Patrick. An inscription on its surface indicates that the shrine for the bell was made around AD 1100. It is trapezoidal in shape, echoing the shape of the bell it was made to cover. Formed of a series of bronze plates joined at the edges by tubular bindings, the shrine is topped by a curved crest which covers the handle of the bell. The front of the shrine is covered with a silver-gilt frame that originally held thirty gold filigree panels. These are arranged in the shape of a ringed cross. The sides of the shrine are adorned with openwork panels depicting elongated beasts intertwined with ribbon-bodied snakes. The back of the shrine is plainer and flatter, and is decorated with an openwork silver plate featuring interlocking crosses. The inscription along the edge of the backplate records the name of the craftsman and his sons who made the shrine, and Domhnall Ua Lochlainn, King of Ireland between AD 1094 and 1121, who commissioned the shrine; Cathalan Ua Maelchallain, the keeper of the bell, is also mentioned. Remarkably, the shrine remained in the possession of this family until the end of the 19th century. The long-term hereditary keepership of this bell is a remarkable story and one which obtained for many medieval objects. This tradition shows the resilience of belief in the power of objects to effect change, for better or sometimes for worse, in people’s daily lives. The naming of the craftsmen provides amazing insights into how this work was organised and how crafts were learned.

St. Patrick -Nuremburg Chronicle folio 145v

The real St. Patrick wasn't even Irish. He was born in Britain around A.D. 390 to an aristocratic Christian family with a townhouse, a country villa, and plenty of slaves. What's more, Patrick professed no interest in Christianity as a young boy, Freeman noted. At 16, Patrick's world turned.

He was kidnapped and sent overseas to tend sheep as a slave in the chilly, mountainous countryside of Ireland for seven years. "It was just horrible for him," Freeman said. "But he got a religious conversion while he was there and became a very deeply believing Christian."

According to folklore, a voice came to Patrick in his dreams, telling him to escape. He found passage on a pirate ship back to Britain, where he was reunited with his family. The voice then told him to go back to Ireland. "He gets ordained as a priest from a bishop and goes back and spends the rest of his life trying to convert the Irish to Christianity," Freeman said.

Patrick's work in Ireland was tough—he was constantly beaten by thugs, harassed by the Irish royalty, and admonished by his British superiors. After he died on March 17, 461, Patrick was largely forgotten.

But slowly, mythology grew up around Patrick. Centuries later he was honored as the patron saint of Ireland, Freeman noted. According to St. Patrick's Day lore, Patrick used the three leaves of a shamrock to explain the holy trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.