in fact to
disagree in almost every possible detail with the genealogy in 23 M. 50
R.I.A. That however is like an argument that Declan never existed. It
really suggests and almost postulates the existence of a second Declan
whose Acts and those of our Declan have become mutually confused.

(II.) Absence of Declan's name from the Acts of Patrick is a negative
argument. It is explicable perhaps by the supposed irregularity of
Declan's preaching. Declan was certainly earlier than Mochuda and yet
there is no reference to him in the Life of the latter saint. Ailbhe
however is referred to in the Tripartite Life of Patrick and the cases of
Ailbhe and Declan are "a pari"; the two saints stand or fall together.

(IV.) Motives for invention of the pre-Patrician myth are alleged,
scil.:--to rebut certain claims to jurisdiction, tribute or visitation
advanced by Armagh in after ages. It is hard to see however how
resistance to the claims in question could be better justified on the
theory of a pre-Patrician Declan, who admittedly acknowledged Patrick's
supremacy, than on the admission of a post-Patrician mission.

That in Declan we have to deal with a very early Christian teacher of the
Decies there can be no doubt. If not anterior to Patrick he must have
been the latter's cotemporary. Declan however had failed to convert the
chieftain of his race and for this--reading between the lines of the
"Life"--we seem to hear Patrick blaming him.

The monuments proper of Declan remaining at Ardmore are (a) his oratory
near the Cathedral and Round Tower in the graveyard, (b) his stone on the
beach, (c) his well on the cliff, and (d) another stone said to have been
found in his tomb and preserved at Ardmore for long ages with great
reveration. The "Life" refers moreover to the saint's pastoral staff and
his bell but these have disappeared for centuries.

The "Oratory" is simply a primitive church of the usual sixth century
type: it stands 13' 4" x 8' 9" in the clear, and has, or had, the usual
high-pitched gables and square-headed west doorway with inclining jambs.
Another characteristic feature of the early oratory is seen in the
curious antae or prolongation of the side walls. Locally the little
building is known as the "beannacan," in allusion, most likely, to its
high gables or the finials which once, no doubt, in Irish fashion,
adorned its roof. Though somewhat later than Declan's time this
primitive building is very inti