[MR] Wikipedia: Irish Moylough Belt-Shrine

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

The lead story in today's *Did You Know . . .* on Wikipedia is all about
the Moylough Belt-Shrine, certainly one of the more unique ways of
memorializing a saint.

The "shrine" is an elaborate belt-like device for containing strips of
leather associated with a saint. The leather is the actual relic, and is
still there within the belt shrine. The belt shrine is more a reliquary
than a shrine, but hey!, that's what it is called. The piece is made of
bronze in four sections which are elaborately decorated in Celtic Christian
motifs, and is thought to date to around 700.

It is not known which saint the item is associated with, as there is no
writing or iconography on the piece. Similar belt shrines mentioned in
early documents are associated with several early Irish saints, but this is
the only one to survive.

This most unusual piece is preserved at the National Museum of Ireland in
Dublin.

The full story is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moylough_Belt-Shrine .

There is a Wikipedia page on the National Museum which includes photographs
of some of their other amazing early medieval treasures at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Ireland_–_Archaeology .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆