The Cathach of St. Columba (Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, s. n.) is an early seventh century Irish Psalter. It is traditionally associated with St. Columba (died 597), and was identified as the copy made by him of a book loaned to him by St. Finnian, and which led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561. Paleographic evidence, however, dates, the manuscript to the seventh century. The 58 folios in the damaged and incomplete vellum manuscript contain the text of Psalms 30:10 to 105:13 in Latin (the Vulgate version). Rubrics written in Old Irish appear above the text of the Psalms. It may be the oldest known Irish manuscript and may contain the earliest examples of a written Goidelic language apart from Ogham inscriptions. The maximum folio size is 200 by 130 mm.
The decoration of the Cathach is limited to the initial letter of each Psalm. Each initial is in black ink and is larger than the main text. They are decorated with trumpet, spiral and guilloch patterns and are often outlined with orange dots. These patterns are not merely appended to the letters or used to fill spaces. They instead distort the shape of the letters themselves. The letters following the enlarged initials gradually reduce in size until they reach the same size as the main text. Although the motifs of the Cathach decoration are not similar to decorations in later manuscripts, such as the Book of Durrow (which followed the Cathach by as many as seventy years), the ideas of decoration which distorts the shape of the letters and the diminution of initial letters are ideas which are worked out in great detail in later Insular art.
An Cathach meaning ‘the Battler’, was a very important relic used by the chief Donegal clan of Ó Domhnaill/O’Donnell. It was used as a rallying cry and protector in battle. It was said to protect and guarantee victory in war to the Donegal leaders. Before a battle it was customery for a chosen monk/holy man (usually attached to the O'Roarty clan, and someone who was sinless) to wear the Cathach around his neck and then walk three times around the troops of O’Donnell. All of the Donegal clans…the seed of Conall…from Tír Chonaill, the land of Conall held this book in high esteem. It is the oldest surviving book/manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest collection of the Psalms in the world. It is a Latin psalter, of the Psalms, attributed to St Colm Cille. The name of the book derives from the Irish Gaelic word cath (pronounced KAH) meaning ‘battle’. An Cathach means ‘the battler’. The hereditary protectors/keepers of An Cathach were the Ó Robhartaigh/O’Roarty clan from north Donegal. The original is still intact, as is the casket in which it was carried. An Cathach, the Battler, has been confidently dated to around the period 590 to 600 AD. It has 58 surviving folios which contain Psalms 30:10 to 105:13 (Vulgate version). It is a manuscript on vellum. It was enclosed in a specially made shrine sometime in the 1000's. This was done by Cathbharr Ó Domhnaill, chief of the O'Donnells and Domhnall Mag Robhartaigh, the Abbot of Kells. The shrine cover consists of a brass box measuring 9 inches long, 8 inches wide and 2 inches thick. The top is heavily decorated with silver, crystals, pearls and other precious stones. It shows an image of the Crucifixion and an image of St Colm Cille. The decoration throughout An Cathach is limited to the initial letters of each psalm. An Cathach is now housed in the Royal Irish Academy (entrusted to them in 1842) with whose kind permission we show an image of it here. The specially made shrine, of great decoration, is housed in the National Museum of Ireland.
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