What is recorded here

One narrow limestone slab from Faughart carries a bishop in full panoply, his hand raised in benediction above a serpent with a barbed tongue, probably St. Patrick. The lace on his alb and the ornamentation on his vestments are cut so finely that the stone seems to breathe beneath the chisel. A small groove at the top suggests a metallic cross once stood there, completing a memorial now reduced to fragment and silence.

This narrow limestone stone slab (1.3m by 18cm by 6cm) comes from the graveyard at Faughart, Co. Louth (see LH004-097009-) where it was used as a grave marker. It is carved, in intaglio style, with the figure of a bishop, in full episcopal panoply, with mitre and crosier, and with his right hand raised in the act of benediction. Underneath the feet of the figure there is a representation of a serpent with tongue barbed and protruding in an attitude of fight: this probably represents St. Patrick. The details of the dress are executed very finely, the lace on the alb and ornamentation on the vestments being clearly seen. There is no inscription. On the top of the stone there is a little groove cut c. 3cm long in which it would appear a small metallic cross had at one time been fixed. The original function of this slab is unknown and it may have formed part of a more elaborate memorial. (Morris 1912) Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 26 June 2014

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