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document.write("By Vera McFadden One of Derry’s historic place-names\nis Ballymagroarty - Baile Mhic Robartaigh, the townland of the McGroarty family.\nThe area is named after this herenach clan. In the middle ages, each parish had\na herenach family whose duty it was to take charge of and preserve the church relics.\nIn Derry and Drumholme, the McGroarty’s were the herenachs.<\/span> One of their most important relics\n- perhaps the most important of all - was the Cathach, an ancient psalter believed\nto have been written by Colmcille. It was a copy of the Old Testament psalms, and\nit was almost unornamented. But this hastily transcribed manuscript was the great\nsaint’s work and so it was treasured for centuries. It had been preserved for about\nfive centuries when a McGroarty called Domhnaill was assigned the task of having\na shrine made for it. On the base of the shrine the following message was inscribed:\n“A prayer for Cathbarr Ua Domhnaill for whom this reliquary was made and for Sitric,\ngrandson of Aedh who made it and for Domhnaill Mhic Robartaigh, coarb of Kells by\nwhom it was made”. The Cathach gets its name from\nthe Irish word “Cath” which means “a battle.” The book was used as a talisman in\nbattle and it was the duty of the McGroarty herenach to carry it in the field when\nthe O’Donnell fought. There is also an old tradition\nthat the McGroartys used the Cathach at the O’Donnell inauguration ceremonies, when\nthe new chief swore on the book and held a stick of willow in his hand. The McGroarty’s remained the custodians\nof this important book for centuries but eventually the O’Donnell family themselves\ntook charge of it. It was later to be taken abroad and then returned to Ireland.\nOver the centuries, it was encased in a few different shrines, which were either\nreplaced or repaired when the need arose. Domhnaill Mac Robartaigh, the coarb\nof Kells, the man who was responsible for the making of one of the shrines lived\nin the 11th century. A contemporary of his was a very famous Mac Robartaigh - Muredach,\nwho was born in Donegal in the year 1028. Known on the continent as Marianus Scotus,\nhe founded the Irish convent of Ratisbon. He left Ireland when he was 28 and went\nto Germany, where he settled as a monk in Cologne for three years. Then he was ordained\nand spent ten years in the Abbey of Fuld. He died at Mentz when he was 58. Continental\nwriters have mentioned his great sanctity and stated that he was the most learned\nman of his time, and that he had deep knowledge of the sacred scriptures, history,\ncalculations and all the sciences. Like Colmcille, Muredach Mac Robartaigh\nleft an interesting book. One of his works, a copy of St. Paul’s epistles, is preserved\nin Vienna. It is illustrated with notes in the margins and at the end by “Marianus\nScotus” he wrote his Irish name and jotted a note that he had written it for the\nuse of Irish pilgrims and travellers - his brethren travelling abroad.
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<\/span><\/div>Today’s McGroartys can be very proud of their herenach\nancestors who for centuries protected the Cathach. Thanks to their safe-keeping\nof it, this work of Colmcille’s survived to this day.<\/span>