Early Christian manuscript discovery excites Irish museum specialists

Published: 2006-07-28

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNS) -- The discovery of an early Christian manuscript in an Irish bog has been called the "Irish equivalent to the Dead Sea Scrolls" by specialists from the National Museum of Ireland. Fragments of an ancient church manuscript were found July 20 when an alert bulldozer driver spotted an unusual object in the earth of Ireland's southern Midlands. The find appears to be a Psalter dating from the early Middle Ages. "It is impossible to say how the manuscript ended up in the bog. It may have been lost in transit or dumped after a raid, possibly more than 1,000 to 1,200 years ago," museum specialists said in a July 26 statement. So far only one page of the vellum is legible, identified as Psalm 83, which refers to God's lamentation when the people of Israel are at war. Pat Wallace, director of the museum, called the ancient manuscript's survival and discovery "almost miraculous," saying it was an extremely fragile object and "almost a gauzelike apparition in a boggy milieu."

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