There are many great Irish religious relics, but the most famous and memorable one of them all was ‘An Bachall Iosa’ or The Jesus Staff. The faithful believed that Jesus appeared to St Patrick and handed him the staff on an island in the Mediterranean, before he began his mission in Ireland.
In the Annals of Ulster and the Four Masters, both mention that it was a symbol of Patrick’s authority here. St. Bernard of Clairvaux described it as ‘covered with gold and adorned with the most costly gems’.

It was then in the possession of the visiting St. Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh who had had to purchase it from Niall, the usurping lay-primate before he could take up his See. When disputes broke out among Irish chieftains, treaties of peace were made and signed over it and solemn vows taken in its presence. It was originally held in Armagh but during the eleventh century it was brought to Ballyboghill, north of Dublin.

In 1173 when Strongbow captured the city he granted the town and the staff to Christchurch Cathedral, where a special shrine was erected to hold it. The Normans and Irish considered it the most important relic there. The Normans continued the Old Irish practice of having oaths and treaties sealed over it.

During a fierce storm in 1461 the staff miraculously survived when the great east window was blown in, while many other relics in the shrine were completely destroyed.

For the next three and a half centuries making treaties and taking oaths continued in Christchurch. In 1529 the trial for treason of Sir Gerald Mackshayne was held “upon the Holie Massbooke and the great relike of Erlonde (Ireland), callid Baculum Christi, in the presence of the Kynge’s Deputie, Chancelour, Treaseror, and Justice”.

Less than a decade later, during the Reformation, Henry the VIII’s appointed Bishop of Dublin, George Browne, was ordered by the king to gather all the precious jewels and gems from statues and shrines and then have them forwarded to London for his treasury. He carried out the orders enthusiastically and destroyed many of them by burning in front of the cathedral.

Among the priceless pieces destroyed was the irreplaceable Bachall Iosa. One of the few relics that were saved was the heart of St. Laurence O’Toole, which is still in Christchurch.

For the next fifteen years Browne served Henry and his son Edward faithfully and when Mary came to the throne, he repented and was reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church.

On right: Did the staff resemble this crozier of Cormac McCarthy from the 13th century?