Exploring 'the Angels' Graveyard': Relics, Sculpture and Ecclesiastical Power at Clonmore.

If so, then Clonmore is typical of most Irish sites in that reliquary foci were kept separate from the principal church, thereby underscoring the distinction between veneration of relics and communal celebration of the Eucharist.[90] There are some exceptions to this, of course, which follow the continental practice of placing relics within the principal church (usually in or near the altar). Exploring "the Angels" Graveyard': Relics, Sculpture and Ecclesiastical Power at Clonmore Politics aside, the two churches were near enough to each other to have been in direct competition for pilgrimage revenue.[114] Though it remains unclear as to the degree to which the relic cults of Clonmore and Ferns competed against one another, it is certain that the rise of Uí Chennselaig power in Leinster, and with it that of Ferns, heralded a slow decline in Clonmore's ecclesiastical status. Though it is unclear whether this collection is the one later claimed to be housed at Clonmore, certainly by the 12th century, Onchú and his collection of saints' relics were explicitly associated with Clonmore. [Extracted from the article]