We are told that when the great Apostle was worn out by his work Macartan supported his faltering steps over rough roads, marshes and rivers by carrying him.

On one occasion after carrying Patrick over a river, an exhausted Macartan expressed a wish that he might be relieved from further travel and allowed to settle down in charge of some church close by his beloved master where he could spend the evening of his life in peace.

Patrick, full of sympathy for his faithful companion and friend, agreed that he should establish a monastery in Clogher, and finish out his life there.

To commemorate the occasion Patrick gave Macartan his staff and a number of precious relics contained in a shrine known to tradition as the Domnach Airgid.

[2] The Domnach Airgid (the Silver church) was made to enclose a manuscript that consists of fragments of 39 sheets of the Gospels, written in the distinctively Irish lettering of the eighth or ninth century.