described that it is not necessary to recount them here--suffice it
to say that the devotional practices and, in fact, the whole
celebration is of a purely popular character receiving no
approbation, and but bare toleration, from church or clergy. Even to
the present day Declan's name is borne as their praenomen by hundreds
of Waterford men, and, before introduction of the modern practice of
christening with foolish foreign names, its use was far more common,
as the ancient baptismal registers of Ardmore, Old Parish, and
Clashmore attest. On the other hand Declan's name is associated with
comparatively few places in the Decies. Of these the best known is
Relig Deaglain, a disused graveyard and early church site on the
townland of Drumroe, near Cappoquin. There was also an ancient
church called Killdeglain, near Stradbally.

Against the theory of the pre-Patrician or citra-Patrician mission
we have first the objection, which really has no weight, and which we
shall not stop to discuss, that it is impossible for Christianity at
that early date to have found its way to this distant island, beyond
the boundary of the world. An argument on a different plane is (I.),
the undoubtedly contradictory and inconsistent character of the Life.
It is easy however to exaggerate the importance of this point.
Modern critical methods were undreamed of in the days of our
hagiographer, who wrote, moreover, for edification only in a
credulous age. Most of the historical documents of the period are in
a greater or less degree uncritical but that does not discredit their
testimony however much it may confuse their editors. It can be urged
moreover that two mutually incompatible genealogies of the saint are
given. The genealogy given by MacFirbisigh seems in fact to disagree
in almost every possible detail with the genealogy in 23 M. 50 R.I.A.
That however is like an argument that Declan never existed. It