It has appeared in the foregoing pages that an analysis of Tírechán, Muirchu, and the Additional Notices discloses the existence of an early Patrician literature in Irish, of which a writer in the seventh century could avail himself; and it may be useful to emphasise this important conclusion by stating it under a distinct heading. The Preface to Muirchu’s Life is weighty in this connexion. The novel movement of which he designates his father Cogitosus and himself as pioneers was the writing of hagiography (_narratio sancta_) _in Latin_. Hagiography already existed in Ireland; he implies, and refers to, written documents; and analysis shows that he used Irish documents. Thus before the seventh century the hagiographical literature which entertained the pious in Ireland was composed in their own language; and it was not till the age of Cogitosus and Tírechán that a new departure was made, and men began to write Latin works on Irish saints. But the demand for Irish Lives, for the mass of the folk who could not understand Latin, continued; and the _Vita Tripartita_ (see below) may be regarded as a descendant from the early Irish _acta_. Some of these _acta_, such as the account of the episode of Slane and Tara, may have had wide circulation in different kingdoms; and there may have been different versions. Others may have had only local circulation, such as the Ulidian stories garnered by Muirchu, and the Connaught traditions collected by Tírechán. Besides, many communities which ascribed their foundation to Patrick seem to have preserved written records of grants, which, whether genuine or not, were old and drafted in Irish.