The Secret of Kells The aged guilt-ridden Cellach is nearing death. Brendan and the abbot happily reunite, and Brendan displays the complete Book of Kells to his uncle. The film closes with an animation rendition of some of the illuminated pages of the book. The film is based on the story of the origin of the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament located in Dublin, Ireland. It also draws upon Celtic mythology; examples include its inclusion of Crom Cruach, a pre-Christian Irish deity and the reference to the poetic genre of Aislings,
Book of Kells the book as "of Columkille"—that is, having belonged to, and perhaps being made by Columba—suggests that the book was believed at that time to have been made on Iona. Regardless, the book was certainly at Kells in the 12th century, when land charters pertaining to the Abbey of Kells were copied onto some of its blank pages. The practice of copying of charters into important books was widespread in the medieval period, and such inscriptions in the Book of Kells provide concrete evidence about its location at the time. The Abbey of Kells was dissolved due to the ecclesiastical reforms