This is a lecture given at the November 2024 Columbanus Festival Bangor by Dr Cornel Dora, director of the St Gallen Abbey Library, Switzerland on the St Gallen collection of Irish manuscripts.
The Presentation
(38 minutes)
The talk is structured around the following headings:
- Notker on Irish Monks
- Wandering Monks – and Bishops
- Libri scottice scripti – Irish books in St Gall
- Learning Latin and Writing Poetry
- The Bible
- Art
- Forming Society
Questions and Answers
(9 minutes)
- What happened to the Staff of St Columbanus (the cambutta)?
- How did so many Irish manuscripts end up in St Gallen?
- Is there more to be discovered by retrieving hidden texts from the Irish manuscripts?
- Are some of the Irish Manuscripts coming to Dublin in 2025?
- What can you tell us of recent archaeological discoveries in St Gallen?
Online links relating to key documents
The talk refers to a number of surviving documents and document copies, surviving today in the St Gallen Library and other locations. Many of these are freely available to view on-line in high resolution. Be sure to zoom in to view the fine detail of the calligraphy.
- Report of the visit of the Irish bishop Marcus (Cod. Sang. 915, p. 54.)
- The Irish Gospels of St. Gallen (Cod. Sang. 51)
- Libri scottice scripti – books with Irish writing (Cod. Sang. 728, p. 4-5)
- An Irish copy of John’s Gospel (Cod. Sang. 60)
- Unfinished initial, Ireland, 9th century (Cod. Sang. 1395, p. 426-427)
- Priscian, Latin grammar with Old Irish glosses (Cod. Sang. 904, p. 203-204)
- St Matthew as scribe – collected fragments (Cod. Sang. 1395, p. 418-419)
- On the 12 abuses of the world (Cod. Sang. 277, p. 188-189)
- Columbanus, letter to Pope Gregory the Great (Cod. Sang. 1346, p.109)