Abstract The special character of the hagiography for saints Brigid and Patrick and the veneration of these two saints in Ireland is well-established. But there remains overlooked evidence for understanding their cults in one little-known source, the earliest surviving missal from the monastery of Bobbio, today Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS D 84 inf. This manuscript, dating to around 900, displays the earliest surviving masses for both Patrick and Brigid. In this article, both texts are edited and the continental and Irish parallels established. The origins and transmission of both masses are examined. In particular, the proper preface for Brigid is shown to be an otherwise completely unknown liturgical text, of ‘Gallican’ character, which assimilates Brigid with the Virgin Mary to an extent that is beyond her Latin hagiography. With these texts, the article underscores the vibrancy of Irish liturgical composers, the implication of Ireland within broader transformations of the liturgy in the early medieval West, and the contributions of peregrini on the continent.
Arthur Westwell (Wed,) studied this question.