This establishes at once a connection between Bobbio and Bangor, and an examination of the contents of the codex placed it beyond all doubt that it was originally compiled in Bangor and brought thence to Bobbio, although not in the time of Saint Columbanus: there is in the codex a hymn entitled "ymnum sancti Congilli abbatis nostri", and he is referred to in it as "nostri patroni Comgilli sancti".
[1] The actual bearer of the codex from Bangor is generally supposed and stated to have been Saint Dungal, who left Ireland early in the 9th century, acquired great celebrity on the Continent, and probably retired to Bobbio towards the close of his life.
[1] Muratori is careful to state in his preface that the codex, though very old, and in part mutilated, may have been a copy made at Bobbio, by some of the local monks there, from the original service book.
The most famous item in the contents is the venerable Eucharistic hymn "Sancti venite Christi corpus sumite", which is not found in any other ancient text.
In his Vita S. Columbani, Jonas of Bobbio mentioned that as a young man, Columbanus composed a number of pieces suitable for singing and useful for instruction.
Michael Lapidge suggests that some of these may have found their way into Bangor books, including the Antiphonary, which seems to have been written around 700, about 100 years after the death of Columbanus.
He indicates that there are compelling reasons to believe that the hymn Precamur patrem was written by Columbanus,[5] although this interpretation is not universally accepted.