Stowe Missal

Between 1026 and 1033 the manuscript was encased within a protective cumdach (a reliquary book-shrine), which was refurbished and embellished a number of times in the late medieval period, in particular before 1381, the year of death of Pilib O'Ceinneidigh (Philip O'Kennedy), Lord of Ormond, who then had possession of the shrine.

[8] The original manuscript is dated to before 800 based on the inclusion of prayers for St. Ruain (d. 792); his monastery in Tallaght, in today's County Dublin is the most likely place where it was first copied.

A more cursive hand was used by a scribe signing himself Moél Caích (f 37) who revised several pages and added to the mixture of Gallican and Roman elements found in the text of the prayers.

[4] The dating to before 1033 for the later phase is assumed as that was the year Find Ua Dungalaig, the presumed commissioner of the shrine of the missal, died.

[10] The manuscript's small size indicates that it was intended to be a portable "pocket book" that could be carried by a cleric for mass in nearby towns and villages, or used at baptisms or for last rites.

[4] The manuscript retains its cumdach or book-shrine, a distinctively Irish form of reliquary case for books associated with an important religious figure; this is one of only five early examples.

[15][16] The sides have unsilvered copper alloy plaques with figures of angels, animals, clergy and warriors, set in decorative backgrounds.

[18] Black niello is used to bring out the engraved lines of the inscription and figures, and the technique is very similar to that of the later work on the Shrine of St Patrick's Tooth (also in the NMI), which was also given a makeover in the 1370s, for a patron some 50 km from Lorrha.