The hymn “In Te Christe” is one of the three attributed to Columba, and bears in some places the stamp of his majestic spirit. The “Ignis Creator igneus” starts with the conception of the Paschal candle, and proceeds to describe the columns of smoke and flame which guided Israel out of Egypt. A few of the metrical compositions in the Bangor Antiphonary have a more local and historical than a devotional interest, such as the “Good Rule of Bangor,” and the commemoration of the abbots of that place, already referred to. The name of Comgall, the head of the monastery, who died in 602, occurs, as also Molaisran, or Molio of the Holy Isle, Arran, who died in 639. There is an evening hymn beginning with “Christe qui Lux es” and a Pentecostal one about the Apostles, with the initial words “Christi, Patris in dextera.” There is one hymn, and only one, in the group in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Cantemus in omni die.”
Metrical translations of seven, in whole or in part, of these hymns are given here, to indicate the general character of the devotional portions of the group. The one beginning with the words: “Precamur Patrem” has not had any date assigned it, but judging by internal evidence, it appears to belong to the era of Patrick. It contains one hundred and sixty-eight lines; starting with an address to the Lord’s Day, it proceeds to give an abstract of the life of Christ. A comparison made between the beginning of the physical and that of the spiritual creation, is worked out in somewhat original fashion. In the following verses the Lord and His Own Day are contrasted as the first-born children of light:
Precamur Patrem.
We worship Thee, Almighty King:
To God the Father praise we bring;
To Jesus, Saviour of the lost;
And to the Blessed Holy Ghost.
Thou art, O God, our life and might;
The source of all the worlds of light,
Which on the brows of heaven lie,