thumb|Crucifixion in the St. Gall Gospel Book
The Irish Gospels of St. Gall or Codex Sangallensis 51 is an 8th-century Insular Gospel Book, written in Ireland by Irish monks and currently located in the Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland, where it is now in the Abbey library of St. Gallen as MS 51.
The Latin text of the Gospel of John is a representative of the Western text-type. The text of the other Gospels represents the Vulgate version. and Joseph Flahive dates them to around 780. They display a close stylistic affinity with the Faddan More Psalter discovered in 2006, almost miraculously, in a bog near Birr, which is also in the Irish midlands.
The manuscript itself offers no precise information about its place of origin. On page 265, however, there is an entry in a Carolingian minuscule that possibly dates back as far as the second half of the 9th century, apparently imitating the Irish script. This is a sign that the volume had reached the mainland by the 9th or 10th century at the latest and was probably already in St. Gallen. Although there is no clear evidence that it had anything to do with the donation of books by the Irish bishop Marcus and his nephew Móengal during the period between 849 and 872, the idea cannot be ruled out.
Content
The manuscript contains the four gospels in the form of an Irish hybrid which draws on both Vetus Latina and the Vulgate. Striking from an artistic perspective are the facing pages with which each gospel begins. Each pair consists of an impressive portrait of the evangelist on the left and beautifully crafted incipit on the right.