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Presented to The Holy See Saint John’s Abbey and University Delegation
Visits Vatican Delivers Gospel and Acts at Papal Audience
MEDIA RELEASE Contacts: Thom Woodward (May 20-29)
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May 2004 The Saint John’s Bible Presented to The Holy See
Saint John’s Abbey and University Delegation Visits Vatican
Delivers Gospel and Acts at Papal Audience
Saint John’s Abbey and University will present a limited edition,
full-size reproduction of Gospel and Acts, from The Saint John’s Bible,
to the Holy Father during a May 26 Papal Audience in Rome. Italian
Cardinal Pio Laghi will host the group earlier in the day, viewing the book
and receiving a signed, limited edition print from the Gospel of John.
Cardinal Pio Laghi, a former Vatican ambassador to the United States, is
assisting with arrangements for the Papal audience and the presentation of
the Gospels Book to the Holy Father. The delegation includes Abbot John
Klassen, OSB; Saint John’s University President Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB;
Donald Jackson, calligrapher and artistic director of The Saint John’s
Bible, and his wife, Mabel.
The presentation of The Saint John’s Bible to the Vatican is part
of a trip organized by Saint John’s for more than 80 people from Minnesota
and the United States.
This is the second trip to the Vatican since The Saint John’s Bible
was announced in March 1999. The first trip occurred in August 1999 when a
limited edition of the first written page, Genealogy of Jesus, was presented
to the Vatican and received an Apostolic Blessing. “Saint John’s is deeply
honored by His Holiness’ blessing, which has been a daily inspiration to
Saint John’s as we work to create a great work of spiritual and artistic
beauty that will please the Holy Father,” said Br. Reinhart. “We continue in
our commitment to use The Saint John’s Bible as a prophetic witness
to the glory of the Word of God and to capture the imagination of the
world.” Saint John’s Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, and Saint John’s
University, founded by the Abbey in 1857, commissioned one of the world’s
foremost calligraphers, Donald Jackson, in 1998 to carry out the creation of
The Saint John’s Bible, a major artistic, cultural and spiritual
endeavor. Jackson, a former scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown
Office at the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, has been working with a
team of artists and theologians from Saint John’s Abbey and University as
well as from the Monastery of Saint Benedict and the College of Saint
Benedict. In addition, Jackson is collaborating with several artists from
around the world. Jackson creates the illuminations using traditional
tools, colors, inks and metals, inviting other scribes to consult and work
with him at his scriptorium in Wales. Illustrations are being illuminated
with gold, silver, copper and platinum. The Saint John’s Bible is
being written with quills on carefully selected vellum that is prepared for
writing on both sides. The Saint John’s Bible is the first
handwritten Bible that interprets and illustrates scripture from a
contemporary perspective, reflecting a multicultural world and humanity’s
enormous strides in science, technology and space travel. An ecumenical
undertaking, The Saint John’s Bible also incorporates imagery from
Eastern and Western religious traditions, as well as influences from the
Native American cultures in the Minnesota area. It documents Minnesota as
the birthplace of The Saint John’s Bible through illustrations of
flora and fauna indigenous to the region.
When completed in 2007, The Saint John’s Bible will be composed of
seven volumes measuring 15 ¾” by 24 ½”: Pentateuch, Historical Books,
Prophets, Wisdom Books, Psalms, Gospels and Acts, and Letters and
Revelation. Each volume will be bound separately. For further information,
visit:
http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/news/ |
