The World’s Oldest Vulgate on Exhibit in London
The "Codex Amiatinus".
The oldest Latin copy of the Bible, the Codex Amiatinus, will be on exhibit in the British Library from October 19, 2018, until February 19, 2019.
The precious manuscript that belongs to the library of Florence was offered to the pope as a gift 1,300 years ago.
The British Library plans to describe the epic journey of the monk Ceolfrith (642-716), the first abbot of St. Paul of Jarrow and the bearer of the precious manuscript, a gift from his monastery to the sovereign pontiff Gregory II (715-731).
The Codex Amiatinus is an incunabulum (Ed: a book printed before 1501) made by the monasteries of Wearsmouth and Jarrow in North Umbria, two of the most important intellectual centers in 8th-century Europe. The manuscript – copied between 692 and 716 – is one of the oldest copies of St. Jerome’s Vulgate.
According to chronicles from the time, Ceolfrith left his monastery on June 4, 716. On August 12 of the same year, he was received with honors by Chilperic II, king of Neustria and the Burgundies.
But Ceolfrith fell ill and never reached his destination; he died in Langres on September 25, 716. His companions continued the journey and gave the manuscript to St. Gregory II, who in return entrusted them with a letter of thanks for the monastery.
The Codex Amiatinus is currently preserved at the Laurentian Library of Florence, that lent it to the British Library for an exhibition entitled Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms.
Sources: British Library / Infocatólica / bl.uk / FSSPX.News – 6/19/2018
