The Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library in St. Louis, Missouri is the only collection, outside the Vatican itself, of microfilms of more than 37,000 works from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Vatican Library in Europe. It is located in the Pius XII Memorial Library on the campus of Saint Louis University. [1]
The Library was created by Lowrie J. Daly (1914–2000), with funding from the Knights of Columbus. The goal was to make Vatican and other documents more available to researchers in North America.
Microfilming of Vatican manuscripts began in 1951, and according to the Library's website, was the largest microfilming project that had been undertaken up to that date. [2] From 1951 to 1957, twelve million manuscript pages were recorded, from 30,000 different works. This represents approximately 75% of the manuscripts available in the targeted language groups. Other microfilm projects in the 1950s included Jesuit archival material from Rome, archives in both North America and South America, and the Philippines.
The Library opened in 1953, and moved to the St. Louis University campus, in the Pius XII Memorial Library, in 1959. The first librarian was Charles J. Ermatinger, who served until 2000.
As of 2007, the Library has microfilmed versions of over 37,000 manuscripts, with material in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew and Ethiopic, as well as several more common Western European languages. There are reproductions of many works from the Biblioteca Palatina and Biblioteca Cicognara at the Vatican, as well as Papal letter registers from the Archivio Segreto Vaticano (Vatican Secret Archives) from the 9th to 16th centuries, in the series Registra Vaticana and Registra Supplicationium. [3]
The Film Library also collects manuscript catalogs and handwritten inventories of Vatican Library manuscripts, as well as those of other libraries, including a collection of microfilmed copies of over 2,500 medieval and renaissance manuscripts from other libraries, over 20,000 incunabula (early printed books), and 52,000 color slides of illuminated manuscripts.
The collection also includes many hardcopy works on the subjects of palaeography, codicology, illumination, and other topics related to manuscript studies.
The Library hosts an annual conference on Manuscript Studies, which is held in St. Louis in mid-October. [4]
Manuscripta is a biannual academic journal published by the library. Established in 1957, it covers topics related to the study of medieval and renaissance manuscripts. The journal is printed and distributed by Brepols Publishers and is edited by Gregory Pass. [5]
Pope Clement XI, born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in 1721.
The Vatican Apostolic Library, more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally established in 1475, although it is much older—it is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. It has 75,000 codices from throughout history, as well as 1.1 million printed books, which include some 8,500 incunabula.
The Vatican Apostolic Archive, known until October 2019 as the Vatican Secret Archive, is the central repository in the Vatican City of all acts promulgated by the Holy See.
Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississippi River and the second-oldest Jesuit university in the United States. It is one of 27 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The university is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
Vatican Radio is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City.
The Vergilius Vaticanus, also known as Vatican Virgil, is a Late Antique illuminated manuscript containing fragments of Virgil's Aeneid and Georgics. It was made in Rome in around 400 C.E., and is one of the oldest surviving sources for the text of the Aeneid. It is the oldest and one of only three ancient illustrated manuscripts of classical literature.
The Vergilius Augusteus is a manuscript from late antiquity, containing the works of the Roman author Virgil, written probably around the 4th century. There are two other collections of Virgil manuscripts, the Vergilius Vaticanus and the Vergilius Romanus. They are early examples of illuminated manuscripts; the Augusteus is not illuminated but has decorated initial letters at the top of each page. These letters do not mark divisions of the text, but rather are used at the beginning of whatever line happened to fall at the top of the page. These decorated initials are the earliest surviving such initials.
The Codex Aureus of Lorsch or Lorsch Gospels is an illuminated Gospel Book written in Latin between 778 and 820, roughly coinciding with the period of Charlemagne's rule over the Frankish Empire. Both the manuscript and the carved ivory panels from the cover are rare and important survivals from the art of this period.
Rev. Paul Clare Reinert, S.J., was the president of Saint Louis University for twenty-five years and a community leader in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII was born March 2, 1876, to Filippo Pacelli and Virginia (Graziosi) Pacelli, in Rome, where he spent his childhood. He was ordained as a priest on April 2, 1899.
Giorgio Levi Della Vida was an Italian Jewish linguist whose expertise lay in Hebrew, Arabic, and other Semitic languages, as well as on the history and culture of the Near East.
The Order of Pope Pius IX, also referred as the Pian Order, is a papal order of knighthood originally founded by Pope Pius IV in 1560. The awarding of the order fell into disuse and was re-instituted by Pope Pius IX as a continuation on 17 June 1847. Currently, it is the highest honor conferred by the Holy See.
The Pontifical Lateran University, also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university is known as "The Pope's University". the titles obtained from the Pontifical Lateran University have universal acceptance and endorsal in all the secular universities of the globe. While the other Pontifical Universities are assigned to diverse religious congregations or the bodies of the sort, Pontifical Lateran University is directly under the Diocese of Rome to which the Pope is the Bishop. Its Grand Chancellor is the Vicar General to the Holy Father for the Diocese of Rome. Present in 15 countries with 29 locations and numerous institutes, this university unites students from five continents. All the emissaries in the diplomatic service of the Vatican City State are mandated to do their studies at this University. Hence, the apostolic nunciatures all over the world are filled with the alumni of Pontifical Lateran University. Four of its graduates have been canonized. As of 2014 the Pontifical Lateran university had students from more than a hundred countries. It is sometimes also known as the Pontifical University of Apollinaire thanks to its locale in Rome at Sant’Apollinare Palazzo.
The university also hosts the central session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.
Stefano Borgia was an Italian Cardinal, theologian, antiquarian, and historian.
Mariological papal documents have been a major force that has shaped Roman Catholic Mariology over the centuries. Mariology is developed by theologians on the basis not only of Scripture and Tradition but also of the sensus fidei of the faithful as a whole, "from the bishops to the last of the faithful", and papal documents have recorded those developments, defining Marian dogmas, spreading doctrines and encouraging devotions within the Catholic Church.
Pave the Way Foundation (PTWF) headed by Gary Krupp is a non-sectarian organization whose mission is to identify and eliminate non-theological obstacles between religions. The organization is dedicated to achieving peace by addressing intolerance, furthering education, and practical relations between religions through cultural, technological, and intellectual exchanges. PTWF strives to eliminate the use of religion as a tool to justify conflict.
The Menologion of Basil II is an illuminated manuscript designed as a church calendar or Eastern Orthodox Church service book (menologion) that was compiled c. 1000 AD, for the Byzantine Emperor Basil II. It contains a synaxarion, a short collection of saints' lives, compiled at Constantinople for liturgical use, and around 430 miniature paintings by eight different artists. It was unusual for a menologion from that era to be so richly painted. It currently resides in the Vatican Library . A full facsimile was produced in 1907.
Pius XII Memorial Library is an academic library located on the Saint Louis University Frost Campus. Named after Pope Pius XII and built in 1959, it occupies 215,000 square feet and houses over 1.3 million volumes, including more than 30,000 rare books. It is the home of the Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library. During the fall and spring semesters, students use the library 24 hours a day from Sunday through Friday, with abbreviated hours on Saturdays.
The Vatican Film Library is a film archive established in 1959 by Pope John XXIII. The collection comprises over 8,000 films including historic films, Church events, commercial films and documentaries.
The Diwan Abatur is a Mandaean religious text. It is a large illustrated scroll that is over 20 ft. long.
Coordinates: 38°38′12″N90°14′07″W / 38.6367°N 90.2352°W
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