Handwritten, illuminated Saint John's Bible nearing completion

Published: 2008-05-13

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (CNS) -- Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration. The inspiration for The Saint John's Bible may have been kindled by a few, but the perspiration generated in bringing this work of genius and art into being glistens worldwide. Across the ocean in Wales, Donald Jackson, senior scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Crown Office, has been leading a team of calligraphers and artists who are copying the divinely inspired scriptural text and illustrating it. The work is expected to be completed by the end of 2009. Planning for the Bible began in 1996, and in 1998 the Benedictine monks of St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville commissioned Jackson to be the project's artistic director. The Saint John's Bible is believed to be the first handwritten, illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine monastery in 500 years.

Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .