July 2, 2018 // Diocese

Handwritten Bible from 13th century at Cathedral Museum

Mariam Schmitz

Freelance Writer

Before the advent of the printing press, books were painstakingly copied by hand. A carefully preserved example is on display at Fort Wayne’s Cathedral Museum, where one can find a hand-written Bible that dates to the year A.D. 1250. This would have been during the Middle Ages, when the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was under construction and St. Thomas Aquinas was a university student who had not yet written the “Summa Theologica.”

The Bible is written in Latin. According to information provided by the museum, the “crabbed” style of penmanship indicates it likely came from an area near Cambridge, England. The annotations made in the margins indicate it was also a “Scholar’s Bible”; in other words, someone used it as a learning tool almost 800 years ago.

Museum director and pastor at St. Mary, Mother of God Parish in Fort Wayne, Father Phillip Widmann said it’s possible Bishop Joseph Dwenger, the second bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, brought the Bible to the United States after he returned from a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, in 1874.

This handwritten Bible, along with many other treasures from northern Indiana and around the world, can be found at Cathedral Museum, located in the lower level of the Archbishop Noll Catholic Center, 915 S. Clinton St. Admission and parking are free. It is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or by appointment. Groups are welcome to make arrangements for a tour by calling 260-422-4611.