Rare Hebrew Manuscripts in Vatican Library Microfilmed for U.S.

Hitherto unknown Jewish contributions to medieval learning are being found among the rare hand-written Hebrew manuscripts which are now available on microfilm at St. Louis University. The 800 microfilmed volumes constitute the complete collection of Hebrew manuscripts now in the Vatican Library in Rome.

Initial study of the microfilmed manuscripts has disclosed previously unknown medical writings on the art of healing as it was practiced five centuries ago. Among the newly disclosed Jewish contributions are a thirteenth-century last nomical astrological explanation, a Pentateuch for synagogue use and rich stores of Biblical commentaries.

The priceless manuscripts were inaccessible to scholars outside of the Papal archives until two years ago when they were microfilmed as a gift from Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston to St. Louis University and Brandeis University.

The Papal library began gathering Hebrew manuscripts as early as the 14th century and systematic collections began in the 15th century, according to the St. Louis Light, an English-Jewish publication. A large group of Hebrew codices was acquired from the Palatinate Library of Heidelberg in 1622 and in 1657, the Vatican acquired the collections of the Dukes of Urbino.

Professor Alexander Altmann of Brandeis University told the Jewish weekly that the manuscripts included many which were “relatively unknown or completely unknown, having never been published or even catalogued.”

Charles Ermatinger, Vatican film librarian at St. Louis University, said that the manuscripts provided “ample evidence of the important role played by Jews in the spread of philosophical and scientific learning in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.”