“Look at how a single candle can both defy and
define the darkness.”
- Anne Frank
“Just as a prism refracts light differently
when you change its angle,
each experience of love illuminates love in new
ways,
drawing from an infinite palette of patterns
and hues.”
- Sharon Salzberg,
Real Love: The Art of
Mindful Connection
Cristina
Vanin is one of those people that you just know is a blessing to humanity. She is
Associate Dean at St. Jerome’s University, a Roman Catholic college affiliated
with the University of Waterloo. And this year she is the official keeper of
two volumes of the renowned Saint John’s Bible, currently in residence at St.
Jerome’s.
I first
encountered Dr. Vanin in a beautiful episode of the CBC Radio program Tapestry. (link) In that program, Mary Hynes,
Tapestry’s wise and insightful host, takes
her audience on a journey through the creation of The Saint John’s Bible.
Commissioned in 1995 by Saint John’s University in Minnesota, the seven volumes
of The Saint John’s Bible comprise the first hand-written, illuminated Bible to
be created in the last 500 years. It took 23 artists and six calligraphers
fifteen years to complete the 1127 pages of the Bible. And it
is fabulous – a feast for the mind, the heart, and the soul.
The idea of
creating an illuminated Bible to mark the millennium came from the famed
British artist and calligrapher, Donald Jackson. He approached the Benedictine
monks at Saint John’s University with his idea. A remarkable men's Catholic university, Saint John’s readily agreed – and fifteen years of trans-Atlantic collaboration began.
Side note: I
visited the campus of Saint John’s last July when I attended the annual Quaker Gathering
at the nearby College of Saint Benedict, a Catholic women’s university
that partners with Saint John’s. The campus of Saint John’s is dominated by the
impressive Abbey Church and Bell Banner, designed by the modernist architect Marcel
Breuer in 1954. Its brutal beauty is a bold affirmation of faith and mission.
It does not surprise me that the Benedictine monks who commissioned the Abbey
Church would also commission the equally bold Saint John’s Bible.
Back to the
Bible: The original seven volumes of The Saint John’s Bible (SJB) remain on the
Saint John’s University campus. To help share the SJB, a heritage
edition was published that emulates each feature of the original. It is two
volumes of the heritage edition (The Pentateuch; Gospels & Acts) that are
in residence at St. Jerome’s this year. The Gospels & Acts volume is on
display in the atrium of St. Jerome’s Academic Centre; each Wednesday morning at
11:45, there is a page-turning ceremony.
And it is
this page-turning ceremony that Bill and I attended on July 5 at Cristina’s
invitation. Such a warm, welcoming, and knowledgeable host she was. When I first saw the SJB, my breath was literally
taken away. It was awesome to directly experience its beauty and physical presence. Imagine
my delight when Cristina invited me to be the page turner! Afterwards, she took
the volume out of its glass case and set it up on a nearby table, at which time
she showed us each page, allowing me to photograph many images. It was a memorable experience, as I hope the
photos that follow will affirm.
Bill and I
plan to return in November for events marking the end of the SJB’s year at St.
Jerome’s, including a presentation by Father Michael Patella, chair of the
Committee on Illumination and Text that shepherded the project, and a
performance of Handel’s Messiah at Kitchener-Waterloo’s Centre in the Square
that will feature large-scale projections from all seven volumes of The Saint
John’s Bible.
About these
photos: from the beginning of this blog, I have written about photography as
a spiritual practice. I hope I don’t sound precious when I say that my
camera is an extension of my soul. But it’s true, just as The Saint John’s
Bible is an extension of the souls of its creators. In that spirit, I offer
these photos - illuminations for the journey. Next week, I plan to write about
the same spirit of illumination in my own photography.
Enjoy.
Peter's Confession, Matthew 16:13-23 (Donald Jackson)
Dragonfly Marginalia, Matthew 10 (Chris Tomlin)
Matthew 22:37-40 (Hazel Dolby)
Beginning of The Gospel According to Mark (Aidan Hart)
John the Baptist, Baptism of Jesus, Mark 1:1-29 (Donald Jackson)
The Sower & the Seed, Mark 4:3-9 (Aidan Hart)
The Birth of Christ, Luke 2:1-20 (Donald Jackson)
Dinner at the Pharisee's House, Luke 7:36-50 (Donald Jackson)
Luke 23:46 (Donald Jackson)
The Road to Emmaus, Luke 24:13-36 (Donald Jackson)
The Resurrection, John 20:1-23 (Donald Jackson)
Pentecost (Detail), Acts 1:6-11; 2:1-47 (Donald Jackson)
Life of Paul, Acts 9:1-22; 15:1-35; 17:16-34; 22:17-21; 25-28 (Aidan Hart)
To the Ends of the Earth, Acts 1:8, (Donald Jackson)
