Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1893 — EXECUTED BY A MONK. [ARTICLE]

EXECUTED BY A MONK.

The Most Beautiful Volume In the Congressional Library. The most beautiful volume among the half million in the Congressional Library is said to be a Bible which was transcribed by a monk in the sixteenth century. It could not be matched today in the best printing office in the world. The parchment is in perfect preservation. Every one of its thousand pages is a study. The general lettering is in German text, each letter perfect, as is every one, in coal black ink, without a scratch or blot from lid to lid. . At the beginning of each chapter the first letter is very large, usually two or three inches long, and is brightly illuminated in red and blue ink. Within each of these capitals is drawn the figure of some saint, some incident of which the following chapter tells, is illustrated. There are two columns on a page, and nowhere is traceable the slightest irregularity of line, space or formation of the letters. Even under the magnifying glass they seem flawless. This precious volume is kept under a glass case, which is sometimes lifted to show that all the pages arc as perfect as the two which lie open. A legend relates that a young man who had sinned deeply, became a monk and resolved to do penance for his misdeeds. He determined to copy the Bible, that he might learn every letter of the divine commands which he bad violated. Every day for many years he patiently pursued his task. Each letter was wrought in reverence and love, and the patient soul found its only companionship in the saintly faces which were portrayed on these pages. When the last touch was given to the last letter the old man reverently kissed/ the page and folded the sheets together. Soon afterward he died.