National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-11
THE ART OF PRINTING IN ROME.

THE ART OF PRINTING IN ROME.
The patronage of the Holy See, which was
accorded to the earliest beginnings Of printing
IN Italy, was exercised with q continual mu-
nincence worthy Of especial consideration. The
ropes lost no opportunity of protecting and
furthering the progress OF an art whose mani
fold importance to the Holy See became daily
more apparent. Leo X. has been blamed, and
not without reason, for culttvating the classics
to the neglect Of sacred literature. The two
opposite historians of the Council of Trent,
era Paolo Sarpi and Pallayicino,) seem to
agree upon this point. A further witness TO
the devotion of this Pope TO classical study and
literature appears IN his edition Of the first ive
books of Tacitus, purchased for five hIndred
"scudP from the Abbey Of Convey, In West
phalia, and printed and published at Rome n
new and costly edition at his own private eI-
pense, with the monopoly secured for ten years,
under pain Of excommunication. The edition
of Plato, dedicated to him by Aldo Manuzio,
was also secured to the Venetian printer in Q
similar mannev 80 - --.I' o. ~. -i..a..
| On the other hand, instances may be urged
of the encouragement afforded by him to many
learned men who devoted themselves to the
study of the sacred writings. On being in
formed that Paynini, a learned ecclesiastic then
In Rome, had undertaken to translate the
original Hebrew, Leo requested to be allowed
the inspection of this work.. He also ordered
that the whole should be Transcribed at his
own expense, and gave directions that It should
be Immediately printed. Tesco Ambrogio, of
Pavia, who is said to have understood no less
than eighteen different languages, was en-
ployed by this Pope to translate the liturgy of
the Eastern clergy from the Chaldee into Latin
and was also appointed by him to chair at
the University of Bologna, where he delivered
instruction in the Syriac and Chaldee languages.
Moreover, the great Cardinal Ximenes dedicated
his Comprehension Polyglot Bible to Leo, as an
Acknowledgements of the encouragement of
which he afforded to Oriental learning. Leo
x. died in 1889. I g- ..=.-..
1t was during the brief Pontifcate of his i'm
mediate successors, nine of whom filed the
Papal Chair in an interval of sixty-three years,
that the MANUEL (Paolo and his son Aldo)
were summoned to establish branch of their
printing press in Rome. -
1t was the glory of Sixtus ", elected Pope
in 1855, to securely establish the Vatican print
ing press. This press was principally intended
for early Christian literature, and the dedica-
ton to him of the works of Gregory the Great,
the Pietro da Tossignano, sets forth that inf
mite praise is due to Sixtus ", both for the
idea and the execution of so magnificent o
scheme as the publication of the Holy Fathers
of the Church, whereby great and solemn
advantage Is obtained for the Catholic faith.
The splendid editions of the Vulgate and of the
septuagint, and many other works of great
value, were the fruit of this last scheme of
Sixtus Y. 'ra-- f
After the death of Aldo Il giovane, the regu-
lation Of this press, which had been placed IN
der his charge by Clement VIII, and upon
which forty thousand scudi had been already
expended; was confded TO Domenico Borso.
This expense does not appear so extraordinary
when it is remembered that this press was fur
nished not only with Greek and Latin, but also
with Hebrew and other Oriental characters,
with paper Of great value, and every other
requisite for the perfection Of this art. Above
all, the most learned men of the age were paid
high salaries to supervise and correct the edi-
tons which issued from it. Many of the Cardi-
mails initiated the example of the Popes. Even
before SixtusV. had conceived or executed his
vast scheme, another, almost equally msgnif-
cent, had been carried into effect by Cardinal
Ferdinando De Medici. ... f.
In 1850 he opened printing press in Rome,
with Oriental types, to be entirely devoted to
the publication of books In Eastern languages,
for the purpose of propagating the Roman
faith among the people of the East, and
bringing them into the fold of the Roman
Church. Gregory XIII. placed under his care
the two Patrisrchates of Alexandria and An
tioch, and declared him also Protector of Ethi-
opia, thus committing the salvation OF these
far-of countries to his charge. The Cardinal
did not neglect his trust, but dispatched learned
and expert travellers throughout Syria, Persia,
Ethiopia, and other Oriental provinces, In
search Of manuscripts, which they brought to
Rome to be printed. First there issued from
his Oriental press an Arabic and Chadlaic
grammar, the works of AYicenna and Euclid,
then the four Gospels, first in Hebrew and
afterward in Latin version, of which 5000
copies were printed.
He had also intended to print the Bible in
SIX of the principal languages, in order that
these, joint to the four already printed, Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, and Chsldee, might make al
together Bible in ten languages, the gram
mar and dictionary of each tongue also forming
part of the work. But the simultaneous death
of Pope Gregory XIII, and of his own brother
francesca De Medici, whom he succeeded as
Grand Duke of Tuscany, prevented the &C.
complishment Of this design. His Oriental
press, however, continued to work for many
years. In fact most of the books in Oriental
types published at Rome in the beginning of
the seventeenth centuary containing the i'm
print-"Ex Topographic Medicea linguarum
eIternarum." These types were afterward
transported to Florence, and are still preserved
in the Palazzo Yecchio. AaenuIlGa's Haga-
. inc. .s .