The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1878-12-29
THE CHURCH AND LEARNING IN THE
MIDDLE AGES.
Catholic Family Annual, for Is7g

o fOothOld in a country tWnere the system
Of common schools exists" Such was the
recent utterapce of Baptist clergy yman OF
Brooklyn. And this, too, in the face OF
the fact that in this very land of common
schools" the Church has, during the past
three quarters of a century, increased her
children by at least six millions, and in
1878 sustained, without State aid. 81 theo-
mica and select schools, and 2, l30 parish
schools in the face, further, of the fact
that millions of books and periodicals. are
annually published and disseminated by
Catholic publishers. However, "hostility
to education" has been the cry under cover
of which nearly all assaults upon the
Church in this country have been made.
A frequent assertion is that the Church is
opposed to popular education, and that,
had she the power, abe would abolish
schools and block the roads to learning.
Many Catholics, even, stand dumb when
such baseless slanders are uttered, because,
while conscious in general way of their
untruthfulness, they yet are unable to lay
hands upon the abundant facts In refuta
tian, scattered as they are over q wide field
of literature. Ignorance of the truth on
the part of Proteetants need scarcely be
wondered at, since fayorite labor of
multitude of modern writer's and declaim-
era has been that of drawing startling
pictures of the dark ages" as they were
called. "Bring me my liar" Frederick the
Great was wont to cay when he desired q
volume of modern history, and the sarcasm
was not pointless, for many of these mod
ern "historical pictures"-such as that of
the middle ages wherein but two classes
are shown, the noble and the slave; the
one possessing all wealth ;and power, the
ather possessing no political or social
sights, nothing but grinding poverty-are
oither creations of the fancy or gross dis
portions, which fade or altogether vanish
Beneath the light of such facts as we here
present, gathered from unmpeachable
Sources, and from. which those who seek
she truth may learn something of the glori-
aus part borne by the Church in the intel
Iectual and spiritual enlightenment of
mankind in the ages when she led the van
Of civilization.
TIE PRICE OF BOOKS
The middle ages, beiit,remembered, pos
sessed neither ty pe-iouudries nor printing |
presses. Books we've necessarily scarce, |
because they were multiplied only by the |
slow and labOrious process of transcription.
They were also costly, owing to their bulk,
the high price of the material upon which
they wee written, and the necessarily |
great tx penditure of time and labor in the
work OF copying; but when they were not
also adorned by the mbellish ments of art
or encased 10 gorgeous bindings they were
by no means 80 costly as has been repre-
sented According to Boivin, in cata
-1LXGe bI tio iIOEdTN vi NHdII6S W. OI
France, made in 1923, eight hundred and
fifty three of the volumes which it con-
Gaiued were valaed at 3l3 livres, or about
800. AS or, say, $25, present valne, per
volume. NJ. Leber gives the price of
copy of the four gospels, in 1887, at four
livres, ten sous about equal in present
value to 800. "In the thirteenth CEN
tury," says NJ. Petit Radel, the average
price oi ubilluminated books was from four
to Eve hundred francs, present valne"-
I e., $50 to 500. "In the Brere Recor
tIdti0nis of the Abbot BOGUS, detailing the
history of the foundation of the monastery
OF st. Michael at Pisa, mention lie made of
Bible purchased By the community,
towards the close of the eleventh century,
for a sum equivalent to about E25O of
H1odern value; aud this is spoken of as if
l were u large price. TIE cost of binding
eluarto volume was, with clasp, about
ais. without clasp, Is /; for transcription,
about 4d per folio. These facts affsrd
evidence 10 show that the acreage price of
hooks in the med Tval era was not SO high
a. has been represented. 1t is true that
IEe ancient chroniclers record instances of
enormous prices being paid for single
volumes; but in these cases the books
artistic skill in illumination or painting,
the calligraphy of the most elegant, while
the bindings were of "eheets of carved |
ivory, or of plates of silver and gold, re-
eplendent with precious Rems.' Vellum |
copy of Cardinal Ximenes' celebra-
ed polygiott Bible was purchased |
at the sue of the library of Count
Mccarthy of Toulouse, iu 1917, for
G6l4 como years since Bowyer's folio |
Bible, filled with exquisite illustrations |
from the pencils of the fret artists of the
time, was sold in London for $4,000. |
Would the historian writing in the twenty
fourth century be justified in citing these |
extraordinary prices as those current for |
books in our age2 And yet in effect this |
is wha. many modern writers have done in |
treating of the cost of books in the middle |
ages, and go persistently have these tales
been reiterated that notion prevails that
in those sges only the very rich possessed
books at all.
THE MONKS as BooKMAKERs-
While men oftbe world zealously strove
for wealth or power, within the peaceful
and secluded walls of the scriptorium the
pious scribe toiled to perpetuate or multi |
TIy For bn haraGt of mankind