The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-07-05
WHAT DIR. SCH FL SA KS
He Tells of What Really Happens
at the Vatican Library.

Untrue That Protestant Scholars Are Not
Allowed to Use tho y o0k< and Can Only
Look 1t the Closed Cases-Number Of
Printed vnlumes, 200, 900. "A
Dr.. Philip Schaff, D. D., D. 9. sI4, In
recent letter from Ro me, gives the
following account Of the Vatican ' n. LII
brary:
Much has been said and wri item about
the illiberality Of the management 7. OF
the Vatican Library. Tschendort ire
gelles and Dollinger have complained
bitterly of it. The opinion still pre-
walls that Protestant scholars are not
permitted to use it and can only look
at the closed cases in which the manu-.
scripts and books are kept. Even the
twelfth edition Of Hare's s'Walks in
Rome" which appeared in 1881 ana IS 3
considered one of the most accurate u
guide books, the author asserts that the
Vatican Library ''is only shown oy
special order, and no time is given for
an examination of the individual OBJ
jects."
This statement is certainly inc orrect
at this date 1t is quite true that no
such unlimited freedom in the use OF
books is allowed as in the public libra
ries of Germany, France, England and
the United States The library is open
only on about 200 days Of the year, and
is closed during the numerous holy
days and during the whole Passion
week and Easter week. It is difficult
to find what you want, as there are no
topical catalogues. You have to ex-
anime the alphabetical or numerical
indexes of the various collections (the
Palatine, the Ottobu oni, the Regina.
&c. } which takes very much tt me and
troub lie.
But within these restrictions the
Vatican Library, owing to the liberal
policy of the scholarly Pope Leo Kill,
is accessible to all scholars. Protestant
az we'll as Catholic
On my first visit found in the read
ing room, which is adorned with the
portraits of the Cardinal Librarians,
including Mai and Messolanti, about
twenty scholars Of different nation
alities, engaged in copying Latin,
Greek, Hebrew and Arabic manuscript
books.
expect to use also the Papal archives,
which are under the direction of Card
inal Hergenrother, the Church Hlsto-
rian, and DR.. Deni1e, an eminent ecc)es-
iastical scholar and author of
"History of the Medieval Universities"
- l..n 80 h i
but he will be absent for two weeks in
Austria 1t may be necessary to write
for special permission to the Pope or
Cardinal Hergenrother. 1t is remark
able that the chief Librarians should be
Germans.
A brief sketch of this famous library
may be of interest to your readees. l
understand that an authentic history of
it is in course of preparation.
The Vatican, library, began, we may
say, with the archives Of the Popes,
which are first mentioned under Damas-
Gus L (366~3S4), and were preserved in
the Lateran Palace, the Papal residence
given by Constantine the Great to
Bishop Sylvester (313) After various
losses and changes of locality, the Ii
brary was finally settled, after the
return of the Popes from Avignon, in
the Vatican Palace, where 1T occupies
seven (out of II, 1000 rooms.
Nicholas ", the first Pope OF the Re-
naissance l1447-1456) founded the Public
Library, with 5000 volumes, and ap-
pointed Giovanni Tortelli as the first
librarian. He had passion for books,
and collected manuscripts through
agents from all parts of Europe at
great expense.
Great libraries were added from time
to time by donations or purchase. They
are separately catalogued. The inya1u-
able Bibliothoca Palatina, of Heidel-
berg, after being captured by Iilly in
the Thirty Years War, was presented
to the Pope by the Elector Macmillan
L., of Bavaria in 1923, and transported
to Rome by tweney-six mule teams.
It is very rich in Latin, Greek and
Hebrew manuscripts and in the litera-
ture of the Reformation period. mean
to examine it more carefully. At the
fifth centenary of the University Of
Heidelberg, in 1886, Pope Leo XIII. sent
as 9 centenary gift printed catalog ne
of it, in four magnifcently bound vol
umes, through a delegate, Henricus
Stevenson, but not the books which be-
long to the patrimony of St. Peter.
The manuscript catalogue was begun by
Josehus de Julius and finished by jose
plus de Camillis; the printed catalogue
of the Codicts Palatini was prepered
under the late Cardinal Pitra by Hen
ricus Stevenson, ST., and Henricus
Stevenson, Jr., and J. B. de Rossi Roma,
1885 and 1856. The Bibliotheca Urba-
mis-. founded by the Duke Frederigo da
Monte Feltro, was added in 1867, and is
described in an alphabetical catalogue
of 16l large folio leaves, made in 1875.
The Bibliotheca Regiensis, once the
property Of Queen Christina, Of Sweden,
the apostate daughter Of Gustavus
.Adolphus, was added in 1890, and has a
ca talogue OF 2O6 leaves folio. The Bib
liotheca Ottoboniana (aiso separately
catalogued in two folios Of 631 leaves)
was purchased by Pope Alexander VIII.
Of the Ottoboniana family in 1746.
Napoleon carried these treasures to