The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-08-30
A Rare Old Missal.
Crossed the Atlantic wlths Columbus and
Again with COrtes.

San Francisco Chronicle.
Under lock and key, in the state libra
rian 8 office in San Francisco, is volume
worth more than twice its weight in gold.
Six centuries have rolled by since the
pious Fra Ambrosius sat in his monastic
studio and mixed the watery blue, the
pale green and startling crimson hues
with which he Illuminated this ancient
missal. He devoted one year to the la
Dor of copying, with microscopic exact
ness, the Latin prayers, the calender OF
the saints and hymns of praise on sell
lected parchment leaves. In the intro
duction he wrote in Latin: Il have en-
tered upon this work with conscious
ness of nay shortcomings and sinful i'm
pulses, which render me unworthy OF SO
honorable task, but after much fast
ing and prayer have been guided by
an inner voice, which bids me to write.
The history of this missal is full OF
romantic interest The monastery in
which Fra Ambrosius worked was brok-
en- up and the work over which he had
spent so many weary days passed into
the possession of sailor named Rodrigo
|, de Triana who shipped on the Santa
Maria when Christopher Columbus start
ed on his voyage of discovery to the new
world. Returning with the great ad-
miral on his second voyage De Triana
married native woman and endeaVored
to carry the message of the cross to the
people whom he had adopted as his kin
dred His success as missionary is
problematical. The miss i, however,
was kept by his children, and when the
Spanish padres began to flock to the
heather shores that Columbus had given
to CASTLE, priest bought the volume
and made note of the fact and the
date. The discovery of such work in
the hands of the natives made strong
impression on the missionary and he in
vestigated it's history, making report
to the head of his order in Barcelona, at
the same time forwarding the missal.
The little volume, with it's checkered
history, reposed among the archives OF
the Barcelona convent until Cortes fitGed
out his expedition to the land of the Mon
tezumas, taking as his chaplain the plous
Father Olmedo. Before Olmedo set out
on the dangerous voyage the bishop OF
Barcelona gave him his blessing, some
good advice and this missal So armed,
the chaplain sailed away to the over
turning of The dread deity, Quetzalcoatl,
whom the dwellers of Anahuac wor-
shipped
The bloody wars of conquest placed
the banner of the cross over the ruins of
the teocals, and made Cortes the gov
ernor of New Spain. Father Olmedo
soon after presented to Cortes the now
historic mssal as foundation for
library by the conqueror, and in his
diary made mention of the travels and
adventures through which he had pass
ed. Cortes afterward took up his resi-
denee in Cayoacan, one of the suburbs
of the present City of Mexico, and care
fully preserved the book for number
of wears. When this Cayoacan estab-
lishment was broken up the conuqueor
gave the missal to the Franciscan Broth
ers, who were then waxing rich and
strong in the new world. One of their
number brought it to San Francisco in
the early days of the gold excitement
and it passed into the possession of the
late Governor Pho Pico.
When the state library became an
established fact, Governor Pico gave
the book to the institution, where it
now remains.
The missal Is a fine specimen of illu
mination. Ii contains 40 pages of care
fully painted contents. The gold letters
are made of gold leaf, firmly gummed
to the parchment. The frontispiece is
a gem of mediaevsl art. Ii represents
the crucifixiou, with Martha and Mary
(who are given slightly japanese cast
of features) standing at the foot OF the
cross. In the background river flows,
on the other side of which are seen
several edifices that are architectural
curiosities.