The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1915-01-02
ANTIQUITY OF
sLAVONIc LITERATURE
HISTORY OF AN INTERESTING
MANUSCRIPT.

There is amongst the early dialects
Of the Servian races one whose origin
has been obscured by lapse of time.
and which, for want of a specific
name of it's own, modern linguistic
authorities have agreed to call the
Glagolitic. st. Jerome was believed
by some scholars to have been the in
ventor of the Glagolitic system OF
writing, but such an idea does not
appear to have much common sense
behind it. There, existed down to the
year 1880 an ancient Psalter, written
in Glagolitic, and attributed to that
most learned doctor, but research has
since shown that while he transcribed
the Bible into Latin form, commonly
called the Vulgate, he never wrote a
line of Slavonic. Another Glagolitic
manuscript whose history was better
known is mentioned by Talvi in his
work on the Languages and Literature
of the Slavic Nations:
1t was generally known that the
Kings of France were accustomed, at
their coronation at. Rheims, to take
the oath on large book called "Texte
du Sacre," bound in gold or gliding
and covered with unwrought precious
stones, which contained the Gospels
written in some unknown hieroglyphic
language. When in 1717 Tar Peter /.
visited Rheims, this book was shown
to him among other curiosities, and
ho ovoIoip,od nj onoo. GtrTShic ic INV oun
Slavonic!" This view was soon spread
among Slavic scholars. But the pre-
cious parchment was written in two
columns and in two languages. What
idiem could the other be? The French,
it is said, took it for Greek; more
probably for Coptic. In 1889 learned
English traveller, Thomas Ford Hill,
was shown some Glagolitic manu-
scripts in the imperial library of
| Vienna, whereupon he declared with
out hesitation that this was the mys-
terious writing of the Rheims manu-
script. Before the Vienna scholars,
Dobner and Alter, then at the head of
Slavic matters, had time to investi-
gate the matter further the revolution
broke out and the precious document
disappeared. No trace was left of it,
and for half century the patriotic
Slavic scholars supposed they had
cause to lament the loss of document
of the very highest antiquity. 1t was
conjectured that the book had origin
ally been brought to France by some
Slavic Princess; for instance, by
Princess of Kief, who is said to have
been sent for by Henry l., son of Hugh
Capet and King of France in the be-
ginning of the eleventh century. APP
plication was made on the subject to
Sylvestre de Sacy, whose report gave
some hope that the precious relic
might still be preserved. Search was
made by Kopitar in Italy and at Paris,
but all in vain. At last it was again
found at Rheims by the Russian
scholar Stroyef, who, however, seems
not to have been acquainted with the
Glagolitic writing and therefore laid
| little stress on it. The volume was
stripped of its costly ornaments and
had been, therefore more easily re-
covered during the reign of Napoleon,
who endeavored, as much as was in
his power, to restore the spoils of the
Revolution, while he himself filed
Paris with the spells of all other ma
tions.
The librarian at Rheims, in order
best to meet the numerous inquiries
of Slavic scholars, caused fac-simile
of it to be taken, and it was finally
committed to the learned Kopitar's
care. 1t was now discovered that this
long-deplored document contained two
unconnected portions of the Gospels
one in Cyrillic letters, the other, con-
siderably longer, in GIagolitic, and
both executed with remarkably cali
graphic skill. The Glagolitic portion
was marked with the date 1895. 1t
was written at Prague and presented
by the Emperor, Charles w., to the
Abbot of Emaus, with the Injunction
that these "Evangelia' should be
chanted at Mass; and the remark was
added that the accompanying Cyrillic
portion was written by st. Procopius
with his own hand. Procopius was
one of the patron saints of Bohemia,
who died in 1858. How this valuable
manuscript was finally removed to
France is still unexplained. At