• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Digitizing the Vatican Library

Fr. David Friel · January 15, 2020

Manuscript pageORKING with manuscripts has long been a labor limited to those with the time and resources to travel to libraries around the globe. In recent years, this has slowly begun to change, as more and more libraries have begun to make their collections available online. Such digitization projects are complex, so publishing an entire library online does not happen overnight. One very important collection that continues to expand its online offerings is the Vatican Apostolic Library (VAT).

Launched in 2010, the digitization of the Vatican Library (known as DigiVatLib and available here) has comprehensive goals. Ultimately, the plan is to make the library’s entire manuscript collection available online. The collection includes 80,000 codices, which will translate to 40 million scanned images. The DigiVatLib project makes use of International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) technology, which not only makes its own resources accessible, but also enables these resources to be easily searched and compared alongside the treasures of other major collections.

Digitizing manuscript libraries serves two principal purposes. First, it accomplishes long-term preservation of the materials for future generations. Second, it opens the collection’s treasures to a broad audience of scholars and interested parties. Both of these missions are immensely valuable.

Perusing the Vatican collection online turns up not only mesmerizing manuscripts, but also a large collection of coins and medals. Other treasures to be explored include incunabula, archival materials, and graphic and printed materials.

The homepage of the Vatican Library is worth a visit in its own right, but the digital collections warrant special exploration. One decade into the project, the results are fascinating.

Taking a few moments (or countless hours!) to pore over DigiVatLib is sure to provoke questions, curiosities, and new interests.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 15, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Symposium Draft Schedule Released!
    Those who head over to the Symposium Website will notice the tentative schedule for 2023 has been released. This is all very exciting! Very soon, we will begin accepting applications, so please make sure you have subscribed to our mailing list. If you are subscribed, that means you'll hear announcements before anyone else. (It’s incredibly easy to subscribe to our mailing list; just scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.)
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl
    The editor of the Sacred Music Magazine recently made available to the public this splendid article by our own Charles Weaver. It includes an edition of polyphony for the GOOD FRIDAY “Reproaches.” Renaissance composers often set the various offices of Holy Week; e.g. readers will probably be familiar with the beautiful TENEBRAE setting by Father Tomás Luis de Victoria (d. 1611). From what I can tell, Ludwig Senfl (d. 1543) was originally a Catholic priest, but eventually was seduced by Luther and ended up abandoning the sacred priesthood.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Coming Soon! • Symposium 2023
    A few weeks ago, dates were announced for Sacred Music Symposium 2023. The rehearsal videos are beginning to appear! For example, the KYRIE ELEYSON contains sections by Lassus, Victoria, and Palestrina. You can see and hear Part 1 at this link. Much more information about this wonderful conference will be released soon!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The recitation of the Office of the Dead, the Christmas Office, the spectacle of the days of Holy Week, the sublime chant of the Exultet, beside which the most intoxicating accents of Sophocles and Pindar seemed to me to be insignificant—all of this overwhelmed me with respect and joy, with gratitude, repentance, and adoration!”

— Paul Claudel (1913)

Recent Posts

  • Symposium Draft Schedule Released!
  • What is the Tonic Accent?
  • Good Friday Polyphony by L. Senfl
  • PDF Download • 1909 “Modern Notation” Gradual (Extremely Rare) — 712 Pages
  • Folk Mass Clip • Priest Facing “Ad Orientem”

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.