The Baltimore museum showcases the medieval missal used by St. Francis of Assisi

Over eight centuries ago, St. Francis of Assisi and two companions casually opened a prayer book three times in their parish church of San Nicolò in Italy.

Hoping that God would send them a message, the rich young people consulted the manuscript in prayer once for each person of the Holy Trinity.

Surprisingly, each of the three passages of the Gospel on which they landed contained exactly the same command: to renounce earthly goods and follow Christ.

Taking the words to heart, St. Francis established a rule of life that governed what would become his Order of Friars Minor. The Franciscans have embraced radical poverty to draw closer to Christ and evangelize others too.

The same book that inspired St. Francis in 1208 should inspire thousands of others, as the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore exhibits it for the first time in public in 40 years, from February 1 to May 31.

The restored Missal of St. Francis, a twelfth-century manuscript that St. Francis of Assisi consulted while discerning his spiritual life, will be exhibited at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore from February 1 to May 31.

The Latin missal, which contains Gospel readings and prayers used during mass, has undergone a scrupulous two-year conservation effort aimed at repairing centuries of usury.

The missal, particularly loved by Catholics, is not just a historical artifact. Since he was touched by a saint, he is also considered by many to be a religious relic.

"This is our most requested manuscript," said Lynley Herbert, curator of rare books and manuscripts at Walters.

Herbert noted that Franciscans from around the world have visited the Walters over the decades to catch a glimpse of the richly illuminated book. Because of its significance for the Franciscan community, the Walters allowed him to see it even when the fragile conditions of the manuscript prevented it from public display.

"We have become a pilgrimage site," explained Herbert. "I am probably contacted monthly, if not weekly, with requests to view this book."

Herbert said that the missal was commissioned for the Church of San Nicolò in Assisi. An inscription inside the manuscript indicates that the book donor lived in Assisi in the years 1180 and 1190.

"The manuscript was probably made just before 1200," the media reference of the Archdiocese of Baltimore told Catholic Review. "In the 15th century, it had to be rebounded because the binding probably started falling after so many centuries of use."

The Missal of San Francesco is believed to have been hosted in San Nicolò until an earthquake damaged the church in the XNUMXth century. The church artifacts were then dispersed and the church was demolished. All that remains today is the church crypt.

Henry Walters, whose art collection became the base of the Walters Art Museum, purchased the Missal of St. Francis from an art dealer in 1924, according to Herbert.

Quandt said the main challenge was the repair of XNUMXth century beech wood planks that helped hold the book together. The boards and some pages of the parchment had been attacked long ago by insects and had left many holes, he said.

Quandt and Magee removed the boards and put the book page by page. They filled the holes with a special adhesive to strengthen the wood, repaired the pages and replaced the leather spine with new leather. The entire manuscript has been stabilized and stitched together.

In working on the project, the conservators found that unlike what might be expected in such an elaborate manuscript, the gold leaf was not used in the Missal of St. Francis. The scribes who illuminated the pages of the parchment instead used a silver leaf which was enameled with a type of paint that made it look like gold.

Using ultraviolet and infrared lights, the Walters team also noticed some mistakes that the scribes had made in the production of the prayer book: a word, a sentence or even whole paragraphs were missing while copying sacred texts.

"Typically, the scribe simply took his pen knife and scratched the (parchment) surface very, very carefully to remove the misspelled letter or word," said Quandt. "And then they would write about it."

While conservatives worked on preserving the manuscript, each page was scanned so that anyone with access to the Internet worldwide could view and study the book. It will be available through Walters' Ex-Libris web page, https://manuscripts.thewalters.org, searching for "The Missal of San Francesco".

The exhibition will also present many other objects, including paintings, ivories and ceramics from different periods of time, highlighting "different aspects of the chain effect of this manuscript over time and how it affects different people," said Herbert.

In addition to articles related to St. Francis' contribution to the Franciscan movement, there will be objects related to St. Clare, the first woman to follow St. Francis, and St. Anthony of Padua, who focused on preaching and spreading the Franciscan message, she said Herbert.

"There is also a case that will focus on private devotion and secular Franciscans," he said.

Herbert noted that the missal itself has three pages full of colored illuminations, including an elaborate representation of the Crucifixion showing Christ on the cross with two angels on top. Maria and San Giovanni l'Amato are by her side.

The free exhibition, sponsored in part by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, was debuting with the book open on one of the three passages of the Gospel text read by St. Francis in 1208. In the middle of the exhibition, the page will be turned to one of the other passages. St. Francis He reads.

"When the manuscript has been shown in the past, it has always been open to one of the illuminations - which are actually quite adorable," said Herbert. "But we thought about it for a long time and decided that it would have been more significant for people to come and see it for this exhibition if we had shown the openings with which San Francesco could actually have interacted."

Matysek is digital editor for the archdiocese of Baltimore.