Historic Moment as First Word is Written in the Saint John's Bible, the First Handwritten and Illuminated Bible in 500 Years.

Business & Features Editors

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2000

Following Two Years of Preparation, a Scriptorium of Leading

Calligraphers Convenes to Put Quill to Vellum for First

Volume View Historic Moment at www.saintjohnsbible.org

On Ash Wednesday (March 8), the commencement of Lent leading to the Easter season, Saint John's Abbey and Saint John's University will announce the writing of the first word in The Saint John's Bible, the first handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned since the advent of the printing press 500 years ago. Following two years of intense preparation, calligrapher Donald Jackson wrote the initial verse of the Gospel of John using a goose quill on calfskin vellum. Video of the historic moment will be available on-demand beginning March 8 through The Saint John's Bible web site at www.saintjohnsbible.org.

The first written verse reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." These first words were written in the volume dedicated to the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, which will be completed a year from now. The subsequent six volumes, 1,150 pages comprising all of the other books of the Old and New Testament, will be completed in 2004.

"We are finally writing after all of the painstaking preparation -- including work with the theologians and artists at Saint John's, the creation of a unique script, the careful selection and preparation of the vellum, the creation of a computer generated template and the planning of every page," said Jackson, who also serves as scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Crown Office at the House of Lords.

"We are creating something unique for modern times, not only by reviving a monastic tradition of writing the Bible, but by creating a working scriptorium of artists and calligraphers who have come together to create a work of art that reflects our own place in history," said Brother Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, President of Saint John's University.

An ecumenical undertaking, The Saint John's Bible was commissioned by Saint John's Abbey, a Benedictine monastery, and Saint John's University, both in Collegeville, Minnesota. The Saint John's Bible will be the first handwritten Bible that interprets and illustrates scripture from a contemporary perspective, reflecting a multicultural world and humanity's enormous strides in science, technology and space travel. The translation being used is the New Revised Standard Version, a modern translation widely used by Protestants and Catholics. The Saint John's Bible has been blessed by His Holiness Pope John Paul II.

The calligraphy team working at Jackson's scriptorium in Wales, United Kingdom, includes artisans Sue Hufton, Sally Teague, and Brian Simpson, all of the United Kingdom. Jackson plans to invite leading calligraphers and artists from other countries and cultures to collaborate with the team at different stages of the project.

The web site will provide on-demand video footage of the writing, including the scriptorium in Wales, the preparations for the first writing, and Jackson dipping his goose quill into hand-ground ink to draw the first verse from the Gospel of John onto calfskin vellum. The video feed is made possible by Streaming 21 (www.streaming21.com).