The Vatican was back up and digitizing this week with 56 new manuscripts added. One of the less common collections, Carte Stefani, added three manuscripts this week, bringing the total online to nine. Several new medical manuscripts were added, including an illustrated Herbarium, Vat.lat.4476. On f.70v is the classic Herbarium illusrtration of an anthropomorphic Mandrake, see it to the right.

There were also several manuscript notebooks of copies of epigraphic inscriptions, including Vat.lat.9127 and Vat.lat.9140, both the work of Gaetano Marini (†1815). Also added was Vat.lat.10255 part of the catalogue of the Reginesis manuscripts made on the death of Queen Christiana in 1689. See more about that Fond in last weeks Fond-Explainer post.

At the bottom is part of the big "T" from the "Te Igitur" page of Vat.lat.4772, an early 11th C Sacramentarium from S. Donato a Pionta in Arezzo.

We're also continuing our series on the meaning of the Fond names at the Vatican Library. Previous posts have covered A and B, C through N, and O through R, and this week we tackle S.

• S.Maria.Magg Santa Maria Maggiore - The church of Sainta Maria Maggiore is one of the key Papal basilicas in Rome and the largest church in the city dedicated to Mary. Construction was started under pope Celestine I and consecrated in 434 by Sixtus III. Over the years it has been redecorated and augmented, the current coffered ceilling is gilded with gold from the New World donated by Queen Isabella of Spain ¹. The library has been managed by a seperate Archivist Canon since the mid 17th C, roughly 80 men have held that job since 1650. Apart from the documents and manuscripts of the Chapter proper, it contains the archives of the Sistine Chapel, the Pauline College and of the College of the Beneficed Clergy and Clerics, and 120 folders of manuscript scores from the Music Chapel. In 1939 Pope Pius XI had the entire archive transfered to the Vatican Library to form this Fond. ²
• S.Maria.in.Via.Lata Santa Maria in Via Lata - This church stands on the Via del Corso, formerly the Via Lata in Rome, across from the church of St. Marcello in Corso and near the Church of the Jesu. The current building was renovated starting in 1639 by Cosimo Fanzago based on designs by Pietro da Cortona. The library and archive was transfered to the Vatican and contains 984 MSS, covering the 10th - 16th C) as well as 320 later accounting or administrative documents. The remainder of the collection is in the Archivio del Vicariato. ³
• Sbath - Paul Sbath was a Syrian Catholic priest, born in Aleppo in 1887 he died in October of 1945. He begain collecting manuscripts around 1912 and accumulated 1,325 during his life. Of those more than 90% were in Arabic, the rest in Syriac, Turkish, Persian and a smattering of other languages. From his collection he donated 775 to the Vatican, with the assistance of Cardinal Eugène Tisserant, in 1926, forming the Fonds Sbath. ⁴
• Sire - The collection of 84 copies of the Bull Ineffabilis (of Sec. 8, 1854), proclaiming the Immaculate Conception of Mary to be Dogma, translated into all "living" languages under the patronage of Marie-Dominique Sire. The history of this is covered in some more detail back in Week 10, when four of the manuscripts were digitized.

Notes

1. https://ceilingsineurope.weebly.com/blog/santa-maria-maggiore
2. http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/sm_maggiore/en/archivio/archivio_storico.htm
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_in_Via_Lata
4. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Sbath