Bible of Compassion
The Picture Bible of Mercy is not a facsimile in the strict sense. Rather, the text of the Old and New Testaments was decorated with 350 magnificent miniatures. These were collected from medieval manuscripts that are now kept in 40 of the most important libraries, including book treasures such as the Strahov Gospels, the Hamilton Bible or the Salzburg Missal. The leather binding is also decorated with a ruby-studded detachable cross and fitted with two book clasps.
Bible of Compassion
Pope Francis I (b. 1936) announced that 2016 would be the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, a period of remission for sins and universal pardon focusing specifically on God’s forgiveness and mercy. To celebrate this special event, the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana helped to organize the creation of the most beautiful Bible of the 21st century, the Picture Bible of Mercy, a part of the sales of which is donated for the benefit of a children’s hospital in Africa. The 24 x 34 cm Bible comprises 1,024 pages and contains the German translation of the Old and New Testaments in the entirety. It is illustrated with 350 splendid miniatures, 270 of which are adorned with precious gold leaf, taken from the most beautiful manuscripts from over 40 significant libraries worldwide. These miniatures represent a sampling of ten centuries of illumination. It is housed in a hard leather binding with gilded embossing, corner fittings, and claps with a special removable cross with a ruby on the cover. The preface for the text was personally written by Pope Francis, adding further to the desirability of this singular Bible.
The miniatures featured in this extraordinary edition represent manuscripts including:
• St Albans Psalter, Hildesheim Cathedral Library
• Wenceslas Bible and Gothic Picture Bible, Austrian National Library
• Strahov Evangeliary, Strahov Monastery in Prague
• Mirror of Salvation, Czech National Museum
• Stammheim Missal, Getty Museum in Los Angeles
• De Lisle Psalter and Bedford Hours, British Library
• Hamilton Bible, Berlin Museum of Prints and Drawings
• Psalter of Saint Louis, Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Salzburg Missal, Bavarian State Library
• Bible of Federico da Montefeltro inter alia, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- Bibel der Barmherzigkeit
- Style
- Genre
- Language
- Illustrations
- 350 miniatures
Bible of Compassion
Incipit Page
The word incipit comes from Latin meaning “it begins” and before modern title pages were developed, decorative incipit pages were used to mark the beginning of texts with large and highly stylized letters. This is a worthy example of an incipit page from one of the most richly illuminated Carolingian manuscripts, the Biblia de San Pablo. A dark purple background contrasts with glimmering rich gold and silver, furthermore the “IN” initial is further embossed with interlace patterns.

Bibel der Barmherzigkeit
The Creation of the World
This is the first miniature from the Stammheim Missal, a German Romanesque masterpiece created in the 1170’s with rich colors and abundant gold and silver leaf. The Creator, flanked by seraphim, holds a disc with roundels representing the six days of creation. Inscriptions from Genesis describe the events of each day: read clockwise, the cycle moves around the disc to God's creation of the animals.
The artist links this roundel to the center of the disc via an open channel, where the creation of Eve is shown. In the lower left corner, an angel drives Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, while Cain kills Abel on the right. Between these scenes of woe, King David holds a scroll with a verse from Psalm 134: “All that pleased the Lord, he did.”

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