This volume, initiated and probably for the most part written by Abbey Librarian Johann Nepomuk Hauntinger (1756−1823), contains diary entires and a large number of copies of letters and documents about the events at St. Gall Abbey and in the territory of the princely abbey between March 10 and August 31, 1798. The contents mirror the chaos reigning at the time: the invasion of St. Gall by French troops, the precipitous events at the monastery and in the territory of the princely abbey, the evacuation of the abbey library and the monastery archives to neighboring countries, the expulsion and the fate of the St. Gall monks, their contacts with the Helvetic authorities, the hectic diplomatic efforts to avert an inescapable fate, the desperation of some of the monks (p. 228: Domine, salva nos, perimus!). The letters convey both the internal correspondence among the conventuals of the monastery and the external contacts of a monastic community in the process of dissolution; they are written mostly in German, occasionally in Latin.
Online Since: 10/13/2016
The ornamentation of this ketubah, which commemorates a wedding between two important families of the Roman ghetto, Toscano and Di Segni, reflects the golden age of ketubah decoration in Rome. The decorative frame is divided into inner and outer borders. Panels adorned with flowers on painted gold fields flank the sides of the text. In the outer frames, crisscrossed micrographic inscriptions form diamond-shaped spaces, each of which contains a large flower. The design in the inner and the outer frames are surrounded by minuscule square Hebrew letters, presenting the entire four chapters of the book of Ruth.
Online Since: 03/22/2017