Between 2000 and 2015, a team of artists, calligraphers, academics and others created 12 original sets of the Saint John's Bible. There are 299 replica sets. Trinity Health owns one replica set and circulates the collection among its facilities.
When Michigan's Trinity Health Muskegon hospital hosts its ceremony every two weeks to mark the turning of a page of the Saint John's Bible, spiritual care team members witness attendees' astonishment at the beauty of the rare book's illuminations and calligraphy.
Allison Fisher Mannies, Trinity Health Muskegon, Shelby and Grand Haven spiritual care manager, often leads these ceremonies. She hears "wows" and "ohs" from the small crowd of staff, visitors and patients who assemble. She says it speaks to "the power art can have and the way that it has provoked wonder and awe in people."
Trinity Health is one of just several hundred owners worldwide of a set of Saint John's Bible replicas, and its facilities have been taking turns displaying the famed, illuminated books. Trinity Health hospitals in Western Michigan, which are hosting the Bible this year from June through October, is using it to engage community members in spiritually formative experiences.
Gary Allore, Trinity Health Muskegon, Shelby and Grand Haven president, says the Bible has a calming effect. "I think when people walk in, they see the stained-glass windows on our chapel, and then they kind of walk through the lobby and see the Saint John's Bible, and I just think it's just another symbol that we're connected to a faith-based organization," he says. "And I think that gives people comfort when they walk into the facility."
Revived art form
According to Biblica, an online resource on the Bible, while scripture has been preserved in various ways over time, "the work of copying the scriptures was undertaken in earnest in the monasteries in the Middle Ages. Several thousand monasteries were established across Europe, and for many of the monks, making copies of the scriptures was their chief task." The resource says "teams of scribes and artists worked with parchment to produce incredibly beautiful works of art."
A website on the Saint John's Bible says Benedictines in monasteries were among those religious communities. They have been producing and protecting books, including Bibles, for about 1,500 years.
The monks' hand-production of Bibles ended with the advent of the printing press in the mid-1400s. The Saint John's Bible website said that Saint John's University and Saint John's Abbey — both Benedictine institutions in Minnesota — wanted to reignite "the spiritual imagination of people throughout the world by commissioning a work of art that illuminates the world today." So, for the first time since the invention of the printing press, the monastery commissioned a hand-crafted and illuminated Bible.
Beginning in 2000, Welsh calligrapher Donald Jackson led a team of artists, calligraphers, scholars, faculty, theologians and others on a 15-year project to use ancient techniques and tools and modern knowledge to create 12 original sets of the Bible by hand and then 299 replica sets.
Trinity Health purchased a seven-volume replica set and has been circulating the volumes throughout its facilities. Trinity Health has 91 hospitals, 101 continuing care locations and a network of other facilities across 23 states.
The Gospels and Acts
Trinity Health's Western Region has been hosting the volume of the set that contains the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles.
For most of the time, that region has displayed the Bible in a glass case in the lobby of its flagship facility, Trinity Health Muskegon hospital. During the biweekly page turnings, a spiritual care team member — often Fisher Mannies — reveals a new spread in the Bible and poses questions to people who attend. She'll ask: What stands out to them? How do the images make them feel? What ideas do the images spark? She also can answer questions about the Bible.
Patty McNeil, Trinity Health Muskegon, Shelby and Grand Haven mission leader, and her team have shared with deaneries within the Diocese of Grand Rapids that the Muskegon hospital is hosting the Bible. Many of the parishes have publicized this information to their parishioners.
McNeil says leadership wants Trinity Health facilities from throughout the area — not just the Muskegon hospital — to have access to the Bible. Fisher Mannies often takes the book on "field trips," including to other Trinity Health hospitals and facilities. She says she had a particularly engaging visit when she brought the Bible to an inpatient behavioral health unit, where she spent about two hours displaying pages for patients and discussing the patients' perspectives with them.
Taking a pause
McNeil says engaging people with the Saint John's Bible has been a type of formation. She notes that while some people may think of formation as a formal process, "formation can be about anything in the world around us. It can be about art. It can be about a painting. It can be about a beautiful story, sacred text, anything really."
Rev. Crystal Schmalz, left, and Patty McNeil help lead a ceremony in the lobby of Trinity Health Muskegon to celebrate the arrival of the Saint John's Bible. Rev. Schmalz is director of spiritual care operations and education for Trinity Health, and McNeil is Trinity Health Muskegon, Shelby and Grand Haven mission leader.
She adds that in this case, formation is about "giving folks who work in healthcare, our colleagues, patients, patients' family members, an experience where they can go a little deeper, maybe take a moment, find time for a sacred pause. I think it is just a different way of offering formation, talking about it, presenting it."
McNeil notes that this type of formation is not just for Catholics, it is for anyone.
She and Fisher Mannies enjoy being part of the discussions about the book and seeing its impact on people — the imagery and text spark all different responses and touch people's spirit in many ways. "One of the beautiful things with art is, art is so subjective and it is so personal that I love the freedom," Fisher Mannies says.
Allore says that Trinity Health's mission in part is to be "a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities," and he notes that this Bible is an extension of that healing presence.
McNeil says the conversation during the page turnings "kind of speaks to people in a world where there's a lot of division right now. There's a lot of animosity with humans, and just in our country. So I think this can be a really good tool to just have more unity with each other."