Lewis University is hosting a traveling exhibition of 25 reproduction prints of The Saint John’s Bible. The exhibit will be on display from January 9 to February 8 in the Caterpillar Gallery on the Romeoville campus. The exhibit is free and open to the public from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. The Saint John’s Bible is the first commissioned handwritten, monumental illuminated Bible in the modern era.

Saint John’s Abbey and University commissioned the piece to ignite the spiritual imagination of believers. The Saint John’s Bible is being created by a group of scribes and artists in a Scriptorium in Wales under the artistic direction of Donald Jackson, one of the world’s foremost calligraphers and Senior Scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown Office at the House of Lords. When completed in 2009, the Bible will have a permanent home at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

The Saint John’s Bible exhibit is incorporating many of the characteristics of its medieval predecessors: it is being written on vellum, using quills, natural handmade inks, hand ground pigments and gild such as gold leaf, silver leaf and platinum. And yet, it is employing the modern, English translation of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) as well as contemporary scripts and illumination.

Also associated with the exhibition will be a presentation entitled, "From Inspiration to Illumination: An Introduction to the Saint John’s Bible," to be held at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 and 12:30 p.m. Jan. 29 in the Sancta Alberta Chapel on Lewis’ Romeoville campus. Tim Ternes, Director of Programming and Exhibitions for the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minn. will guide the audience through the story of the St. John’s Bible. Guests are taken through the processes, tools, methods and materials for the project. Several artworks from the project are also explored through guided imagery discussions. Participants also get to handle material samples.

For more information about the exhibit at Lewis University contact Brother Joseph Martin, FSC, at (815)836-5148.

A Catholic University sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis offers nearly 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, accelerated degree completion options for working adults, various aviation programs and 22 graduate programs in nine fields. The mid-sized university is being honored for the fifth consecutive year by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. For more information please visit www.lewisu.edu.