Abbot Primate Jeremias Schröder

On the fifth Sunday of Lent, I was invited to Subiaco Abbey. In the 15th century, this was the site of Italy’s first printing press, established by the monks of the monastery with the assistance of German printers. At that time, Subiaco was a vital centre of Benedictine reform, maintaining numerous connections across the Alps.

To commemorate these pioneering Benedictine achievements, Father Fabricio, the librarian of the State Library housed within the monastery, has organised an extraordinary exhibition: a Gutenberg Bible on loan from the Vatican Apostolic Library, alongside the first three Italian printed works, produced in Subiaco between 1465 and 1467.

In my homily on the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus, I spoke of the human longing for immortality, which finds expression in our cultural creative endeavours. While this is not the same as the immortality won for us by Jesus at Easter, it serves as an intimation of it and an expression of our soul’s deep yearning.