Emma met children from local schools who had made their way from South Tyneside to parliament after visiting Westminster Abbey to have their children’s bible signed and blessed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
10 year old Jamie Pippet, a pupil at St Gregory’s school in South Shields, showed Emma the page he designed which was selected for inclusion in the Children’s codex which is now on its journey to Rome to be presented to Pope Francis and put on display in the Vatican.
Schools in the region were invited to commemorate the thirteen hundred year old Codex Amiatinus – the world’s oldest surviving Bible, by writing and designing pages of a modern codex in celebration of the three Latin bibles which were transcribed and illuminated at Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery and left St Peter’s Church for Rome in AD 716 as a gift from Abbot Ceolfrith to Pope Gregory II.
As part of the Codex 1300 commemoration of that literary pilgrimage to Rome, a leatherbound copy of the ‘Children’s Codex’ left St Peter’s Church in Jarrow earlier this month to make its journey to the Vatican
The Codex 1300 anniversary commemorative project is being coordinated by the Parish of Jarrow and South Tyneside Council, along with Speak (St Peter’s Educational Activities for Kids), and Sunderland City Council.
Over 100 schools were given a section of the Codex to re-create following a template reflecting the size and design of pages.
The result of their work has been bound into four volumes, three to be left on display in their respective communities and one to follow in the footsteps of the original literary pilgrimage to Rome to be put on display at the Vatican.
Emma said,
“It was wonderful to see schools in our communities come together to be part of this exciting project celebrating South Tyneside’s rich cultural history. It was a real joy to see the Children’s Codex and to meet some of the school children who have helped to illustrate and write pages. It was particularly nice to meet Jamie from South Shields who showed me the Codex and his winning illustration.
Now the Codex will go on its way to the Pope in Rome where people across the world will be able to see the talent and creativity of the young people of South Tyneside.”
The Codex Amiatinus was transcribed and illuminated thirteen centuries ago at the Wearmouth Jarrow monastery and is now stored at the Laurentian library in Florence.
