Neofiti

Item

Country

IT

Name of institution (English)

Vatican Apostolic Library

Name of institution (official language of the state)

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana

Language of name of institution

ita

Contact information: postal address

Cortile del Belvedere V, 00120 Vatican City

Contact information: phone number

0039 0669879411

Contact information: web address

https://www.vaticanlibrary.va

Reference number

Neofiti.

Type of reference number

Archival reference number

Title (English)

Neophytes

Title (official language of the state)

Neofiti

Language of title

ita

Creator / accumulator

Pia Domus Neophytorum

Date note

14th century/19th century

Language(s)

heb

ita

lat

Extent

55 storage units

Type of material

Textual Material

Physical condition

Good

Scope and content

The manuscripts kept in the Neofiti collection of the Vatican Library belonged to the Pia Domus Neophytorum (College of Neophytes) of Rome, founded in the 16th century. The collection is mostly composed of codices in Hebrew scripture from the 14th to the 19th centuries, but with a predominance of 15th and 16th-century manuscripts. Religious works are dominant, especially Bibles, commentaries to the Pentateuch and the Prophetic books, and kabbalistic works; but it also includes collections of texts on Philosophy, Medicine, and other matters, as well as Hebrew translations of classical texts. Regarding texts of Sephardic origin, the Neofiti collection includes a manuscript of Nahmanides' Commentary on the Torah copied by Jacob b. Moses ibn Arama in the Zamora yeshivah in 1454 (Neofiti 7).

Archival history

The Neofiti collection was autonomously established in 1891, with the acquisition of approximately 42 manuscripts on April 1. In 1896, a second acquisition enriched the collection, after manuscripts and printed books that had remained in the library of the College of Neophytes were purchased by prefect Franz Ehrle (1845-1934). In 1976, manuscripts Neofiti 38-39, 49-51 (Hebrew-related codices written in Latin characters) were extracted from the collection to be inserted in the Vaticani Latini, with the signatures Vat. lat. 14627-14631.

(source: D’Aiuto, Francesco, and Paolo Vian. 2011. Guida ai fondi manoscritti, numismatici, a stampa della Biblioteca vaticana. Studi e testi 466–467. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana)

Administrative / Biographical history

The Neofiti fonds is related to the Pia Domus Neophytorum (College of Neophytes) founded by Pope Paul III in 1543 with the aim of ensuring adequate religious training and education for those who converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism. Subsequently refunded by Pope Gregory XIII in 1577, the College of Neophytes had come to increase the various collections of manuscripts preserved in the then eastern collections of the Vatican Library, particularly the Vaticani arabi (Arabic manuscripts) and the Vaticani siriaci (Syrian manuscripts).

(source: D’Aiuto, Francesco, and Paolo Vian. 2011. Guida ai fondi manoscritti, numismatici, a stampa della Biblioteca vaticana. Studi e testi 466–467. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana)

Access points: locations

Zamora (Spain)

Access points: persons, families

Arama, Jacob b. Moses ibn

Access points: subject terms

Spanish Medieval Jewry

Sephardic manuscripts

15th century

Access points: document types

Exegesis

System of arrangement

The units are numbered sequentially.

Access, restrictions

Digital copies of Vaticani ebraici manuscripts are available online:

http://www.mss.vatlib.it/guii/scan/link1.jsp?fond=Vat.lat.

Finding aids

D’Aiuto, Francesco, and Paolo Vian. 2011. Guida ai fondi manoscritti, numismatici, a stampa della Biblioteca vaticana. Studi e testi 466–467. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Richler, Binyamin, Malachi Beit-Arié, and Nurit Pasṭernaḳ, eds. 2008. Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library: Catalogue. Studi e Testi 438. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Links to finding aids

https://opac.vatlib.it/mss/

Author of the description

Andrea Cicerchia, 2022

Bibliography

Riegler, Michael. 1997. ‘Were the Yeshivot in Spain Centers for the Copying of Books?’ Sefarad 57 (2): 373–98. https://doi.org/10.3989/sefarad.1997.v57.i2.853.

Sacerdote. Gustavo. 1892. ‘I codici ebraici della Pia Casa dei Neofiti in Roma’. Memorie dell’Accademia nazionale dei Lincei. Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche 4 (9): 159–61.

Item sets

WSD Roadmap

WSD Roadmap finais

WSD Roadmap Italy