An extremely rare pre-Reformation Catholic prayer scroll is to go on display in York next month, after it was mysteriously present in a shoebox.
Dr Hannah Thomas, Special Collections Manager on the Bar Convent discovered the scroll while she was cataloguing the convent’s inventory. In a shoebox crammed with leaflets from the Nineteen Eighties, she also found a six inch wide rolled up scroll.
Describing the find, Dr Thomas, said, “This is an illuminated script, with hand-drawn figures and delightful calligraphy – it’s a medieval murals in its own right.
“However, where it differs from the opposite examples which have been discovered is that this isn’t merely an illustrated poem or prayer created for personal contemplation, but featuring response texts suggesting it was utilized by groups or families as they gathered together for prayers in the house.”
As only 11 such scrolls are known to exist on the earth, and little or no is understood about them. It was previously believed that they were for personal prayer and devotion, nevertheless the inclusion of red inked response lines, strongly suggests they were utilized in public or group worship.
This particular scroll is believed thus far from around 1475 and is the perfect preserved of all of the known specimens. One of the explanations such scrolls are so rare is that, following the Reformation, practising Catholicism became a treasonable act.
The Bar Convent was founded in 1686, making it the oldest living convent in Britain. How the scroll got here to be of their possession isn’t precisely known, as there aren’t any records of its existence. However, many items sacred to Catholics got to their take care of safekeeping in the course of the years of anti-Catholic persecution.
Sister Ann Stafford, Superior of the Bar Convent, has confirmed that a special mass will probably be held featuring the prayers and devotional material from the scroll.
The exhibition for the scroll will probably be open to the general public from 5 April 2025.
