Summer has arrived and once again visitors from the United States and from Ethiopia are coming to view and study the Gə‘əz manuscripts at CUA. These 241 Christian codices and 4 sets of codex quires are part of a larger collection of 836 materials, including 377 healing or magic scrolls as well as 218 Islamic Read More

A finding aid has been completed for the recently processed Papers of Fr. Paulinus Bellet, OSB, a distinguished Coptic scholar. These Papers are one of several important Coptic archival collections housed in the Semitics/ICOR Library. Fr. Bellet (1913-1987) was born in the Catalonia region of northern Spain. He became a monk of the Abbey of Read More

Henry Hyvernat  (1858-1941), the youngest member of the original faculty of The Catholic University of America, spent fifty-two years in distinguished service to The Catholic University of America. He was Professor of Oriental Languages and Biblical Archaeology (1889-1895/96) as part of the Faculty of Theology, and then Professor of Semitic Languages and Biblical Archaeology (1895/96-1910/1911) Read More

The Catholic University of America has a teaching collection of Coptic, Greek, and Arabic papyri (mostly fragmentary) acquired by Msgr. Henry Hyvernat (1858-1941) in the early twentieth century. This includes 157 numbered items (CUA Museum Hyvernat Collection), along with one Demotic papyrus fragment. The materials are housed in the Semitics/ICOR library. Bibliographical Note 1977. Leslie Read More

On Wednesday October 25, 2019 Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel and the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States Fitsum Arega visited the Semitics/ICOR Library to view a special exhibit of manuscripts selected from 183 Christian parchment codices in the ICOR collections. They are part of the Gerald and Barbara Weiner gift of 727 Ethiopian manuscripts deposited in Read More

Magical Protection: Ethiopian Prayer Scrolls and Egyptian Oracular Amuletic Decrees Presented by Solange Ashby Bumbaugh ICOR Fellow Monday, February 5, 5:30-6:30 May Gallery, Mullen Library The Catholic University of America Sponsored by the Institute of Christian Oriental Research (ICOR) in conjunction with the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures Address inquiries to Dr. Read More

Exhibit extended to March 9! Mount Serabit in the Sinai desert of Egypt is the site of the discovery of some of the earliest examples of West Semitic alphabet writing.  This Proto-Sinaitic script has been called the first alphabet.  The exhibit focuses on the work of the 1930 Harvard-Catholic University Joint Expedition to Serabit-el-Khadim and Read More

Some 11 items from the Père Albert Jamme, M.Afr. Collection have been loaned to the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery for its upcoming exhibition, “Unearthing Arabia: the Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips,” October 11, 2014-June 7, 2015, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. See Unearthing Arabia ; Language and Writing The Père Albert Jamme, M.Afr. Collection in CUA’s Semitics/ICOR Read More

From this Summer, we changed the system behind the “FindIt” button , and have a new page to access our online databases and e-journals. Please see below for the summary: Before Now FindIt button The page after clicking “FindIt” button     Articles Databases and More CU’s e-Journal We also have a new ticket system Read More

A Cultural Heritage Project
The Catholic University of America Libraries houses an important collection of early and rare books on the Christian Near East, along with support collections of manuscripts, antiquities, photographic and archival resources. The use of digital technology to increase access to these Coptic, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, and Ethiopic holdings is a desideratum. It will benefit scholars who are hampered by lack of access to materials in this specialized field of studies; it will benefit members of the Christian communities in the Middle East, Africa, India, and in the worldwide Diaspora for whom the materials are part of their cultural patrimony.