Curation of the textbooks and manuals used by our saints and ancestors
Two grants from Aid to the Church in Need preserved and digitised 27 Catholic manuscripts and early printed books from Lebanese Maronite Order monasteries, in more than 12,000 images.
What was preserved
The project takes its name from the textbooks and manuals used in the nineteenth century by Saints Nimatullah Hardini, Charbel and Rafqa and Blessed Estephan. The first phase covered sixteen manuscripts copied between 1712 and 1859, most of them from the monastery of Kfifan. The original proposal named fifty manuscripts; the grant received covered sixteen, and the report says so.
The second phase preserved eleven further items: printed books from 1735 to 1841, several from the press of the Qozhaya monastery, and three manuscripts from Ma’ounat copied between 1774 and 1793.
How the work is done
Each volume goes through the same sequence: sterilisation, dry cleaning, flattening and repair of the leaves, strengthening, repair of the binding, digitisation, cataloguing, and finally a made-to-measure acid-free box.
The work was carried out by the team of the USEK centre, with three trainees, Rania Abou Rjeily, Rita Ghattas and Layla Al Dahouk. One of them was later offered a full-time position at the centre.
Beyond the laboratory
Material from the project now feeds a general USEK course, “Civic Engagement Journey”, taken by more than 500 students each semester.
Sources: Application to ACN (reference Lebanon/National 22/00563); final report, part 1; ACN approval letter of 31 July 2023 (reference 23/00738); final report, part 2 (September 2024); financial overviews.
Sterilisation 
Dry cleaning 
Repairing the gutter of a binding 
Sewing on the frame 
Cleaning a leather cover 
A made-to-measure acid-free box