Columba Stewart

Columba Stewart OSB @ColumbaStewart Benedictine monk leading a project to digitize threatened manuscripts around the world. ➡️ Now on Instagram: instagram.com/columba_hmml 📷 More at hmml.org Collegeville, MN USAhmml.org

And now the follow-up: Walid Mourad and I from @visithmml set up a studio at the Institut Mauritanien de Recherche. Walid did a training session for 15 people, and we selected a final team of 5 to do the work. Great next step after our work in Mali! #hmmlinmauritania

Welcome to Mauritania! Here to launch @visitHMML 's latest partnership at the Institut Mauritanien de Recherche (aka IMRFPC). Despite the long western coastline, it's all about the desert here. Stay tuned... #hmmlinmauritania

Wrapping up a @visitHMML swing through Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and Albania (in various combinations) with Ivan Nunić OFM and HMML’s Walid Mourad. Projects underway in BH (and a new one just agreed) and a great project in Montenegro signed as well! #hmmlinbalkans

Back in Iraq for @visitHMML! Welcomed by Abp Najeeb and the team at CNMO in Ankawa/ Erbil, our partners since 2009. Liturgy in the village of Nahla near Aqra, celebrated in Soureth (a neo-Aramaic dialect). Icon broken by Daesh/ ISIS during the occupation of Mosul…#hmmliniraq

A set of notebooks that belonged to a Danish sailor c.1690, six of which have have unusual black pages. One has been written on with chalk, while the others have writing etched into the pages. Below is breakdown of what we have discovered about them with a few observations /1

@RevThomasSander Welcome to my world.

A day in the middle of nowhere. Serious yearnings to read some desert fathers.

@RevThomasSander Excellent: only by climbing can you take in the enormity and complexity of the site. On my first visit in 1992 (pre- treaty with Israel), I was one of the few people there. Two wonderful days exploring on my own and several visits since. Enjoy!

Looking across from the high place of sacrifice to Aaron’s hilltop tomb.

@RevThomasSander Also worth the effort is the High Place of Sacrifice, and for the truly intrepid, Jebel Haroun….

Petra just after 6am.

Back to Mali to see @visithmml partners at the Djenné Manuscript Library and check in with @ongSavama in Bamako. Along the way we stopped in lovely Ségou to visit a potential project. Almost a decade of #hmmlinmali !

Happy to be back in Egypt to check in with our @visitHMML partners at Abu Maqar Monastery and to serve as co-chair for this year’s meeting of the Catholic- Oriental Orthodox Dialogue at St Bishoy Monastery. Profound thanks to Pope Tewadros II and all who hosted us! #hmmlinegypt

In Faisalabad, Pakistan, with Walid Mourad and Ahmad Atta to sign a contract between @visitHMML, @RoshanInstitute and Hakeem Zia Ur Rahman to digitize Persian, Arabic and Urdu manuscripts from his family collection and those of his neighbors. More news soon! #hmmlinpakistan

Wonderful @visitHMML day at the Masood Jhandir Research Library in its idyllic countryside setting. Good convo with Masood, brother Ghulam, and nephew Haroon. Fantastic collection of 4000 manuscripts with 1100 Qur’ans! Stay tuned… #hmmlinpakistan

Finally in Pakistan at the Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu in Karachi! Their project with @visitHMML and @RoshanInstitute has already digitized 744 Persian, Arabic, and Urdu manuscripts. Special thanks to Wajid Jawad and Sayed Abed Rizvi and the other leaders of ATUP! #hmmlinpakistan

@arleneseesit @OxfordDiplomat Apart from providing education of course…. Which includes the language …Did you forget about that bit?

Great press conference today in Bamako to celebrate almost ten years of @visithmml partnership with SAVAMA-DCI to preserve more than 300,000 manuscripts evacuated from Timbuktu. Also highlighted our work in Timbuktu and Djenné. #hmmlinMali #Timbuktumanuscripts

Thrilled to be back in Mali for @visithmml meetings with partners from Djenné and SAVAMA-DCI in Bamako. We couldn't get to Djenné this time so met up in Ségou to review recent work and enjoy each other's company on the river. Stay tuned for more! #hmmlinmali #djennemanuscripts.

Warmest thanks to Fr Ivan Nujić OFM and the Franciscans of Bosnia who welcomed the @visitHMML team for a visit to their historic libraries in Visoko, Kreševo, and Fojnica.Amazing history, beautiful places, generous hospitality! #hmmlinbalkans #manuscripts

Could not have had a kinder reception in Djakovo, Croatia, by @visitHMML partner Abp. Djuro Hranić. Our project there will finish in September and then it’s on to other work in the region. Great celebration of Vespers for SS. Peter & Paul! #manuscripts #hmmlinbalkans

Great visit to the Archives of the Discalced Carmelites in Rome to meet Fr Angelo and Axel Alt. Final signature on our agreement and a look at the archives related to Malta and the Middle East: fantastic collections. @visithmml project starts in September. #manuscripts #archives