Pope Leo XIV will receive the first copy of the new facsimile edition of the Codex Calixtinus

The Archive-Library of the Cathedral of Santiago has presented a new facsimile edition of the Calixtinus Codex, also called the Book of Santiago, the first copy of which will be given to Pope Leo XIV.

This was announced this Thursday by the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, Francisco Prieto, who together with the archivist canon of the Cathedral, Francisco Buide, have presented this facsimile edition.

That first copy will be delivered “in due course to the Pope,” said the Archbishop of Santiago, who harbors the “founded hope” that His Holiness will visit the Compostela city during the next Jacobean Holy Year.

This facsimile edition, which consists of 500 copies, individually numbered and notarized, is made with special parchment-like paper of different weights, reproducing folds, textures and details through different photographic and printing techniques.

The book, with an extension of 450 pages, is decorated with miniatures and capitulars in full color and its binding is in fire-stamped leather with ornamental motifs. This facsimile is completed with a case to preserve it, as well as a complementary study book.

The archbishop of Santiago has detailed that the Calixtino Codex, “key” to knowledge of the Camino de Santiago, is a compilation of a large amount of content. Its original version is the size of a missal and was intended to be read, copied and used in celebrations.

The Calixtinus Codex, the Archbishop of Santiago has pointed out, “continues to be a living book” and is the “first great synthesis” of Jacobean memory and the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It talks about routes, bridges, cities, sanctuaries, customs of the towns that the pilgrims encountered, and offered practical advice, warnings and spiritual guidance.

“It can be considered one of the documents, texts, founding testimonies of that Europe, of that European consciousness that was emerging from the Middle Ages,” noted the archbishop of Santiago.