COLLEGEVILLE, Minnesota (CWNews.com) - The first handwritten and illuminated Bible since the invention of the printing press 500 years will begin production on Ash Wednesday following two years of preparation, according to the sponsor St. John's Abbey.

    Calligrapher Donald Jackson will write the first verse of the Gospel of John on the calfskin vellum using a goose quill, beginning a project expected to take four years. The first volume, comprising the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, of the six volume set will be finished next year.

    "We are finally writing after all of the painstaking preparation -- including work with the theologians and artists at Saint John's (University), the creation of a unique script, the careful selection and preparation of the vellum, the creation of a computer generated template and the planning of every page," said Jackson, who also serves as scribe to Queen Elizabeth's Crown Office at the House of Lords.

    "We are creating something unique for modern times, not only by reviving a monastic tradition of writing the Bible, but by creating a working scriptorium of artists and calligraphers who have come together to create a work of art that reflects our own place in history," said Brother Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, president of Saint John's University.

    A video of the writing of the first verse at the scriptorium in Wales will be available on demand at the web site (http://www.saintjohnsbible.org/).