The Voynich Ninja - Father Joseph Strickland

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(08-10-2016, 12:29 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The transcription of the letters from the Strickland brothers has now been added You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

Hi Rene,

In the J. Strickland letter from June 26, 1912 he writes : "F. Spinetti thinks it is better to send the 1000 books you have put by for him to the house in Florence so that he may see them before sending them to Rome, when he comes here at the end of next week."

Frascati is next to Rome (in Rome today). It doesn't make sense to bring the books from Rome (or various villa locations around Rome) to Florence to be sent to Rome again. If the books were in Frascati or anywhere near Rome - this would have been on their way to Vatican. It seems Voynich was bringing the books from somewhere else. Unless bringing the books from Rome to Florence and back to Rome was part of the cover-up.

... Or maybe he traded 1000 books for few manuscripts that were waiting in Rome?

(08-10-2016, 10:35 PM)EllieV Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
(08-10-2016, 12:29 PM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The transcription of the letters from the Strickland brothers has now been added You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

Hi Rene,

In the J. Strickland letter from June 26, 1912 he writes : "F. Spinetti thinks it is better to send the 1000 books you have put by for him to the house in Florence so that he may see them before sending them to Rome, when he comes here at the end of next week."

Frascati is next to Rome (in Rome today). It doesn't make sense to bring the books from Rome (or various villa locations around Rome) to Florence to be sent to Rome again. If the books were in Frascati or anywhere near Rome - this would have been on their way to Vatican. It seems Voynich was bringing the books from somewhere else. Unless bringing the books from Rome to Florence and back to Rome was part of the cover-up.

... Or maybe he traded 1000 books for few manuscripts that were waiting in Rome?

Hi Ellie,

the 1000 books seem to be something that Voynich was sending (selling / trading ? ) to the Jesuits, otherwise it makes not much sense, as you say.
We are of course reminded of the comment by Orioli, that Voynich cheated some monasteries out of valuable books by trading against modern 'trash', but we can't be entirely sure what was the role of these books. Maybe they were part of the deal.

What we can be certain of, is that the Jesuits were fully aware of the value of their 15th C (and earlier) MSs, that they were in the process of selling to the Vatican.

Fr. Spinetti is also mentioned here:

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Rene, Ellie,

Thanks for that. I see that Fiesole to Florence is just 9 kilometers - not too far to have to cart 1.000 books. Even less of a distance if the books are being moved from one house in Fiesole to the Jesuit House there.

I'll footnote to both of you in the relevant essay. Thanks again.

PS Ellie, you mention "the cover-up". Are we now accusing the Jesuits of improper behaviour, or something?

Diane,

to better understand this part of history, I can really only recommend to read the links I provided in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .
This also explains (though only summarily) the Jesuits' need to cover up certain things.

Whether one would call this improper depends a bit on one's stance. In the early 20th century, the nationals would have called it so, and it is interesting that even nowadays there is still a residue feeling of past wrong-doings between the various libraries (Roman National library, Vatican, Gregorian).

(09-10-2016, 09:52 AM)Diane Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.PS Ellie, you mention "the cover-up". Are we now accusing the Jesuits of improper behaviour, or something?

Hi Diane, I have no idea if Strickland and friends were doing something illegal or unethical (the secrecy makes them look guilty of some kind of impropriety). I certainly do not project the action of a few to the whole Jesuit Society.

(09-10-2016, 07:31 AM)ReneZ Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Fr. Spinetti is also mentioned here:

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I am not sure if this is the same Spinetti, but there is a mention in a book called CARTAS EDIFICANTES DE LA PROVINCIA DE ARAGÓN AÑO 1912 Número 1. The Google transcription is bad. I have no idea what this is about but Pontifico Instituto Biblico, Spinetti and 1912 are coincidentally next to each other Smile

ASISTENCIA DE ITALIA

Nueve PP. elegidos de las cinco provincias de la Asistencia, se reúnen
en Roma para tratar— como lo hicieron del 16 al 18 de abril— del método
que los Nuestros hayan de seguir en el dar los Ejercicios o Retiros a los
obreros. En el primer quinquenio (1907-1911) se dieron 103 Retiros a 3.516
obreros; en el año siguiente de 1912, cincuenta y tres veces a 1.792 obre-
ros.

Romana.— 5* /^/^r^ro.— Emite sus últimos votos el P. Vicente Sauras
en la misa que celebra el R. P. Augusto Spinetti, Provincial.

Del 29 febrero al 28 de marzo, los jueves y domingos, a las 4 y media
de la tarde, se dieron en el Pontificio Instituto Bíblico, nueve conferencias
en italiano, francés, español y alemán por los respectivos profesores, de ellas
algunas con proyecciones. El programa era el siguiente:

I found it transcribed here You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

That's Spanish. It talks about a conference of fathers from the five provinces who met in Rome to discuss giving the "exercises" (religious practices) to the workers. Father Augusto Spinetti (Provincial? I suppose he's the local boss) gave Mass during which F. Vicente Sauras issued his final votes.

Augusto Spinetti S.J. was the Father Provincial of the province of Rome from 1909 to 1912.
So he was a 'provincial boss' Smile

and certainly the same father that was mentioned in the blog
link from the historical archives of the society.

(09-10-2016, 08:22 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.That's Spanish. It talks about a conference of fathers from the five provinces who met in Rome to discuss giving the "exercises" (religious practices) to the workers. Father Augusto Spinetti (Provincial? I suppose he's the local boss) gave Mass during which F. Vicente Sauras issued his final votes.

Thanks David!
How is your Portuguese? Smile

his one is from 1905
^ Segundo Calvino, Jesus, assim como, pouco an-
tes, deu a Pedro o nome de ícecça, bom podia chamar-
Ihe agora oteramç. Esta glosa não honra os créditos do
grande apóstolo de Genebra, visto que nem na primeira
nem na segunda destas passagens, Jesus se dirige pes-
soalmente ao Apóstolo. Cf. C A Lapide, loc. cit.

E O snr. padre Augusto Spinetti, que na sua
qualidade de Prepósito da Província Romana
consente, certamente sem os lêr, que tais dislates
se imprimam e corram, não faz desde já substituir
por uma sovela, a pena com que este mísero sa-
pateiro de roupeta está conspurcando, pelo modo
mais irreverente e anedótico, não só a língua por-
tuguesa que mal conhece, como os créditos lite*
rários do seu Instituto, que tinha obrigação de
conhecer !
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Ao bravo e inculto conde de Santa Maria
se atribui um rasgo de suprema sagacidade,
muito semelhante a este, agora praticado por
este Rodrigues.

Not as good as my Spanish but...

Spinitti is up in arms in his official capacity as provost about a publication full of lies and deceits which were published and distributed. Full of rumour and gossip.

(09-10-2016, 09:23 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Not as good as my Spanish but...

Spinitti is up in arms in his official capacity as provost about a publication full of lies and deceits which were published and distributed. Full of rumour and gossip.

Thanks David.

There is a book about Spinetti, but it is not available on-line as far as I can tell. "Un maestro di anime: p. Augusto Spinetti S.J." by Lorenzo Tognetti
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[attachment=746]

In 1887 Paul Strickland was in charge of gathering a collection of Catholic books produced in Britain to be presented to the Pope.
[attachment=747]

The obituary for Paul Strickland, November 11, 1916 from the Tablet. His is much longer than his brother Joseph's
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That's spooky. The Strickland brothers died close apart. May be they tried to read the VMs and accidentally called a demon Smile

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