Digital Books
Cod. 194 – DIOSCORIDES, De materia medica (Byzantine manuscript from the second half of the 14th century). (partial reproduction).
The current location of the Major Seminary of Padua housed a community of the Secular Canons of San Giorgio in Alga from 1459 to 1669, a congregation founded in the late 14th century by a group of Venetian nobles who played a fundamental role in the reform movement of religious life in the early decades of the 16th century. The Ancient Library of the Episcopal Seminary of Padua preserves three codices belonging to the Canons of San Giorgio in Alga (Cod. 76: Missal; Cod. 359: Ritual; Cod. 440: Statutes and Privileges). They were likely donated to the Library by the Bishop of Padua Nicolò Antonio Giustiniani in 1783.
Among the many historiographical works undertaken – and not always completed – by Abbot Giovanni Brunacci (1711-1772), the Diplomatic Code of Padua stands out: five volumes in which he transcribed an enormous amount of documents related to the history of Padua and the surrounding territory. The organization of the volumes is attributed to Abbot Antonio Comin, archivist and librarian of the Capitol Library of Padua in the early 19th century.