Are all the books still there?

The diocese of Munich and Freising claims that in addition to six antiphoners studied by Viveca Servatius in 1990 no significantly “larger inventory” of manuscripts exists. The one exception is an “unresearched” paper manuscript supposedly containing the Rule of Saint Birgitta, which probably refers to an illuminated miscellany from the monastery of Maihingen. The census taken by Birgittine manuscript specialists Eva Lindqvist Sandgren, Karin Strinnholm Lagergren, and Michelle Urberg, which is backed by photographic documentation, records a much larger collection of late-medieval and early-modern manuscripts. For example, the diocese never addresses the existence or whereabouts of what may be the most valuable piece of the collection, the final volume of an illuminated five-volume edition of the Revelations of Saint Birgitta, produced at the end of the 15th century for the Birgittine fathers of the monastery of Dendermonde in Flanders. Our findings underscore that in most categories of liturgical books the library at Altomünster houses the largest collection of Birgittine manuscripts worldwide. The discrepancies between our census and the figures that the diocese released need to be reconciled as quickly as possible. If indeed the books are no longer there, alerts must be sent to libraries and rare book dealers worldwide.