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Institutional and Private LibrariesOld Cathedral Library%u2014%u2014Vincennes, IndianaErected 1840, and served as a library until 1969 when a new facility was constructed. Now a parish hall.Adjacent to Vincennes%u2019 St. Francis Xavier Cathedral (The Old Cathedral) is a small building with two rounded-top windows and a single door gracing a brick facade. Known as the Old Cathedral Library, its original collection was amassed in 1794 by an early local priest, Father Benedict Joseph Flaget, to become Indiana%u2019s first library. The building itself was erected in 1840, when Flaget%u2019s volumes were combined with 5,000 other books and documents that were once owned by Bishop Simon Brut%u00e9.Reverend Brut%u00e9 had been a scholar%u2014graduating first in his class from the Paris School of Medicine in 1803. He was soon offered a position in Napoleon%u2019s First Dispensary%u2014but he declined in favor of becoming a priest. Ordained in 1808, he was next offered the role of serving in the Emperor%u2019s Chapel. Again, he refused, choosing this time to teach in a Rennes seminary. Two years later, Reverend Brut%u00e9 left for America, eventually becoming Vincennes%u2019 first bishop in 1834.Today, the collection contains a trove of literary gems and historic artifacts. Its holdings include rare books (some dating to the 1300s), early Bibles (in Latin, Spanish, Hebrew, and Gaelic), important manuscripts from the early local church, along with paintings and vestments. It also boast of a late 18th-century sea chest, a peace pipe owned by William Henry Harrison, maps from the 1740s, and an 1860 Abraham Lincoln campaign banner. The library%u2019s oldest book is a hand-printed illuminated copy of The Book of Psalms%u2014a German Benedictine%u2019s work from the 11th or 12th century. Its oldest book that was printed with movable type is Michael de Carcano%u2019s 1476 Sermonarium Triplicatrum, which was published in Venice. An official 1319 letter from Pope John XXII, is the library%u2019s oldest document.A new climate-controlled building to house the library, and also a museum, was built just behind the Cathedral with funds from the Eli Lilly Endowment. Dedicated in 1969, it contains 10,000-12,000 volumes. The Old Cathedral was elevated to Minor Basilica status by Pope Paul VI in 1979, and the original library building is now a parish hall.