Oratio Dominica in CLV liguas versa

Parma, typis Bodonianis, 1806

In less than a year Bodoni printed this enormous work, the Our Father in 155 languages using as many as 215 different characters including Latin, Greek and "exotic" (as he himself defined them, i.e. non-Western alphabets).

The enterprise was born from the solicitation of Pope Pius VII who stopped in Parma on May 1, 1805, on his return from Paris (he had gone there to crown Napoleon), receiving Bodoni in audience. During the interview he spoke to him about the gift he had received of an Oratio Dominica, the Our Father, published in France in 150 languages by the director of the Imprimerie Nationale, urging him to produce a similar edition, richer in languages and characters. Bodoni dedicated the edition to the Viceroy of Italy Eugene de Beauharnais.