The Lateran Council under Pope Innocent III decreed the establishment of the chair of sacred Letters, described by Lapide as renewing and confirming an ancient custom rather than instituting something new
St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, spent his days and nights in sacred Letters with great reverence, always kissing the Holy Bible before opening it; while on an embassy reading the Bible at night, a candle fell onto the book, but he found the codex completely intact and unharmed