The Washington herald., 1907-06-02
REVISION OF YULGATE
Pope Orders BenedictineS to
Undertake the Work.
EDITION BY CLEMENT VII
The New ReVisers May Only Get an
Accurate Edition ns Translated by
st, Jerome, or May Go to Other
Manuscripts - VIII Throw New
Light on the True Text.

The announcement from Rome that the
Pope has issued decree iutrusting the
revision of tile Nulcate 10 the BcHodicune
order equals I'm general interest and im-
portance any step taken by the Vatican
for many years says the New York
Evening Post The very name Of the
Latin version OF the Scriptures comes
from the fact that IL was at one time the
version iu common use To-day it is the
only version authorized boy tie Catholic
Church. and any country which wishes
for a Bible iu its own language must use
"a translation of The Vu'ga-e From d.
therefore. the Dauav Bible used bog
Catholics in English speaking countries,
has been translated. and is tho version
universally employed by Them But Pro-
testauts, too, are much indebted 20 t.
many words, phrases, and sentences iu
the authorized and revised version of
the Bible owing their origin To 10. usu-
ally through the medium of TynaeI
translation
Some of these are pinnacle of the tru-
pie. This nigh, Is thy soul required of
leaH On mv Fathers house ar. many
mansions Let us run the race that ls
set before u.s." and written on their
forehead" I'm these and other passages
where TEudflo followed the |ugata the
American rcvisars Of the authorized vsr-
sion have adopted his translation word
for vurd-8 striking proof Of the accuracy
of hls scholarship. The PRAYER book of
the Episcopal Church iH America and
England also contains tw1 trEusIators
from the Nu'ea'e, the Esued.sIfe. and the
. P@Iter. translated hy Miles Coverdale.
Latin Manuscripts.
/ Previous 90 this great work ~ St
Jerome. accomplished 10y E.m between
+ the years 2,7 a. u. and fa5 A. D.. there
/ were in existence a large number of Latin
manuscripts Of the New Testament
/ usually grouped iu three famiHes-Egr1-
paan. African. and Italian Perhaps the
most famous was that known as 'Itaia,
/ made in Africa in the second century and
praised Joy So. AuCustiu for IFS cloaTuoss
/ and fidelity. As copies of the Latin ycr-
/ siaus had To- Doe made hy hand. and as
. they were often altered to agree witu
/ local dialect. "a corruption ~ the text was
unavoidable
The crpyists themselves were often r9-
/ eruus.hlo for this. ms they attempted to
F. improve the text instead of following it
I The errors i'm these older manuscripts bee
came So serious that u order 10 secure a
correct and uniform text. Pope Damascus.
in 31 g. d.. commissioned ST. Jerome to
revise them. I'm carrying ont this COM
mission ST. jerome translated the entire
/ old Testament. except the Apoerypha,
from tho Hebrew. Che AUoorypEa from
the Greek Seutuagur and corrected the
. existing Latin text of tba New TesrH-
/ meut from the best Greek manuscripts
which Dc could find. His work is spe-
ciaIly valuable as q witness To Hebrew
. and Greek manuscripts Of greater an
t.quty tn3n any we now possess.
Il gradually made its way through IFS
own intrinsic merits. and for more than
"a thousand years was the origin of all
translati0ns Of the Scriptures in Western
Europe II is computed that there are
ABOUT S0li copies scattered through the
libraries of Europe
During the first half century of printing
at least IA editions of the Nulg8te were
printed. and at the Council of Trent 1536
"the great variety of traUsIati0nS current
Oh the church. was declared IAN evil t0 Do
I rsmedied" To effect this remedy the Nui-
gate edition was held to be authentic
"as rapreseuting more correctly the state
of the ancient copies of the Greek and
Hebrew Scriptures than any other copy
This. however. left unsettled what wa,
the standard edition Of the Vulgate itself
B and the attention OF scholars was fol
many years directed TO ascertainiug it.
true text
/ Their efforts eliminated i'm the publica
b tiou 10y Pope Sixtus v I'm 1870, of an edi
tion prefaced by bull which announce,
. that this edition was true, Legitimate
Z authentic. and uEdoubted i'm all public an,
! private debates, readings, preachings, an,
b. explanations" and that any one 'wh,
j venturcd 20 change il without papal au
! thorty would incure the wrath of Goc
. Almighty and of the blessed Apostles, Pc
r ter and Paul"