The Columbus journal. (Columbus, Neb.) 1874-1911, 1908-06-24
A RARE OLD BIBLE
ONE COPY PRINTED At MAYENcE
IN THE YEAR 1850.
Now One Of the Greatest eiblioQraph.
tc curiosities-vuIeate Prepared
In England in the Neighbor-
hood Of the Year Go.

The first attempt at printing, at
Mayence, in 1850 was q copy of the
Vulgate, wood characters being used.
which contained only the principal
parts of the Old and New Testaments.
This is the so-called "Biblia Pauper-
um," one of the rarest photographic
curiOsities. copy of which was bought
by the duke of Devonshire in 1915,
who paid only 42O1 for it.
England occupies prominent place
in the history of the Vulgate and in its
preservation, as, the purest text being
in Milan. Naples and in the southern
provinces. Archbishop Theodore and
his companion. Hadrian, abbot of q
monastery near Naples. went to Eng
land in 668. taking with them some
of these Bibles. Besides. just at that
time Benedict BiscOp and CeOlfrid,
travelling between Rome and England,
brought in other pure Vulgate texts.
which were copied and reproduced in
the monasteries of Wearm0uth and
Jarrow. not only for local use, but to
be spread by missionaries in foreign
countries. especially Germany. France
and Switzerland, and, strange a. it
may seem, even back to Italy. But
what is stranger still IL that these
copies, known under the name Of
Northumbrian texts, had been tran
scribed with such exactness that when
they returned to Italy they were found
to be pr-er than the Italian copies.
which meanwhile had degenerated.
One of the attempts to revive the Vul-
gate was made by Charles the Great.
who intrusted the work to an Eng
lishman. Alcuin. who finished it in
sol.
In the century after the invention Of
printing the circulation of faulty b.
bles assumed such proportions that the
necessity was felt Of establishing an
Official edition. A handsome volume.
in 1890. took the name Of the Sixtine
Bible, from Sixtus w.. and had as
preface the famous Bull, "Aeternus
ille," establishing that this Bible be
considered as true. lawful, authentic
and unQuestioned." Sixtus V. died al
most Immediately after. and only two
years later Clement VIII. ordered that
every copy of the Sixtine Bible be de-
stroyed, and published another called
the "Clementine." 1t seems that Sixtus
v. had himself revised the work of the
commission. hurting the feelings of the
members and offending the Jesuits.
who never rested until they obtained
the suppression of the Sixtine Bible.
now one of the rarest books In the
world.
Leo XIII. created the commission
de Re Biblica," presided over by
Cardinal Rampolla. for the study OF
the Scriptures. but 1t remained an
academic body. while Plus x. desired
to transform it into IN institution for
practical work. So, On April 80. 1907.
Cardinal RampOlla wrote q letter to
Dom Hildebrand de Hemptinne. alb
bot primate of the Benedictines, who
used to live in England, intrusting the
new revision of the Vulgate to them,
and straightway appointing Abbot Cas-
quet as head of the committee. The
English abbot admirably fulfills the
requirements of SO responsible a po-
sition. To vast. profound culture he
adds the temperament of great
worker and . love for accuracy and
detail-Pall Mall Magazine.