The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1908-04-04
4 eIGANTIC Task
The Revision of the Vulgate to
Which
Abbot Gasquet is Now Devot-
ing His Life.


other-the revision of the Vulgate.
Nut into the hands of the Benedictine
Order in general. but more particular
ily. in those. of the most learned English
ece.lesiastic now living, Dom Francis
Aid,m Gasquet, ot-President Of the
English Benedictine Congregation.
On. April so, 1907. Cardinal Ram
[polla wrote letter to Dom Hide
brand de Hemptinne, Abttot-Primate
Of the Benedictines, entrfsting the
new. revision Of the vulgate to them.
and stsaightway appointing Abbot
Gasquet as the head Of the COMMITTEES.
The English abbot admirably fulfills
the requirements of 80 responsible a
position. To vast, profound culture he
adds the temperament Of a, great
worker and Il love for accuracy and
detail. He has chosen as immediate
collaborators Dom Laurence Jansens,
rector OF SAINT Anscllno, Rome. Dom
Ambrogio Amelli, prior of Montecas-
sno. and as secretary Dom Ioonatio
Gle Bruyne, Doctor OF Louvain JJniver-
sty but the collaboration of alay one,
tecclesiastc or layman, Catholic or
non Catholic. Christian, or non- Chris
stian. will be accepted. 1t being q ques-
ton above all Of learning. Abbot Cas-
quot is determined to dedicate 'the re-
nlindcr Of his life to his revision, and
lac has already set to work in his cell.
in the great Bcnedictine Monastery in
Rome ON the crown Of the Aventine.
To have an idea of how gigantic the
work is it will be sufficient to say
that the Abbot believes that the early
manuscripts to be entirely collated,
arranged, divided, etc, amount to per-
haps 10000. They may be more, as
there are countries like Spain in
which libraries and archives attached
uscrpts which are quite unknown to
scholars: it is, therefore, necessary to
send Bcnedlctines to each Of nlese
countries TO carry the manuscripts to
Rome If possible, and. If not, to pho
tograph them. or when even this is
not allowed, to copy them. All will
be centered in the Eternal City, the
great hall Of the Monastery of SAINT
Anselmo having been prepared to re-
ceivc the accumulation Of documenel
from all over the world
corroo4ovdo~t ,.l,o ,,;1l<>a IT,,
In his retreat Abbot Gasquet said that
'sthe Vulgate revision is work that
is very near and dear to the heart
OF Plus X, who, indeed had impressed
upon him that neither time, labor nor
money was to be spared to render 1t
AS scientifically correct AS possible
"It is almost an appalling task to set
an old man Of siXty-two said the Abb
bot smiling, though his robust ply
y sique and keen, alert eyes arc moro
like those of man ten or twelve
sec it accomplished in my lifetime.
I expect to do little more than organ
ize it all, and ! hope to arrange to
break up the work into divisions, so
that perhaps in the course of the next
three years the revision of the Psalms
or the Uentatcuch might be brought
to completion.
What I should like people to real
lie is the immensely Of tho task that
VIC have undertaken. No results will
be obtained in hurry. What we have
to do is to gather together and COL
lect all the known and unknown cop
les OF st. Jerome's great translation
! of the Sacred Writings up TO those Of
the eleventh century. They divide
Il themselves into great families, eac 4
with it's special variations, peculari-
es- ties an mistakes, that resemble each
other. The great 'Gallicana' version is
that which now universally adopted in
the Catholic Church, with the one ex-
ception Of st. Peters in Rome, where
" the canons use the Romano version !
All hope eventually to make a complete
s8 list Of all the known versions, but for
W our own purpose about fifty Of the
AZ best and most correct copies will be
used for guidance and comparison
Some Of the finest copies are Of Sax
on origin, as, for example, the Alcuin
copy, which is to be found In the VAL
licelliana Library in Rome, and the
IA Codex Anaiatinus. now in the Lauren
sSS tian Library, in Florence, which has a
81 most interesting history. 1t was one
%Hsof three copies made in the great
monastery of Jarrow, from which St
Bede came, and the Abbot Coelfred
left the monastery with one of the
II copies, which was to be presented to
the Pope. The Abbot died on the
S Journey, and the great codex was en-