The Irish standard., 1913-10-04
AN INTERVIEW WITH
ABBOT GASQUET
(Continued from page 1l

N0OAtAAoCu AAOm page L.
three hundred volumes that have been
collated.
mo one of us is to be trusted. We
decided that before the work actually
began. So our rule is that no cola.
ton of any manuscript shall be &C.
| cepted as final until second worker
has gone over it with the greatest
care.
Nearly year was spent in print
ing our working editions Of the Glenn
entine text. One hundred copies were
printed on the best handmade paper,
to be used in collating the most i'm
rportant manuscripts; two hundred Non
ordinary book paper, and one hundred
on thin paper for convenience in car
rying to the libraries"
Have many important alterations
been made in the text generally &C.
cepted?" asked the reporter.
mo-" was the answer. "Not sin.
gle page in the first four books will
need any important textual change.
OF course, there may be diversions
and various other minor alterations"
"Has the revision of the Vulgate
ever been attempted before?" he was
asked.
"Yes," he answered. Ever since
Clement VIII. issued this edition the
need of revision has been recogniz.
ed. 1t was an item in the program of
the Biblical Commission established
by Pope Leo XIII, Father Vercellone
and several other private individuals
have collected manuscript variants
and prepared the way for us. But
there was no systematic work on an
established basis until Pope Plus x.
established the present commission.
Some years ago number of dis
tinguished scholars from Berlin, Got
tingen and other German universities
planned to bring out revised version
of the Great Septuagint. They de-
cided that they would have no better
guide than St. Jerome's Latin vers-
ion. He, of course, had access to
many Greek versions which we lack.
DR.. Bolts, professor of divinity at Got
tingen, came to see me about it, and
decided, in view of the inception of
the work of our commission, to await
our discoveries.
1.-THE Vulgate is important, you
know, in many respects that are not
theological. The modern tongues of
many lands are built on the Latin of
the Vulgate. ".
MANY ancient charters and other
public documents have not only texts
from the Vulgate, but words and
phrases which the Vulgate brought in
to the language. All the scribes, Of
course, were Latinists, and they intro
duced phrases from the Vulgate into
the written and spoken speech Of
their time. Even so recent writer
as Francis Thompson probably was
more or less Influenced in his style
by his reading Of the Vulgate. His
Latinisms seem to show this. So it is
important that we have the Latin 3i-
BILE in as correct form as is possible.
Several members Of the commits
sion are working in the libraries of
Spain. They have brought back thir-
teen Spanish Bibles and many pages
and fragments never before collated.
These are now being bound in Paris.
II mentioned while ago the aid
that we have received from Ameri-
cans. The late j. Pierpont Morgan
was interested in the work of the
commission. When he purchased the
so-called Golden Gospels wrote to
him and asked him to permit Mr..
Hoskaier to make collation.. He
courteously granted my request and
published an edition de luxe of two
hundred copies He also allowed us
to use some leaves of Nuncial b.
BILE, but these proved to be part of
the Nuremberg text.
1.-THE commission has published a
pre.Vulgate text of the Bible and a
translation of the Psalms from the
Monte Casino. We issue also works
connected with the history of the
Bible.
1--WE have used already between
five and six thousand meters Of pho,
tographic paper"
what use do you make of photog-
raphy?" asked the reporter.
Camera Gives Much Help.
1--WE photograph much of the manu-
SCRIPT" said Abbot Gasquet. when
various collations are compared in
evitable doubts of the correct reading
will sometimes arise. When the IL
brary is at great distance it is diff
cult and expensive to visit 1t In order