The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-11-01

Specially Written for the Irish
| Standard.
To understand why the famous
European scholar, Abbot Gasquet is
coming to this country one must UNI
derstand something Of the great work
that is now being done at Rome with
a view to restoring St. Jerome's text
Of the Bible.
/ st. Jerome was born about the year
$40 and died in the year 420 The
great task with which his name will
be ever linked was the translation of
the Cd Testament from the Hebrew,
Tin which language the books Of the
Old Testament, with few exceptions,
were originally composed). and also
the revision Of the books of the New
Testament in the light of the best
and oldest Greek manuscripts. The
books of the New Testament, with
one possible exception, were written
in Greek. and at an early date, were
translated into Latin. When this
translation was made, where it was
made, by whom 1t was made, these
are questions of perennial interest to
scholars but yet far from a satisfac-
tory solution. One thing is certain;
that from variety OF causes the Latin
Bibles current in st. Jerome's time, ex
hibited a marked variety of readings
both in the Old and New Testaments.
AS St. Jerome said, there were as
many versions as there were manu-
scripts. To put an end to this con-
fusion, and to give to the world
Latin text which would be true to the
original, Pope Damascus called upon
the greatest scholar of the early
church, St. Jerome. The result Of the
Saints long labors was revision of
the Old Latin New Testament Of his
day and translation OF the Hebrew
Old Testament.
The Vulgate, as st. Jerome's version
came to be called long afterwards, dis
placed the old Latin version. but it
could not itself remain immune from
the corruptions which inevitably creep
into manuscripts which are multiplied
by the hands Of copyists. Even by
the middle Of the sixth century
the need Of revision was felt. and an
attempt was made by Cassiodorus to
retrieve st. Je-omes text Later on,
Charles the Great commissioned the
most eminent scholar of his time to
eliminate corruptions. and In succeed
ing centuries similar attempts were
made to maintain st. Jerome's version
in its purity. The Council of Trent
declared that the Vu1gate alone was
to be regarded as authentic in public
readings. discourses and disputes, and
approved it as free from error in doc
trine and morals. Under Sixtus the
Fifth. a committee Of cardinals and
cnIN nj 1x>Sr rst,sr - In
Vnlgate, the Pope, with his customary
energy. taking part in the work. ex-
aiming readings and supervising
proofs. This revision was completed
in 1892, but the Holy See. scAlpulously
accurate in all that concerns the d.
vine Library. recalled the edition and,
a few years later, issued another more
free from mistakes. This version,
called the Clement!ne. has since re-
manned the standard text Of the
church.
And yet, even as soon as this yer.
sion was pub7is''ed there was the con.
viction that while it is free from sub
stantial errors. It is not entirely free
from blemishes and inaccuracies
which mar the perfection of the text
With all the labor that has been be-
slowed upon 1t. much remains to be
done to bring it into conformity with
the text which came from the hand
G.: St. Jerome. In 1907 the Holy
Father charged the Denedictine Order
to make a critical study of all existing
MANUSCRIPTS OF the Vulgate. to sift
the readings. and to retrieve as far
as possible the text Of St. Jerome's
Bible. This is a task of gigantic pro-
portions. involving all the resources
of critical scholarships in the Catholic
world OF scripture. and entailing q
vast expenditure Of money. TO men,
tion only one source of expense--the
Commission of Scholars charged with
the work found it necessary to OBJ.
ain Photographic copies Of all the
ancient manuscripts used in the pro-
cess Of revision. More than three
hundred volumes OF such photographs
have already been compiled.
1t is to call upon the Catholics Of
America to help the Commission in
its laboys that Abbot Gasquet is COM
ing to our shores. He comes with
the special Messing and hv the all:
thority of the Supreme Pontiff. There
can be no doubt that when our Catho-
lie people understand the. glorious
work in which Abbot Casquet is en-
gagged they will do their part to-
wards carrying the enterprise to a
successful issue