The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1917-10-20
The Church Treasures
The Sacred Serip tures

Forbade Unauthorized TransIations
Dangers Of Private Interpretation
Mo Church Council Ever Forbade
Reading of Scriptures by the Laity.
1t is a timely and fortunate idea
of the Catholic Laymen's Association
of Georgia to prepare and send forth
widely and gratuitously q neat PAM
phlet, in stiff cover, treating of the
subject, Catholics and the Bible"
There is no SANDER more hackneyed
than that contained in the ridiculous
old story fiat Luther discovered the
Bible" This pamphlet appears at a
time when the enemies of our holy
Church are improving the grand oppor-
tunity which the call to arms gives to
diffuse broadcast the poison of the
half truth which lies at the base of the
old story about Luther and his won
derful discovery. The story was made
to appear ridiculous and self-cOndem
natory when second one telling about
a chained Bible" came tripping on
it's heels. This one contained the
half truth"-for it was founded on
the fact that in the Middle Ages, ere
multiplication of the Word of God by
means of the printing press was
known, the vellum volumes were in
some churches secured by slender
chains attached to pillars for the con-
venience of learned functionaries who
assisted at the ritual service.
1t is flung out as a proof of the OBJ
scurantic policy of the Church, in the
Middle Ages, that the Council Of Tou-
louse in France, forbade the laity' to
read the Bible in the vernacular. In
that part of France the vernacular in
that age was a mixture called the
'langue dOc"-the tongue of the Fell
bres of Provence and the Greek-de-
seconded population about Marseilles
and the Mediterranean littoral of
Southern Gaul The reason why the
Council took the step Of prohibiting
the employment Of this melange in the
Sacred Scriptures is explained simply
enough by the compilers of the pam
phlet now being circulated by the
Catholic Truth Society. 1t was be-
cause, as the pamphlet writer puts the
case:
The Albgenses and Waldenses
were trying to revive the pagan pholis-
ophy called Manichaeism, and to give
some semblance of orthodoxy to their
unholy doctrines they deliberately mu-
tilated Scriptural texts rendered in the
vernacular The Church of England
once prescribed thirty days imprison-
ment for amy woman, farmer, jour-
neyman or apprentice who should
read the Scriptures to themselves or
others, privately or openly" The Jews
under thirty years of age were forbid
den to read certain books of Scripture.
Do these facts prove anything against
the Anglicans or the Jews? No. Meth
against the Church. Besides,
this decree was operative only in
France; across the line in Flanders
an approved vernacular version was
freely read. Moreover, it was meant
and it proved to be one of only tenn
porary effect in France; an approved
French version was soon provided, and
that it was widely read is shown by
the fact that it ran through forty edi-
tions before the close of the sixteenth
century"
But there is much more than can be
conveyed by a mere yes" or mo" I'M
DERIVING such wild ISLANDERS against
Gods true Church on earth. The pam
phlet, brief as it's contents are, pre-
sents the meat and the juice of the
whole question, as the rigid researches
and analyses of the Fathers and the
closed them. The writer goes on to
prove by the highest authority. the
Scriptures very words and mandates,
the manner in which the Church treas
ured the Sacred Scriptures, and by
their testimony proved the absolute
unity of the Church in it's doctrines
and ritual. The pamphlet, in conclud-
ing says:
But did not the Council of Trent
forbid the Bible to the laity? No, moth
ing like it. It merely directed that
explanatory notes accompany difficult
texts. Is there anything wrong in
that? Does not St. Peter say that no
prophecy of the Scripture is of private
interpretation; that there are many
things in Scripture which the unlearn-
ed and unStabled WreSt to their own
destruction? Did not our Lord clearly
distinguish the teaching body from the
laity when He said to the Apostles:
To you it is given to know and to I'M
derstand, but to the rest in parallels,
that seeing they may not see, and hear
ing they may not understand When
st. Philip saw the Queens eunuch
reading the Scriptures, he asked him
what he read, and the eunuch, SUI
perior scholar, as his Office implies,
answered: HOW can / unless some
one show me?' Philip then explained