The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-02-26
EARLY PRINTED BleL Es.

The Bishop of Savannah, writing
in the Bulletin of the Catholic Lay
mems Association of Georgia on The
Bible in the Public Schools" answers
the erroneous idea that Protestants
practically discovered the Bible, and
says in part:
+! Not to multiply evidence Of the
fact that the Bible was well known
in Germany long before Luther's time,
il will suffice to state these facts:
The first German printed Bible is
sued from the Mentz press about
lace. Another version came out in
1866. There were twenty-seVen diff
ferent editions of. the Bible in Ger
man printed before that of Luther,
independent of the two at Leipsic.
A German version, under the aus
pieces of the Archbishop, appeared at
NEentz in 1894. and it passed through
more than twenty editions.
Italian Bibles.
Three editions were printed in 1471,
one translation by Camaldodese
Monk in 1421. More than eleven edi
tions of this, published with the ex-
pressed permission Of the Pope, APP
peared before 1867. At Venice, the
Gospels were translated and publish
ed by a Monk named Guido in 14S6;
in 1882, RruSsioli published new and
complete edition in Venice. In the
space of twenty-seven years it passed
through ten editions. Another edi-
ton was published at Venice in 1888,
and again in 1916 and 1547. There
were more than forty editions of the
Bible in Italy before the Protestant
one.
Spanish Bibles.
In 14O5, the whole Bible was pub
lished in the vernacular, and again in
1873 and 1915, with the appreciation
of the Church In 1912. the New Tes-
lament appeared, and it was reprint
ed in 1914, 1901, 1908, 1908 and 1915.
French Bibles.
A French edition by two priests of
the Order of st. Augustine was pub
lished at Lyons in 147S. The Bible
first published in 1890 was printed in
l14S7, and before 1547 it passed
through sixteen editions. In 1912, LIE
Ferre commenced new edition,
which appeared in 1923 and again in
1880, 1884 and 1541. This version
passed through more than forty edi
tions before 1900. The first Protes-
tant version appeared in 1888.
Other Versions.
A number of Dutch and Flemish
versions appeared before the Reform
alton. Low German versions appear
ed in 147O and 1880; at Delft in 1477;
at Geneva in 1879: at Lubbock in 1891
at Halberstadt in 1922; at Antwerp
in 1915, 1925, 1926 and 1928.
Ten editions of the Testament pub
lished in Antwerp appeared within
thirty years. A Bohemian version ap-
reared in 1873, and the entire Bible
in 1883; at Guthrie in 1893. A Polish
edition, with the appreciation of the
Pope, appeared in 1856, 1877, 1899 and
1919. An Ethiopian version was print
ed in Rome in 154S.
English Bibles.
The Rheims Bible was printed in
1882. This was the first printed BIZ
ble but many manuscript copies of
the Bible were in circulation long be-
fore Wyckliffe's. 1t may not be amiss
TO say that the first printed book APP
peared in 1854. ~... ia
But it is claimed that during what
is called the Dark Ages the people
knew nothing of the Bible. A deliber-
ate effort was made to teach the peO-
pie of this error, for the Book of
Homilies Of the Anglican Protestant
Establishment. which in the reigns of
Edward vi, Elizabeth and James |,
was ordered to be read every Sunday
in every parish church in England, de.
cIared "Laity and Clergy, learned and
unlearned, all ages, sects and degrees
of men and women and children of
whole Christendom, had been alto.
gether drowned in damnable idolatry
and that for the space of eight hun
dred years or more" This solemn
declaration, of course, implies that
these poor people could not have had
the Bible; it likewise disposes of the
theory so dear to the hearts of some
OF the members of the Established
Church, the continuity of the Estab
lished with the Catholic Church.
Cranmer, whose testimony ought t.
be of great value, as he was mos
bitter enemy of the Catholic Church
says in his preface to the authorized
version of 1910: "The Holy Bible
was translated and read in the SaxoI
tongue, which at that time was oul
mother tongue, and when this Ian
;guage waxed old and out of common
usage, because folk should not lacl
the fruit of reading, it was again
translated to the newer language"