Benedictine Vulgate
_-_Vol._1_(Genesis),_title_(2).jpg) Title page of the first volume of the Benedictine Vulgate, 1926 | |
| Language | Latin |
|---|---|
| Published | 1926-1995 |
The Benedictine Vulgate (full title: Biblia Sacra iuxta latinam vulgatam versionem ad codicum fidem, tr. Holy Bible following the Latin vulgate version faithfully to the manuscripts) is a critical edition of the Vulgate version of the Old Testament, Catholic deuterocanonicals included, supported by and which begun at the instigation of the Catholic Church; it was mainly done by the Benedictine monks of the pontifical Abbey of St Jerome-in-the-City, and was published progressively from 1926 to 1995 in 18 volumes.
History
In 1907, Pope Pius X commissioned the Benedictine Order to produce as pure a version as possible of Jerome's original text after conducting an extensive search for as-yet-unstudied manuscripts, particularly in Spain.[1] This text was originally planned as the basis of a revised complete official Bible for the Catholic church to replace the Clementine edition.[2]
The first volume, the Pentateuch, completed in 1926, lists as primary editor Henri Quentin, whose editorial methods, described in his book Mémoire sur l'établissement du texte de la Vulgate,[3] proved to be somewhat controversial.[4][5] Quentin maintained that, by the 10th century, three distinct textual traditions had become established for the Vulgate Pentateuch; the Alcuinan, the Spanish, and the Theodulfian; and that early precursors could be identified respectively for each tradition in the Codex Amiatinus, the Codex Turonensis (the Ashburnham Pentateuch), and the Ottobonianus Octateuch. He took these three manuscript witnesses as primary sources, and claimed to have decided the text by the règle de fer of always adopting the reading supported two-to-one in his three primary sources. The resulting text was highly regarded, but neither Quentin's method nor his underlying theory, carried scholarly conviction; all of his three primary sources being more generally considered to witness an early Italian text.
After Henri Quentin's death in 1935, the Benedictine Vulgate's editors, for the Old Testament books from I Samuel onwards, modified their underlying textual theory and methods towards those of the Oxford editors; explicitly looking to establish for each book the best two or three primary sources from the Italian Vulgate tradition, and then deciding readings between them using secondary sources. For much of rest of the Old Testament the chosen primary sources were the Codex Amiatinus and Codex Cavensis; although for the Book of Baruch, their only source was from the bibles of Theodulf of Orleans. As neither Amiatinus nor Cavensis presented the Gallican psalter, the selected primary sources for the Book of Psalms were three of a series of 8th-10th-century psalters which presented both Jerome's Gallican and Hebraic translations in parallel columns.
Following the Codex Amiatinus and the Vulgate texts of Alcuin and Theodulf the Roman Vulgate reunited the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah into a single book; reversing the decisions of the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate.
In 1933, Pope Pius XI established the Pontifical Abbey of St Jerome-in-the-City to complete the work.[6]
By the 1970s, as a result of liturgical changes that had spurred the Vatican to produce a new translation of the Latin Bible, the Nova Vulgata, the Benedictine edition was no longer required for official purposes,[7] and the abbey was suppressed in 1984.[8] Five monks were nonetheless allowed to complete the final two volumes of the Old Testament, which were published under the abbey's name in 1987 and 1995.[9] The Oxford editors having already published a full critical text of the Vulgate New Testament, no attempt was made to duplicate their work.
See also
References
- ^ Metzger, Bruce M. (1977). "VII The Latin Versions". The Early Versions of the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 351.
- ^ Gasquet, F.A. (1912). "Vulgate, Revision of". The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Quentin, Henri (1922). Mémoire sur l'établissement du texte de la Vulgate. Rome: Desclée.
- ^ Burkitt, F.C. (1923). "The text of the Vulgate". The Journal of Theological Studies. o.s. 24 (96): 406–414. doi:10.1093/jts/os-XXIV.96.406. ISSN 0022-5185.
- ^ *Kraft, Robert A. (1965). "Review of Biblia Sacra iuxta Latinam vulgatam versionem ad codicum fidem iussu Pauli Pp. VI. cura et studio monachorum abbatiae pontificiae Sancti Hieronymi in Urbe ordinis Sancti Benedicti edita. 12: Sapientia Salomonis. Liber Hiesu Filii Sirach". Gnomon. 37 (8): 777–781. ISSN 0017-1417. JSTOR 27683795.
- ^ "Motu proprio: Abbatiae sancti Hieronymi de urbe" (PDF). Acta apostolicae sedis: Commentarium officiale. Vol. 26. Rome: Typis polyglottis vaticanis. 1934. p. 290.
- ^ "Scripturarum Thesarurus, Apostolic Constitution, 25 April 1979, John Paul II". Vatican: The Holy See. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ Pope John Paul II. "Epistula Vincentio Truijen OSB Abbati Claravallensi, 'De Pontificia Commissione Vulgatae editioni recognoscendae atque emendandae'". Vatican: The Holy See. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "Bibliorum Sacrorum Vetus Vulgata". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
Editions
- Biblia Sacra iuxta latinam vulgatam versionem ad codicum fidem. Pontifical Abbey of St Jerome-in-the-City (ed.). Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 1926–95. ISBN 8820921286.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) 18 vols.
Further reading
- Jeannotte, Henri (1914). La révision de la Vulgate et la Commission bénédictine. Montréal: Arbour & Dupont. Retrieved 2020-08-24 – via Canadiana Online.
- "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Revision of Vulgate". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- Quentin, Henri (1922). Mémoire sur l'établissement du texte de la Vulgate (in French). Rome: Desclée. Retrieved 2011-01-23.