revised the text of the Vulgate in conformity with the original texts. Hittorp endeavored, in his edition of Cologne in 1530, to restore the text of Jerome to its original purity.

Robert Etienne collected at Paris a considerable number of codices and spent upwards of twenty years, from 1528 to 1528 and beyond, in emending the text of the Vulgate. His labors were profitable to the study of the text, but he unwisely inserted certain of Calvin's annotations in some of his editions, and drew upon his work the censure of the University of Paris. The best of Etienne's editions is that of 1540, and the faculty were unwise in extending their censure to this excellent text, wherein was naught of calvinism or other error.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE AUTHORIZATION OF THE VULGATE BY THE COUNCIL OF TRENT.

On the 17th of March, 1546, in the general session, the Fathers who had been charged to investigate the status of the Latin text of Scripture reported four abuses. Only the first two are relevant to our present theme.

The first abuse was the existence of many Latin versions of the Scriptures, which were used as authentic in public readings, disputations, and discourses. The remedy suggested was to have the old Vulgate as the sole authentic edition which all should use as authentic in all public reading, and in the exposition and preaching of Holy Scripture; and that no one should reject it or impugn its truth; and not thereby to detract aught from the genuine and true version of the Seventy In terpreters, which the Apostles sometimes used, nor to reject other editions which help to find the source of the authentic Vulgate.

The second abuse was the corruption of the codices of the Vulgate.

The remedy was to expurgate and amend the codices and restore to the Christian world the genuine text of the Vulgate free from error. And the Fathers petitioned the Pope to cause this great work to be done and also to bring it about that the Church of God might also have a correct Greek and Hebrew text.*

*" Primus abusus est: habere varias editiones S. Scripturae, et illis velle uti pro authenticis in publicis lectionibus et praedicationibus. Remedium est: habere unam tantam editionem, veterem scilicet et Vulgatam, qua omnes utantur pro authentica in publicis lectionibus, expositionibus et praedica

Several particular assemblies and three general sessions discussed this proposition, and finally, the Council promulgated its famous decree.

"The same thrice holy Synod, believing that much benefit may accrue to the Church of God, if from among all the Latin versions of the Holy Scriptures which are in circulation, an authentic one be recognized, decrees and declares that the old edition of the Vulgate, which has been approved by the Church by the usage of so many centuries, shall be held authentic in all public readings, disputations, and in the public exposition and preaching of Scripture, and that no man may reject it upon whatever pretext And having in mind to establish also a rule for printers * * * The Council decrees and establishes that, hereafter, the Holy Scripture, especially this old Vulgate, shall be most carefully printed."

* * *

The decree of the Council of Trent set in motion a turbulent movement especially in Spain. The power was in the hands of those who defended the absolute infallibility and absolute sanction of the Vulgate. These by violence and the power of the law prevented any expression of honest thought which came short of adoration of the Vulgate. Men were

cast into prison for attempting to explain the legitimate sense of the great Council's decree. Others, through fear of the Inquisition, either adopted the views of the party in power or

tionibus, et quod nemo illam reiicere audeat aut illi contradicere; non detrahendo tamen auctoritati purae et verae interpretationis Septuaginta interpretum, qua nonnunquam usi sunt Apostoli, neque reiiciendo alias editiones, quatenus authenticae illius Vulgatae intelligentiam iuvant.-Secundus abusus est corruptio codicum qui circumferuntur Vulgatae huius editionis. Remedium est, ut expurgatis et emendatis codicibus restituatur christiano orbi pura et sincera Vulgata editio a mendis librorum, qui circumferuntur. Id autem munus erit Smi. D. N., quem S. Synodus humiliter exorabit, ut pro ovibus Christi Suae Beatitudini creditis hoc onus ingentis fructus et gloriae sui ipsius animi magnitudine dignum suscipiat; curando etiam, ut unum codicem Graecum unumque Hebraeum, quoad fieri potest, correctum habeat Ecclesia sancta Dei."

*"Eadem sacrosancta Synodus considerans non parum utilitatis accedere posse Ecclesiae Dei, si ex omnibus latinis editionibus, quae circumferuntur, sacrorum librorum, quaenam pro authentica habenda sit innotescat, statuit et declarat, ut haec ipsa vetus et Vulgata editio, quae longo tot saeculorum usu in ipsa Ecclesia probata est, in publicis lectionibus, disputationibus, praedicationibus et expositionibus, pro authentica habeatur et ut nemo illam reiicere quovis praetextu audeat vel praesumat..... Sed et impressoribus modum in hac parte, ut par est, imponere volens....., decernit et statuit, ut posthac S. Scriptura, potissimum vero haec ipsa vetus et Vulgata editio quam emendatissime imprimatur."

kept a prudent silence. "I know," says Bannez, "what I would respond by word of mouth, if asked by the Church; meanwhile, I maintain a prudent and religious silence." (In I. S. Thom.)

The position of these extremists was that the Council had defined the absolute infallibility of the Vulgate, even in the least details; that no error of whatever nature was to be found in the Latin Vulgate; that since the Greek Schism, the Latin Church had remained the sole depository of the truth, and hence her Scriptures alone were authentic, and absolutely authentic. Of this movement Richard Simon truly wrote: "There were but very few persons who accurately comprehended the sense of the decree of Trent which pronounced the Vulgate authentic The greater number of those who agitated this question scarcely understood anything of it, and they were moved more by prejudice and passion, than by sense and judgment. "Periit judicium postquam res transiit in affectum." (Hist. Crit. du V. T. II. 14.)

* * *

We find an accurate and dispassionate description of these causes and effects in the Disputation on the Vulgate of John Mariana.* What he has written of Spain, could be affirmed in less degree of other countries in that period.

"Opus molestum suscipimus, multâque difficultate impeditum, periculosam aleam, ac quâ nescio an ulla disputatio his superioribus annis inter theologos, in Hispaniâ præsertim, majori animorum ardore et motu agitata sit, odioque partium magis implacabili, usque eò, ut à probris et contumeliis, quibus se mutuò fœdabant, ad tribunalia ventum sit; atque quae pars sibi magis confidebat, adversarios de Religione postulatos gravissimè exercuit, quasi impios, superbos, arrogantes, qui divinorum librorum auctoritatem, atque ejus interpretationis

*John Mariana, S. J. was born in the diocese of Toledo in Spain, in 1537. He was endowed with great mental power and uprightness of character. He studied in the Complutensian Academy, and in 1554 entered the Society of the Jesuits. In 1561, he came to Rome and taught Scripture for four years. In 1569, he went to Paris and expounded the Summa of St. Thomas, in the great Academy for five years. His character was honest and severe, and his insight into truth profound. Through failing health he was forced to remit some of this study, and in 1574 he returned to Spain, and in a studious retirement at Toledo, he lived to an extreme old age, dying in 1624. Mariana was a man of unblemished life, and intolerant of evil. He was no timeserver, and attacked evil wherever he found it. Having attacked some abuses of the State, in a treatise De Monetae Mutatione, he was judged guilty of laesae majestatis, and in his 72nd year was imprisoned in a Franciscan Monastery. His writings consist of numerous short treatises on various subjects, several being on the Scriptures.

fidem, quâ Ecclesia utitur passim, et quæ vulgata editio nuncupatur, audacter elevarent, novis interpretationibus prolatis invectisque contrà divinas leges et humanes, concilii Tridentini decreta non ità pridem promulgata. Tenuit ea causa multorum animos suspensos expectatione, quem tandem exitum habitura esset, cùm viri eruditionis opinione præstantes, è vinculis cogerentur causam dicere, haud levi salutis existimationisque discrimine: miseranda virtutis conditio, quandò pro laboribus, quos susceperat maximos, compellebantur eorum à quibus defendi par fuisset, odia, accusationes, contumelias tolerare, quo exemplo multorum præclaros impetus retardari, viresque debilitari atque concidere necesse erat. Omninò fregit ea res multorum animos alieno periculo considerantium, quantùm procellæ immineret liberè affirmantibus quæ sentirent. Itaque aut in aliorum castra transibant frequentes, aut tempori cedendum judicabant. Et quid facerent, cùm frustrà niti neque fatigando (ut ille ait) aliud quàm odium quærere, extremæ dementiæ sit? Plerique inhærentes persuasioni vulgari, libenter in opinione perstabant, iis placitis faventes, in quibus minùs periculi esset haud magnâ veritatis curâ. Quidam enim editionem vulgatam sugillant, quasi multis vitiis fœdam, ad fontes identidem provocantes, undè ad nos ii rivi manârunt, ac contendentes, Græcorum Hebraicorumque codicum collatione castigandam videri, quoties ab illis discrepârit, linguarum peritiâ tumidi, ecclesiasticam simplicitatem ludibrio habentes; quorum profectò audacia ac temeritas pronuntiandi meritò frænanda est. E contrario, alii majori numero adversariorum odio nefas putant vulgatam editionem attrectare, atque in impiorum numero habent, si quis vel levem vocem castigare tentet, si locum aliquem aliter explicare contendat, quàm vulgata interpretatio præ se ferat (quos imitari profectò non debemus) pusillo homines animo, oppleti tenebris, angustèque sentientes de Religionis nostræ majestate, qui dùm opinionum castella pro fidei placitis defendunt, ipsam mihi arcem prodere videntur, fraternam charitatem turpissimè violantes. Ergò extremâ et deviâ vitatâ, quæ in præcipitia desinit, mediam viam tenere constituimus, quâ ferè in omni disputatione vitatis erroribus ad veritatem pervenitur."

The protestants, taking the statements of the Spanish theologians for the position of the Church, loudly proclaimed that the Council had bound Scriptural science with chains of iron, and condemned it to a sterile immobility.*

*Cfr. ex. gr. Keil Einl. p. 579: "Mit diesem Decret war zwar der Grundtext nicht ausdrücklich verworfen, aber doch für ganz überflüssig er

The labors of Catholic theologians in establishing the real sense of this decree, have removed the cause for this calumny, and it is only the envelopment of a dense veil of ignorance, that in our days permits a repetition of this old falsehood.

The Church was not responsible for the course of thought in Spain. The best institutions of God and man have been, and will be abused. The Council spoke the truth, and men, in an inconsiderate zeal, misunderstood its words. Some misunderstand them yet, but the current of thought in this regard is better now than then.

We place, therefore, as a thesis: That the Council of Trent, in declaring the Vulgate the authentic text of Scripture, did not place the excellence of the Vulgate above the original texts of Scripture, nor above the old versions of Scripture which had been in use in the Church, neither did it deny the authenticity of these texts.

A sufficient argument for this position is in the very words of the decree, and in the nature of the abuse which it was intended to remove. There was no mention of original texts or versions other than the Latin. A multiplicity of Latin versions created confusion, and the Council chose one Latin version, which should be the official text of Latin Scriptures for the Latin Church. The original texts and old versions have the same merit as before, and are as authentic as when they formed the Scriptural basis of the decisions of councils, prior to the Council of Trent. Cardinal Pole and others demanded that a text in Greek and Hebrew might also be declared authentic. Although this was not done, we have every reason to believe that it would have been done if the need existed. In the Greek Church no great variety of translations existed. The Greeks used their authentic text, which had been always sanctioned by the Church's use, even before the Latin existed. No one denied its authenticity, and the Council left it in the peaceful possession of what it always had. The Hebrew text was not in use as a practical text of Scripture by any Christian Church, and there was no need to declare it authentic. It is characteristic of the Catholic Church not to indulge in superfluous legislation. Her decisions are few, and framed to meet actual needs.

klärt und die Uebersetzung kanonisirt worden". De Wette-Schrader Einl. p. 145: "Was man auch zur Milderung dieses Decretes sagen mag, immer ist damit der exegetischen Forschung der Eingang in die öffentliche Kirchenlehre verschlossen". Alii alio modo eadem repetunt. (Cornely op. cit.)