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The Douai Bible, also known as the '''Rheims-Douai Bible''' or '''Douay-Rheims Bible''', is a Catholic translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English , first published 1582 and 1609 for the New Testament and Old Testament, respectively. As such it is a translation of a translation of the Bible. Many highly-regarded translations of the Bible still use the Vulgate for consultation, especially in certain difficult Old Testament passages, but nearly all modern Bible versions go directly to the Hebrew , Aramaic , and Greek Biblical texts for translation and not to a secondary version like the Vulgate. (The reason why the Douai translators preferred the Vulgate, in many cases, was explained in their Preface, pointing to assorted corruptions of various 'original' texts available in that era, to assertions that St. Jerome had access to manuscripts that were later destroyed, and to the Council Of Trent ’s decree that the Vulgate was free of doctrinal error.) The English Exile s for religious causes, or Recusants , were not all Catholic. There were Catholic refugees on the Continent as well as Puritan , and from the one, as from the other, there proceeded an English version of the Bible. The center of English Catholicism was the English College at Douai , in France, founded (in 1568 ) by William Allen , formerly of Queen's College, Oxford , and Canon of York, and subsequently Cardinal , for the purpose of training priests to convert the English again to Catholicism. And it was here where the officially authorized Catholic translation of the Bible into English was produced. A run of a few hundred or more of the New Testament, in book form (not large folio), was published in the last months of 1582 , during a temporary migration of the college to Rheims . Though he died in the same year as its publication, this translation was principally the work of the brilliant scholar, Father Gregory Martin , formerly Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford , close friend of Saint Edmund Campion , with the assistance of others at Douai, notably Cardinal Allen himself, Richard Bristow , and Thomas Worthington , who proofed and provided notes and annotations. The Old Testament is stated to have been ready at the same time, but for want of funds it could not be printed until 1609 , after the college had returned to Douai, when it appeared just in time to be of some use to the preparers of King James' Version . The Douay-Rheims is based on the work of Saint Jerome ( 345 - 420 ) who translated the Septuagint (the LXX) and Hebrew texts into a Latin version of the Bible which is known as the Vulgate, the official Bible of the Catholic Church. While the Catholic scholars "conferred" with the Hebrew and Greek originals, as well as with "other editions in diuerse languages," their avowed purpose was to translate from the Latin Vulgate, for reasons of accuracy as stated in their Preface, but which also tended to produce, in places, stilted grammar and, latinisms. The following short passage ( Ephesians 3:6-12), taken almost at random, is a fair example, admittedly without updating the spelling conventions then in use: The Gentils to be coheires and concorporat and comparticipant of his promis in Christ JESUS by the Gospel: whereof I am made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God, which is given me according to the operation of his power. To me the least of al the sainctes is given this grace, among the Gentils to evangelize the unsearcheable riches of Christ, and to illuminate al men what is the dispensation of the sacrament hidden from worldes in God, who created al things: that the manifold wisedom of God, may be notified to the Princes and Potestats in the celestials by the Church, according to the prefinition of worldes, which he made in Christ JESUS our Lord. In whom we have affiance and accesse in confidence, by the faith of him. The translation, being prepared with a definite Polemic al purpose, as was the motive for all Protestant versions of the Bible, the notes and annotations were necessarily deemed 'controversial' by Protestants, one principal difference being that their Bibles simply did not include a host of books found in the Douai-Rhiems for the reasons that Protestants deemed such holy books, in one era or another, to be apocryphal. The Douai Old Testament was reprinted once in the course of a century, and the Rheims New Testament a few times in the next century. In England, the Rheims was ironically popularized by the action of a vehement adversary, William Fulke , who, in order to expose its perceived errors, printed the Rheims New Testament in parallel columns with the Protestant Bishops' version of 1572 , and the Rheims annotations with his own refutations of them; and this work had a considerable vogue among Protestant Reformers. Regarded from the point of view of scholarship, the Rheims and Douai Bible is seen, even for the stilted prose, in places, and latinisms as a particularly accurate version of The Bible; which was just what Catholicism preferred in a time of various and specific religious disputes. It needs mention in the history of the English Bible, generally, because it was one of the versions used by the King James' translators, especially for the New Testament. Though the Authorized Version is indeed distinguished by the strongly English (as distinct from Latin) character of its vocabulary, of the Latin words which are used (and used effectively: ''propitiation'' Romans 3:25, ''concupiscence'' Romans 7:8, ''emulation'' Romans 11:14), many were derived from the Bible of Rheims and Douai. Other words adopted from Latin were introduced into the English Language directly by the Douai-Rheims Bible, and eventually became commonplace in both ecclesiastical and secular vocabularies: "acquisition," "adulterate," "advent," "allegory," "verity," "calumniate," "character," "cooperate," "prescience," "resuscitate," "victim," and, ironically, "evangelize." The Douai-Rheims Bible, however, achieved little currency even among English speaking Catholics until it was substantially revised between 1749 and 1752 by Richard Challoner , an English Bishop , formally appointed to the deserted see of Debra. Challoner's revisions borrowed heavily from the King James Version, (himself being a convert from Protestantism , and thus familiar with its style) whose translators, again, had borrowed terms from the original Rheims NT of 1582 . Challoner not only addressed the odd prose, at points, and the latinisms, but produced a version which while still called the Douai-Rheims, was little like it. And so this Challoner version, still reprinted as the "Douai-Rheims", and officially approved by The Church, remained the Bible of the majority of English-speaking Catholics well into the 20th century, when it began to be supplanted by translations into contemporary English; although the New American Bible is most commonly used in American Catholic Churches, the Challoner revision of the Douai-Rheims is still often the Bible of choice of Traditional Catholics today (and if the Doai Bible is not available, the RSV-CE is usually used instead), where they cannot secure a copy of the actual Douai-Rheims, and at any case who would still consider the standard to be Jerome's Vulgate; as would all Catholics looking for a translation faithful to the Magisterium . The same passage of Ephesians in Challoner's revision gives a hint of the thorough stylistic editing he did of the text: That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body: and copartners of his promise in Christ Jesus, by the gospel, of which I am made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God, which is given to me according to the operation of his power. To me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace, to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ: and to enlighten all men, that they may see what is the dispensation of the mystery which hath been hidden from eternity in God who created all things: that the manifold wisdom of God may be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places through the church, according to the eternal purpose which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. For comparison, the same passage of Ephesians in the King James Bible: That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. REFERENCES
EDITIONS
The Original and True Douay Old Testament of Anno Domini 1609 (vol. 1) http://www.drbible.org/ EXTERNAL LINKS
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