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After the decree of this council, the theologians of the university of Louvain, seeing the confusion that prevailed in the editions of the Vulgate then in common use, and noticing, also, the persecutions to which Stephens was exposed, on account of his zeal to amend it, undertook themselves to correct the text of this version. One of them, John Hentenius, was chosen to prepare a new and more correct edition. His work appeared in 1547. He says, in his preface,] "We have compared together, not only the copies which have been printed with corrections, but about twenty others, the most modern of which was written with the hand, about two hundred years ago,...... that, from the collation of these, we might restore the old and Vulgate edition to its genuineness and purity.... Accordingly, we have consulted these various manuscripts, and, with the help of Stephens's codex, [his edition of 1540,] and of many others, from which he had collected variants in the margin, we have removed from the text, or altered some things, guided in this by the consent of the greater part of our authorities."

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prevented by the pope from proceeding, until the cardinals should determine the method to be pursued. Sarpi, Hist. du Concile de Trent,...... traduit par Amelot de la Houssaie; Amst. 1713, liv. ii. p. 146, sqq. Hody, p. 433.] "It bears the following title: Biblia ad vetustissima Exemplaria recens castig., &c., J. Hentenii, &c. fol.

Hentenius, Præf. ad Bib.: Ut comparatis undique non solum, quæ castigatius excusa erant, exemplaribus, verum aliis quoque plus minus viginti, quorum recentissimum ante ducentos annos manu scriptum erat......ex horum collatione restitueremus veterem et vulgatam editionem sinceritati suæ atque puritati....... Itaque acceptis variis exemplaribus et per Rob. Stephani codicem plurimis etiam aliis, quæ ille suis annotarat marginibus, ex complurium consensu nonnulla e textu sustulimus aut immutavimus. See Le Long, 1. c. p. 223, sqq. R. Simon, Hist. Crit. des Versions du N. T. ch. xi. p. 135.

This edition of Hentenius was often reprinted at Antwerp, by Steels, 1559, sqq.; at Lyons, by Rouille, 1566, sqq.; at Venice, by Giuntas, 1571,

[After the death of Hentenius, the theologians at Louvain prepared a new edition, with a complete collection of various readings. It was prepared by Francis Lucas of Brügge, (Brugensis,) Johan ver Meulen, (Molanus,) Hunnæus, Reyner, and Harlem. The editors gave, in the margin of the Old Testament, the variations of the Hebrew original, the Chaldee paraphrases, and the Septuagint; in that of the New Testament, those of the Greek text and the Syriac version. They also made use of the citations in the Fathers and ecclesiastical writers, but did not give an account of the age and condition of the manuscripts they made use of."

As corrected editions were now so numerous, and diverse from each other, it naturally became the duty of the church to prepare an authentic edition of the sacred text, as the private editions did not satisfy the exigencies of the times.] Accordingly, the pope himself prepared an authentic edition. [Both Pius IV. and V. applied their hands to this work; the latter labored upon it with great diligence. He collected a

sqq. Biblia sac., per Theologos Lovan; Ant., 1573, 8vo. and 12mo. 3 vols. It is said in the preface, Imprimis Vulgatæ editionis Latina lectiones variæ, in MSS. exemplaribus deprehensæ, cum exemplarium in quibus inventæ sunt numero margini adscriptæ sunt....... Cum plurimæ etiam earum lectionum, quæ vere nostri interpretis videri possent, Hentenii diligentiam præterierint, additæ sunt nunc pauca. This edition was reprinted, 1580, 4to. and 8vo., 1583, fol. and 8vo., and in the following years.

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[Bib. sac. quid in hac Editione a Theologis Lov. præstitum sit, paulo post indicatur; Ant., ex Offic. Ch. Plantini, 1573, 8vo. and 12mo. 3 vols. Rosenmüller, 1. c. p. 245.]

Biblia sacra vulgatæ editionis tribus tomis distincta; Rom. ex Typogr. Apost. Vatic. 1590, fol. Its second title (on an engraved page) is, Bib. sac. ed. ad Concilii Trident. Præscriptum emend. et a Sixto V. P. M. recogn. et approbata. Præf. Sixti V. editioni præfixa; Romæ, 1589.

body of learned men, to make a critical revision of the text. He was himself consulted on the readings to be admitted, and overlooked the printed sheets. The work was finished in 1589, and published the following year.] In the preface, (dated 1589,) the pope says, "We have magnificently erected a printing-office in our palace of the Vatican, and deputed a congregation of cardinals of the holy Roman church, and a distinguished college of the most learned men, assembled from almost all nations of Christendom, and from the most celebrated universities, to take charge of it, who have been recompensed with ample and generous salaries, - in order that an amended edition of the Bible might be printed in it. And, that this business might be performed more accurately, with our own hands we have corrected the faults. that occurred in printing; and those things which were, or might easily be, confounded, we have distinguished by an interval between them, and by larger notes and interpunction....... But we wish this to be understood by all men, that these, our labors and watchings, were never designed for this end, that a new translation might come to light, but that the ancient Vulgate might be restored to its primitive purity, as it first proceeded from the hand and pen of its translator. But, in this diligent investigation of the genuine text, it appears sufficiently evident amongst all, that no argument is more certain and solid, than the fidelity of the ancient and approved Latin codices, both written and printed, which we have taken pains to collect from various libraries. Accordingly, wherever the most ancient and correct copies are found to agree, by the wisest rule we have decreed that these readings should be retained, as the words of the primitive text. Accordingly, by this our ordinance,

which is to endure forever, we decree and declare that the Latin Vulgate edition of the sacred pages of both the Old and New Testaments, which has been received as authentic by the council of Trent, is, without any doubt or controversy, to be esteemed to be the very text which we now amend and publish.""

[The pontiff, relying on his infallibility in matters of criticism no less than in articles of faith, proceeded to decree “that if any inquisitor or bishop should deliver to a printer, to be published, a copy differing in any manner from this now printed in the Vatican press, or should, by his seal or signature, approve any printed copy which differed from this, to him, if he were alive, even though he were resplendent with the dignity of an archbishop, primate, patriarch, or any other

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" Novam interea Typographiam in Apostolico Vaticano Palatio nostro ad id potissimum magnifice exstruximus, atque ad ejus curam Congregationem aliquot sanctæ Romanæ ecclesiæ Cardinalium et insigne Collegium doctissimorum virorum fere ex omnibus christiani orbis nationibus et celeberrimis studiorum generalium universitatibus, amplis opulentisque reditibus donatum, deputavimus, ut in ea emendatum jam Bibliorum volumen excuderetur: eaque res quo magis incorrupte perficeretur, nostra nos ipsi manu correximus, si qua prelo vitia obrepserant, et quæ confusa aut facile confundi posse videbantur, ea intervallo scripturæ ac majoribus notis et interpunctione distinximus...... illud sane omnibus certum atque exploratum esse volumus, nostros hos labores ac vigilias nunquam eo spectasse, ut nova editio in lucem exeat, sed ut Vulgata vetus- - emendatissima pristinæque suæ puritati, qualis primum ab ipsius interpretis manu styloque prodierat, restituta imprimatur. In hac autem germani textus pervestigatione, satis perspicue inter omnes constat, nullum argumentum esse certius ac firmius, quam antiquorum probatorumque codicum Latinorum fidem, quos tam impressos, quam manuscriptos ex Bibliothecis variis conquirendos curavimus. In quacunque igitur lectione plures vetustiores atque emendatiores libri consentire reperti sunt, ex jure optimo, tanquam primogeniti textus verba, aut his maxime finitima, retinenda decrevimus. Igitur...... hac nostra perpetuo valitura constitutione statuimus ac declaramus, eam Vulgatam sacræ, tam Vet. quam N. Testamenti paginæ Latinam editionem, quæ pro authentica a Concilio Trid. recepta est, sine ulla dubitatione aut controversia censendam esse hanc ipsam, quam nunc emendatam evulgamus.

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or greater dignity, it is prohibited to enter any church; but if he is of an inferior rank, he incurs the sentence of excommunication by that very act. . . . . . . Therefore it is unlawful for any man to infringe on the letter of our statute declaration,. . . . . . or, with presumptuous daring, to counteract it. But, if any shall designedly presume to do this, let him know that he will incur the indignation of Almighty God, and of the blessed Peter and Paul, his apostles.""

This edition contained numerous errors; many printed passages, especially in the New Testament, were covered over with small slips of paper, on which corrections were printed; others were erased, or merely altered with a pen, and the alterations were not the same in all the copies,- -so carelessly was the work prepared and corrected by the papal hand."

Pope Sixtus died the year in which his edition appeared. It contained so many errors, that his successor, Urban VII., attempted to suppress it, and substitute another edition in its place. Gregory XIV., the successor of Urban, who held his office but twelve days, assembled many learned men to make another revision of the Vulgate among these were Cardinals Colonna and Alanus, besides such scholars as Robert Bellarmine, Morinus, Flaminius Nobilius, Lælius, Balverda, and Agelli. They soon prepared a new revision, which

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[Præf. ad Ed. Sixti V., 1. c., as quoted in Hody, l. c.]

> [Hug, § 127.]

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[Rosenmüller, 1. c. p. 254, sqq. Le Long, ed. Masch, pt. ii. vol. iii. p. 245. It seems the whole Bible, both Old and New Testament, was revised by these scholars in nineteen days, quod vix credibile videbatur, as the account well says. Rosenmüller, 1. c. p. 255, note. It seems J. B. Tafuri found a manuscript list of the members of this body collected to prepare a new edition of the Vulgate, on the margin of a copy of Clement's edition. Calogier published it in his Opuscoli Scientifiche. It was again published

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