Jerome and the Latin Vulgate

At the end of the IV ^{th century,} Jerome produced a translation of the Bible into Latin, called the Vulgate. This work remained for long a subject of controversy. The Council of Trent (April 8, 1546) decreed that this version has 'been approved by the Church, no one should have the courage to reject it.' What do we know about Jerome? Why man and his translation were they criticized? What influence her work she has on Bible translation?

Penitent Saint Jerome
inv 750

To 1531

The hermit seems lost in a landscape that \ 's hostile appearance is underlined by the fantastic against the light produced by the moonlight, which glow in the \ shadow crucifix and torrent. His attribute is the lion who removed a thorn from the paw of the \ 'animal, it, grateful, never left him and protected him from harm.

Eusebius Hieronymus was born about 346 in Stridon, Dalmatian town situated near the present border of Italy and Slovenia. It tastes the privileges of wealth going to Rome to study with the famous grammarian Donatus. And he received a solid educational scholar and began to learn Greek. Then he began to travel. He discovers asceticism. Seduced by this call renunciation, he spent the next years to cultivate this way of life with friends. Then the band broke.

Saint Jerome in Penitence 1987-28 RF

Vellum mounted on wood
Simon BENING Ghent, 1483 - Bruges, 1561

Jerome MI 649

Just GHENT
Pedro BERRUGUETE

After five years of monastic life, Jerome returned to Antioch to continue his studies. He decided to side with Paulin, one of three men who fight the title of Bishop of Antioch. In 381 he accompanied at the Council of Constantinople. Pope Damasus remark quickly scholarship and language skills. He became his private secretary. But he continues to lead a life of acète the heart of the luxurious papal court, denounces the disorders of the clergy and made many enemies. It has the full support of Damase. The latter is concerned with the language barrier between the eastern and western areas of the Church. In the East, few know Latin, in the West, much less know Greek. Many Latin versions of the Bible circulating. Many are of poor quality and contain gross errors. Damase therefore commissioned him a revised Latin translation of the Gospels. Jerome is going to tackle this task to which he devoted the next 20 years of his life.

Jerome has a clear method
and rigorous. It compares all
available Greek manuscripts;
corrects style and substance
the Latin text to make it more accurate
the Greek text. But he wipes
much criticism and opposition
intensifies. On the death of Damasus
he returned to the East. In the autumn
the year 386, Jerome fixed in Bethlehem
where he ended his days. Living in Palestine
and it will improve
his knowledge of Hebrew.

Saint Jerome in Meditation

inv 1691 Georg Pencz detail
early \ Gospel of John

Richelieu 2nd Country Germanic Room 8

In the Hebrew Scriptures, he works from the Septuagint. ^AA201 But he discovered in the Greek manuscripts similar to those he had found in Latin manuscripts differences. It therefore comes to the conclusion that to produce an accurate translation, we must remove the Septuagint, despite all his authority, and support directly to the original Hebrew text. This raises an outcry. Jerome is accused of falsifying the text of insulting God and abandon the traditions of the Church to those of the Jews. Augustine, the greatest theologian of the time, the requests back to the text of the Septuagint. ^AA198 Jerome How does he react? True to himself, he ignores and continues to work directly on the Hebrew. His Latin Bible was completed in 405. Years later, one begins to call his Vulgate version, ie the version 'commonly accepted'. ^AA199

The Vulgate
a Latin translation revised
from the Hebrew texts
and Greek original.

The Vulgate

'The most extensive literary work and the most prolific of the IV ^th century'

The translation of the Hebrew Scriptures made by Jerome was much more than a simple revision. It was not the version of a version. He carefully studied and compared the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts now lost. It was he who first called the non-canonical apocryphal books. ^AA200

If one can reproach him for his sharp tongue and his quarrelsome nature, however, it must recognize the merit of having alone shifted biblical research to the Hebrew text. His work has also outpaced the Jewish Masoretic. The Vulgate is valuable for anyone who wants to study different variants of the biblical text tool.