the Irish Church, though the designation of Anglo-Saxon MSS. commonly
given to them, has withdrawn them from that careful investigation
which they otherwise would have obtained from our antiquarians: such
are, for instance, the Psalter of St. Ouen, at Rouen; the Gospels of
St. Gatien, at Tours; of Mac Regol, at Oxford; of St. Germain de Pres;
besides the Book of St. Chad, and many others mentioned by Westwood in
his _Palaeographia Sacra_ (London, 1845). The Gospels of St. Boniface,
in Fulda, are now generally supposed to have come from the Irish school:
and equally venerable are the _Evangelia_ of St. Kilian, still preserved
in Wuerzburg. The last page of this precious text is tinged with the
blood of this great Irish martyr, and on his festival (8th July) it is
still solemnly exposed upon the altar during the celebration of the Holy
Mysteries (See _Appendix A_ to Report on the _Foedera_, published by
the Record Commission, for a long notice and fac-simile of the writing
of this MS.). In Italy, the Book of St. Silas is preserved in his tomb
at Lucca; a fragment of St. Caimin's _Psalter_ may be seen in Rome;
and St. Cathaldus's Gospels are enclosed in his shrine at Tarento.
The library of St. Gall, in Switzerland, possessed for centuries many
old Irish manuscripts, amongst which are mentioned by Von Arx, "_Quatuor
Evangelia; Evang. S. Joannis; Epistolae S. Pauli; liber Prophetarum_;
et plura fragmenta", all which are styled _Codicis Scottici_ in a
catalogue of the ninth century (_Monumenta Germ. Historica._ tom. 2,
pag. 66 et 78). The monastery of Bobbio, however, was distinguished
above all others for the richness of its store of manuscripts: it
was founded by Irish Religious in the seventh century, and for a long
subsequent period was the great literary mart of North Italy, and a
cherished resort of Irish pilgrims. From the present of books made to
this monastery by an Irish ecclesiastic named Dungall, we may judge
how abundant were the Biblical treasures of our island before the tenth
century. The ancient list of these books is published by Muratori, and
it comprises not only the _Evangelium plenarium_, and _Psalterium_,
and other Books of Scripture, but also the commentaries of Origen,
St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose, Bede,
Cassiodorus, and Albinus; the poems of Fortunatus, Paulinus, Arator,
Prudentius, and Juvencus; the Ecclesiastical History of Hegesippus;
and one work with the curious title, "librum quendam Latine Scotaicae
linguae", which probably means a treatise in Latin on the Irish language
(See Muratori, _Antiqq. Ital._, iii. 818). Such collections of books,
once so abundant in our island, were deliberately pillaged and destroyed,
first by the pagan Danes, and again by the Protestant maligners of
our country, under Henry VIII. and Elizabeth. In a preceding article,
"The See of Cork", we have given a specimen of the Scriptural books
preserved in an humble Franciscan convent in Youghal in 1490; and
Dr. Reeves, in his Essay on the Culdees, gives us a short notice of
another Irish library in the twelfth century, in which the Gospels and
copies of other portions of the Sacred Scripture hold their usual place
(_Transact. of R. I. A._, Dublin, 1864, pag. 249). Even during the sad
era of the desolation of our island, from the twelfth to the sixteenth
century, the labours of Irishmen on the continent in illustrating the
sacred text, won for them a distinguished fame; whilst the testimonies
collected by Boerner (_Le Long_, ii. 369) further prove that at home
a version of the Sacred Scripture into the Irish language was achieved
long before the so called Reformation, being generally attributed to
Richard Fitzralph, Archbishop of Armagh, who died in 1360. We must be
pardoned, if, as we fear, we dwelt too long on the venerable monuments
of our early Church.
England next claims our attention. Forty years ago a member of its
Established Church did not hesitate to write that during the Catholic
ages, "the Bible was a sealed Book ... there is good reason for
believing that the great mass of men never heard that such a book
was in existence" (Soames' _Hist. of Reformation in England_). Yet
surely it was not so in the ages of Bede and Alcuin. The holy Caedmon
presented to his contemporaries an Anglo-Saxon metrical paraphrase
of the Bible, a portion of which we have seen translated into English
and re-issued from the press in our own days. Fragments of many other
Anglo-Saxon versions have also been preserved, some of which bear the
classic names of _Bede_, _Athelstan_, _Aeldred_, _Aelfric_, and King
Alfred. The publication of these works has long engaged the attention
of our antiquarians, from the early edition by Marshall, in 1665, to
that of Dr. Thorpe, in 1842. After the Norman Conquest, French and Latin
were for three centuries the literary languages of England; no sooner,
however, was the English language formed, than we find it employed in
presenting to the faithful the teaching of the inspired volume. An old
MS. in the Imperial Library of Vienna commemorates an exposition of the
Gospels in the writer's possession, "in vetustissimo Anglico, quod vix
aliquis hominum jam viventium sufficienter intelligeret" (_Appendix A
to Record Commission Report_, pag. 232). Usher in his day referred the
first English version to the year 1290. Trevisa, who died before 1360,
also translated "Biblia Sacra in vernaculam", as Anthony Wood informs us
(_Antiq. Oxon._, ii. 95). It was only some years later that Wicleff's
version appeared; and though some English writers refer it to 1367,
the German Rationalist, Reuss, marks its date as 1380 (_Die Gesch. der
Heilig. Schriften_, Brunswick, 1853). For an interesting and detailed
account of the more recent Catholic translations in English, we must
refer to the learned _General Introduction to the Sacred Scriptures_
(Dublin, 1852) by our venerated Primate. At present it will suffice
to mention one which is but little known to English biblical readers.
It was the work of an Irish Priest, the Rev. Cornelius Nary, who,
whilst administering the Parish of St. Michan's in the city of Dublin,
found leisure to compose several valuable treatises, and especially
to translate the New Testament from the Latin Vulgate, comparing it
with the original Greek, and with several ancient translations into
other languages. This version was printed in 1718: a few years later
the author's name was on the list of those presented to the Holy See by
the chapter of Dublin, when soliciting a successor to their deceased
Bishop, Dr. Edward Murphy; he died full of years, deeply lamented by his
spiritual children, in 1738.
Much might be said on the many versions which were made throughout the
continent during the ante-Reformation period. In the French language
there is extant a version of the books of _Kings_ and _Maccabees_, which
is referred by Le Long to the eleventh century. Several MSS. of the
Psalms are also still preserved, which are placed by Wharton as early
as the twelfth century, and Hallam in express terms attests that "we
find translations of the _Psalms_, _Job_, _Kings_, and the _Maccabees_,
into French, in the eleventh or twelfth century". Guyars de Moulins, a
priest and canon of St. Pierre d'Aire, about the year 1290, translated
into French and completed the _Historia Sacra_ of Peter Comestor. This
work is not, as Horne describes it, "a popular abstract of sacred
history", but comprises the historical and moral books of the Old and
New Testament; and we have said that de Moulins completed the work of
Comestor, because his version embraces the whole of the sacred writings
of the Old and New Testament. It was not, however, a mere translation of
the Sacred Scripture; here and there notes and commentaries are added,
and these are found to vary in several MSS., as if they were inserted
to suit the various controversies which arose in the French Church. The
first printed text was the New Testament, which was published in folio,
in Lyons, in 1478, being translated into French by two Augustinian
friars, Julian Macho and Pierre Farget. A copy of this edition is
still preserved in the public library of Leipsic (_Reuss_, pag. 446).
The version of de Moulins was very soon after also printed in a quarto
edition, whilst its _Editio Princeps_, carefully revised by Jean de Rely,
afterwards Bishop of Angers, was published in Paris under the auspices
of Charles VIII., in 1487. It passed through fourteen other editions in
Paris and Lyons alone, before the year 1546. We may also refer to this
ante-Reformation period the version of James Le Fevre, of Estables, who
is better known by his Latin name of Faber Hapulensis, and who undertook
a new translation of the Bible in 1512. This work, especially with the
corrections of the Louvain divines, acquired considerable popularity,
and more than forty different editions of it appeared before the year
1700. Even before any French Protestant version of the Sacred Scripture
appeared, another French Catholic translation was made by Nicholas de
Leuse, a doctor of Louvain, and was printed at Antwerp in 1534. The first
Protestant version was published at Neufchatel in the following year.
Perhaps in Germany at least, the native land of Protestantism, the holy
Bible was a sealed book to the children of the Catholic Church? No,
it was far otherwise. As early as the tenth century Notker Albulus,
abbot of the monastery of St. Gallus, translated into German the book
of _Psalms_; and a century later most of the other inspired books were
translated by William of Ebersberg, in Bavaria, and other religious
whose names have not been handed down to us (_Reuss_, pag. 439). In the
succeeding centuries several other translations appeared, so much so,
that the author of the Cologne version, printed in 1480, was able to
affirm in his preface that he availed himself "of a variety of different
versions, which were made and circulated both in Lower and Upper Germany,
before printing came into use". The first printed German Bible issued
from the Mentz press in two volumes in folio about 1462. Other editions
seem to have followed soon after; for, in the next earliest edition
which is now known, viz., that of Augsburg, in 1477, the editor was
able to commend the accuracy of his version, and eulogize it "prae
omnibus aliis antea impressis Bibliis Germanicis". So rapid was the
diffusion of the printed text, that from 1477 to 1490, this city of
Augsburg alone gave five different editions. The city of Nuremberg gave
proofs of equal fecundity, having published distinct editions in 1477,
1480, and 1483. The editor of this last edition laid claim to special
elegance of type and accuracy of text, "prae omnibus antea impressis
Germanicis purius, clarius, et verius"; and, it would seem, justly,
for David Clement, who examined the edition, thus describes it: "I saw
that magnificent edition in the library of the Duchess of Nuremberg;
the paper, the ornamented letters, the illuminated figures so well
drawn and engraved around, all so delightful to behold, giving a most
pleasing idea of the degree of perfection to which the art of printing
had already arrived, and this only thirty years after the invention
of movable types". The other chief cities of Germany, Cologne, Lubeck,
Halberstadt, Strasburg, and Mentz, had also their distinct editions; and
before the year 1500--that is to say, many years before the appearance of
Lutheranism--thirty editions of the entire Scriptures were in circulation
in the vernacular language of Germany.
We will give but a rapid glance at the versions of Poland, Spain, and
Bohemia, that we may be able to devote more space to one country which
is especially dear to every Catholic heart. The first Polish version
was made about 1390, by order of St. Hedwige, wife of the famous Duke
of Lithuania who was chosen king under the name of Ladislaus IV. About
the same time a second translation is said to have been made by Andrew
Jassowitz. Another version of the Psalter, and a fragment of a translation
of the Old Testament made in 1455, are commemorated by Graesse in his
_Litter. Hist._, v. 484. Translations of the Bible into Spanish are
spoken of by the national writers, during the reign of James I. of
Arragon, in the thirteenth century, and again under John II. of Leon,
about 1440. The first printed edition appeared in 1478, and another
edition, of 1515, is referred by Graesse (loc. cit.) to a Carthusian
monk, named Boniface Ferrer. As regards Bohemia, MM. Schaffarik and
Palacky commemorate a translation of the Gospel of St. John, made as
early as the tenth century (_Boehm. Denkm._, an. 1840). A Bohemian
Psalter bears date 1396. Huss in one of his controversial tracts speaks
of the New Testament as already extant in the Bohemian language. The
translation of the whole Bible into Bohemian was achieved at Dresden
in 1410, as Dobrowsky proves (_Slovanka_, Th. 2), and we find printed
editions at Prague in 1488, at Cutna in 1498, and at Venice in 1506 and
1511. Even Denmark had its translation of the Sacred Scriptures, and a
version of the historical books of the Old Testament was made in 1470,
as Molbek and Grimm inform us.
If, however, the Catholic Church were hostile to the sacred Scriptures,
we should naturally suppose that in Italy, at least, little enthusiasm
should have been displayed in the diffusion of the Bible in the vulgar
tongue; for Italy was more immediately subject to the influence of the
Holy See; in its centre stood the capital of the universal Catholic
world--the new Jerusalem of the Church--the See of Peter. Nevertheless,
of all European countries, Italy was, perhaps, the most remarkable for
the diffusion of the sacred text during the ante-Reformation period.
Jacopo de Voragine, Bishop of Genoa, who died in 1298, was the first to
translate the Scriptures into the Italian tongue, and thus his version
dates before Dante and the other great masters of the language. New
translations by Nicholas de Neritono, of the Dominican Order, Pietro
Arighetto, Cavalca, and others, followed soon after; and so rapid was
the diffusion of the sacred text, that, as Lamy informs us, the archives
of Florence alone contain forty manuscripts belonging to the fourteenth
century, all presenting various portions of the Bible in the Italian
tongue (_De Eruditione App._, page 308, _seqq._). The discovery of the
art of printing was hailed in Italy with special delight. Sweynheyne and
Paunartz, under the auspices of Cardinal Cusa, hastened thither with
the newly-found treasure, and Rome was the first city that welcomed
them within its walls. Various editions of the Bible, the classics,
and the Fathers, soon appeared; indeed, before the year 1500, almost
every city of Italy had one or more printing presses in operation, but,
above all, the names of the great Benedictine monastery of Subiaco,
and the "Palazzo Massimi" in Rome, record to posterity the religious
patronage and princely munificence which welcomed the German artists
to the divinely favoured patrimony of the successors of St. Peter.
Three editions of the Bible in the Italian tongue appeared in the year
1471. The first bears the name of Nicholas Malermi, a religious of
the Order of Camaldoli. The closing words of the Second volume fix its
precise date: "Impresso fu questo volume nel l'alma patria de Venetia
nell' anno de la salutifera incarnatione del Figliolo de l'eterno
et omnipotente Dio, MCCCCLXXI, in Kalende di Augusto per Vendelino
Spira". This version was subsequently repeated in new editions, and is
still esteemed for the purity of its language, being described by the
latest writer on this subject as written. "vel miglior secolo della
nostra lingua" (Vercellone, _Dissert. Roma_, 1864, pag. 100). The
Second Venetian edition of 1471, was printed "per Nicolo Jenson in
calende di Ottobre", and by some inexperienced modern observers was
supposed to be merely a reprint of the former text: it is, however,
quite distinct, and the best judges of the present day are of opinion
that this version is from the pen of Cavalca, a Tuscan writer of the
golden age, who flourished in the fourteenth century. It is cited 160
times in the last edition of the Crusca (Florence, 1843), under the
title _Volgarizzamento di Pistole e di Vangeli_, and some manuscripts of
it are extant, which date back to the close of the fourteenth century
(Curioni, "_Sui due Primi Volgarizzamenti_", etc., Milan, 1847; and
Sorio in _Archiv. Eccles._ Firenze, 1864, vol. i. pag. 297). A. third
Italian version appeared in Rome in the same month of October, 1471,
in two volumes folio: many writers have described it as the version of
Malermi; but Maffei, who diligently compared both texts, pronounced it
to be a distinct and independent version. No fewer than eleven complete
editions of these several versions appeared before the year 1500, and
more than forty editions are reckoned before the appearance of the first
Protestant edition of the Bible in the Italian language. Some of these
editions, too, deserve the name of distinct versions, on account of
various alterations and improvements made in the text, and all appeared
under ecclesiastical sanction; thus, for instance, an edition of Venice,
in 1477, bears the name of "Fratre Marino del Ordine di Predicatori,
de la sacra pagina professore umile".
An entirely new translation from the original text was made by Sanctes
Marmoschini in 1538, and was reprinted in 1546. Another translation,
which appeared in 1547, was remarkable for its poetical version of _Job_
and the _Psalms_. The translation of Antonio Bruccioli attracted still
more attention. It was made "de la Hebraica verita", and was ushered
in under the patronage of the French monarch, Francis I., in the month
of May 1532.
From that date to 1552, twelve editions of this version appeared; but,
though, remarkable for its Tuscan dialect, it was inaccurate in many
passages, for which reason it was condemned by the Council of Trent. The
first Protestant Italian Bible was printed in Geneva as late as 1562,
and was little more than a reprint of Bruccioli's version. About fifty
years later Diodati's Bible appeared, which is rather a Calvinistic
paraphrase than a version; nevertheless, this corruption of Holy Writ
has for two centuries held its place as the great Protestant standard
of orthodoxy. Even in later times the Catholic Church has presented
a new and accurate Italian version to her children, and Anthony
Martini, Archbishop of Florence, by the accuracy of his translation,
the purity of his style, and his admirable explanatory notes, merited
the congratulations and approval of the illustrious Pontiff Pius VI.:
"Beloved Son", writes this great Pope, "at a time when vast numbers of
bad books are being circulated, most grossly attacking the Catholic
Church, to the great destruction of souls, you have judged exceeding
well in exhorting the faithful to the reading of the Holy Scriptures;
for these are most abundant sources, whence every one ought to be in a
position to draw purity of morals and of doctrine, and to eradicate the
errors which are so widely disseminated in these corrupt times. This
you have seasonably accomplished, publishing the sacred writing in the
language of your country, to be understood by all, especially as you
declare that you have added explanatory notes, which, being extracted
from the Holy Fathers, preclude every possible danger of abuse,
etc. Given at Rome on the calends of April, 1778".
Thus, then, so far from the Church being the enemy of the Bible,
she was its watchful guardian, and ever cherished it as a sacred
treasure. When heresy introduced corruption into the inspired volume,
and substituted the word of man for the Word of God, the pastors of the
Catholic fold fearlessly raised their voice, and warned the faithful
of the snares which were laid for them. When enemies had poisoned the
life-giving stream, the Church permitted not her children to drink
the deadly draught. But in no country, and at no period, was the
Catholic Church the enemy of the Bible; never was its sacred text a
sealed book to the faithful; but, on the contrary, the pastors of the
Church, the divinely constituted guardians of the inspired writings,
were ever zealous in promoting the study of their sacred truths, and in
"disseminating the knowledge of God's written word".
We now take leave of the learned Earl of Clancarty. Would it be too
much to expect from his candour that he would withdraw the statement
which he has made, since, as we have seen, when viewed historically, it
is false and groundless in itself, whilst at the same time it outrages
the feelings of the whole Catholic Irish nation?
THE SOCIAL MISSION OF THE CHURCH.
The social mission of the Christian Church is a subject to which none
can be indifferent. For eighteen centuries and a half the career of the
Church has remained unchanged; and amid the revolutions of nations and
the migrations of tribes and peoples, her social mission has ever been
to educate, to civilize, and to elevate humanity. The civilization of
the east had languished into decay, the greatness of Greece was merged
in the universal empire of Rome, and the east and the west groaned
under the despotism of the Caesars. When this new and strange power
appeared upon the earth it was a power insignificant in appearance,
and far beneath even the contempt of the haughty emperors; yet that
little society, these few poor and despised Galileans were destined to
crush the colossus of Paganism, and to erect upon its ruins an empire
more extended than that of Rome, and a civilization more refined and
more enlightened than that of Egypt or of Greece. These few ignorant
men were to purify the philosophy of Greece, to humble the greatness of
Rome, to arrest the wandering tribes of the desert and the savage hordes
of the north, to civilize them and to lead them within the pale of the
Christian Church; slavery was to retire before her influence; the dark
clouds of ignorance and barbarism were to be dispelled by her light;
and arts, learning, and civilization were to flourish under the shadow of
her patronage. Her hands were full of gifts to men; to the slave she was
the herald of freedom, to the ignorant she was the bearer of knowledge,
and to all she was the teacher of a pure and elevated morality, unknown
to the pagan world. Such was the social mission of the Christian Church;
how nobly has she fulfilled it!