Source: The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article on
Scripture.
In France Louis VIII decreed in 1226 that persons excommunicated by the
diocesan bishop, or his delegate, should receive "meet punishment" (debita
animadversio). In 1249 Louis IX ordered barons to deal with heretics
according to the dictates of duty (de ipsis faciant quod debebant). A decree
of the Council of Toulouse (1229) makes it appear probable that in France
death at the stake was already comprehended as in keeping with the aforesaid
debita animadversio.
Source: The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article on the
Inquisition.
... the Council of Toulouse (1229) entrusted the Inquisition, which soon
passed into the hands of the Dominicans (1233), with the repression of
Albigensianism. The heresy disappeared about the end of the fourteenth
century.
Source: The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article on the
Albigenses.
1229 - The Inquisition of Toulouse imposed by Albigensian Crusaders
forbids laymen to read the Bible.
Source: The People's Chronology, Revised and updated, by James
Trager, Copyright 1992, 1994, published by Henry Holt and Company, ISBN
0-8050-3134-0, New York, page 108.
In 1229, when the Council of Toulouse assembled to survey and regulate
the results of the Albigensian Crusade, its canons reflected the severity of
ecclesiastical discipline in an area in which the inability to eradicate
heresy had led to profound secular and ecclesiastical consequences. The
first canon of the Council insists upon the appointment of the traditional
testes synodales, but these now have new powers of actively
searching out the hiding places of heretics; condemned heretics who repent
must be moved to orthodox places to live, and they must wear conspicuously
colored crosses on their garments to publicly indicate their penitential
status; certain professions were closed to those even suspected of heresy.
Source: Inquisition, by Edward Peters, published by University of
California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, Copyright 1988 by the Free Press, a
division of Macmillan, Inc., ISBN 0-520-06630-8, page 51.
In the same year [1229], the Council of Toulouse set up a special court
of permanent judges to search out and try heretics. But although twenty of
the forty-five articles of that Council dealt with the problem of heresy, it
did not yet create a new and specific institution for this work. The local
bishop remained the final judge, and had the power to commute sentences. 4
4. Lea, Henry Charles, The History of the Inquisition of the Middle
Ages, New York: Macmillan, 1908, vol. I, p. 310.
(Lea cites the 1229 Council of Toulouse as the foundation for the
Inquisition, on page 359 of vol. I., as does Guiraud in The Medieval
Inquisition, London: Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1929, on page 59.)
Source: The Inquisition, Hammer of Heresy, By Edward Burman,
Copyright 1984, Published by Dorset Press, a division of Marboro Books Corp.,
by arrangement with Harper Collins Publishers, UK., ISBN 0-88029-909-6, pages
31, 32.
The clauses of the Peace of Paris and the decrees of a council held at
Toulouse in November 1229 demonstrated that twenty years of crusading had
not been very effective, since heresy was as much a concern as ever. The
fact was that crusading, particularly when as episodic as this type was,
could not eradicate deep-rooted heresy. It required the establishment of the
inquisition in Toulouse in 1233 and the persistent pressure that such an
instrument could bring to bear for headway to be made ...
Source: The Crusades, A Short History, by Jonathan Riley-Smith,
Copyright 1987, published by Yale University Press, New Haven and London, ISBN
0-300-04700-2, pages 138, 139.
ITEM #3 THE COUNCIL OF TARRAGONA - 1234 A.D.
The Council of Tarragona of 1234, in its second canon, ruled that:
"No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the
Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the
local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that
they may be burned lest, be he a cleric or a layman, he be suspected until
he is cleared of all suspicion."
-D. Lortsch, Historie de la Bible en France, 1910, p.14.
See also: The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article on the
Scripture.
ITEM #4 JOHN WYCLIFFE - MORNING STAR OF THE
REFORMATION
John Wycliffe was the very first to translate the entire Bible into
English, which he completed in 1382. Wycliffe translated from the Latin
Vulgate. One copy of an original manuscript is in the Bodlein Library in
Oxford, England. Wycliffe's Bibles were painstakingly reproduced by hand by
copyists.
In 1408 the third synod of Oxford, England, banned unauthorized English
translations of the Bible and decreed that possession of English translation's
had to be approved by diocesan authorities. The Oxford council declared:
"It is dangerous, as St. Jerome declares, to translate the
text of Holy Scriptures out of one idiom into another, since it is not easy
in translations to preserve exactly the same meaning in all things. We
therefore command and ordain that henceforth no one translate the text of
Holy Scripture into English or any other language as a book, booklet, or
tract, of this kind lately made in the time of the said John Wyclif or
since, or that hereafter may be made, either in part or wholly, either
publicly or privately, under pain of excommunication, until such translation
shall have been approved and allowed by the Provincial Council. He who shall
act otherwise let him be punished as an abettor of heresy and error."
Source: The Western Watchman, a Catholic newspaper published in St.
Louis, August 9, 1894, "The Word of God", The English Bible Before the
Reformation, page 7.
At the ecumenical Council of Constance, in 1415, Wycliffe was posthumously
condemned by Arundel, the archbishop of Canterbury, as "that pestilent wretch
of damnable heresy who invented a new translation of the scriptures in his
mother tongue." By the decree of the Council, more that 40 years after his
death, Wycliffe's bones were exhumed and publicly burned and the ashes were
thrown into the Swift river.
Around 1454 Gutenberg printed an edition of the Latin Vulgate Bible on the
first moveable-type printing press. With this new printing technology books
could now be printed faster and cheaper than ever before, a fact that
Protestants soon took advantage of. Within a hundred years there was a virtual
explosion of Protestant Bibles coming off the new presses.
ITEM #5 THE BIBLE IN ENGLISH IS PRINTED
William Tyndale completed a translation of the New Testament from the Greek
in 1525, which church authorities in England tried their best to confiscate
and burn. After issuing a revised edition in 1535, he was arrested, spent over
a year in jail, and was then strangled and burned at the stake near Brussels
in October 6th, 1536. It is estimated today that some 90 percent of the New
Testament in the 1611 King James Bible is the work of Tyndale. Tyndale was
unable to complete his translation of the Old Testament before his death.
Miles Coverdale, an assistant to Tyndale, completed Tyndale's translation
of the Old Testament using Martin Luther's German text and Latin as sources,
and in Germany he printed the first complete Bible in English on October 4,
1535.
Matthew's Bible, a composite of the work of Tyndale and Coverdale, probably
edited by John Rogers, was published in 1537 under the pseudonym "Thomas
Matthew", and was the second complete edition of the Bible printed in
English.
Coverdale's "Great Bible", called that because of its size, was published
in 1539 and had over 21,000 copies printed in seven editions in only a single
year. Working under the patronage of Thomas Cromwell, Coverdale had submitted
his Bible via the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, and it was
published with the authorization of King Henry VIII, whose likely motivation
was the realization that the Bible was an effective means of combating
papists. Amazingly, at the end of the book of Malachi were the initials W.T.,
covering half a page, standing for William Tyndale! Beginning with the second
edition, the Great Bible included a preface by Thomas Cranmer, and so it is
also called Cranmer's Bible.
The English parliament in 1543 passed a law forbidding the use of any
English translations other than the "Great Bible". Tyndale's New Testament was
specifically prohibited, and later Wycliffe's and Coverdale's Bibles were also
banned. It was decreed a crime for any unlicensed person to read or explain
the Scriptures in public. Many copies of Tyndale's New Testament and
Coverdale's Bible were burned in London, though ironically, the authorized
"Great Bible" contained the work of both men!
In 1557 the Geneva Bible was first published, which continued to be popular
even years after the King James was available. The Geneva Bible was the
version in use during Shakespeare's time, and was often quoted by him in his
plays.
In 1559 Queen Elizabeth, a Protestant, decreed that a copy of the Bishop's
Bible be placed in every parish church. The Bishop's Bible was printed in 20
editions over 42 years and was the basis for the King James Bible.
Responding to the increasing flood of Protestant Bibles in English, the
very first complete Bible in English to be produced by the Catholic Church was
the Douay Rheims, a translation from the Latin Vulgate, which was finally
completed in the early 17th century. The New Testament was begun in 1578 and
finished in Rheims France in 1582, and the Old Testament was finished in
1609-10 in Douay. Note that it had been over two centuries since
Wycliffe had completed his English Bible!
In an attempt to combat the swiftly rising tide of Protestantism, the
Catholic Church began maintaining lists of the prohibited books which were to
be confiscated. Here is an example from England:
Memorandum of a proclamation made at Paul's Cross on the first Sunday in
Advent, 1531, against the buying, selling or reading of the following books:
The disputation between father and the son.
The supplication of beggars.
The revelation of AntiChrist.
Liber qui de veteri et novicio Deo inscribitur.
Precaciones.
Economica christiana.
The burying of the mass, in English rhyme.
An exposition into the VII chapter of the Corinthians.
The matrimony of Tyndal.
A B C against the clergy.
Ortulus animae, in English.
A book against Saint Thomas of Canterbury.
A book made by Friar Reye against the seven sacraments.
An answer of Tyndal to Sir Thomas More's dialogue, in English.
A disputation of purgatory, made by John Frythe.
The first book of Moses, called Genesis.
A prologue in the second book of Moses, called Exodus.
A prologue in the third book of Moses, called Leviticus.
A prologue in the fourth book of Moses, called Numeri.
A prologue in the fifth book of Moses, called Deuteronomy.
The practice of prelates.
The New Testament in English, with an introduction to the epistle to the
Romans.
The parable of the wicked Mammon.
The obedience of a Christian man.
The book of Thorpe or of John Oldecastell.
The sum of scripture.
The primer in English.
The psalter in English.
A dialogue between the gentlemen and the plowman.
Jonas in English.
Calendar of State Papers V, 18.
Source: The Reformation, by Hans J. Hillerbrand, copyright 1964 by
SCM Press Ltd and Harper and Row, Inc., Library of Congress Catalog Card
Number 64-15480, page 473.
ITEM #6 THE BIBLE PROHIBITED BY THE INDEX
LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM
Pope Pius IV had a list of the forbidden books compiled and officially
prohibited them in the Index of Trent (Index Librorum Prohibitorum)
of 1559. This is an excerpt:
Rule I
All books which were condemned prior to 1515 by popes or ecumenical
councils, and are not listed in this Index, are to stand condemned in the
original fashion.
Rule II
Books of arch-heretics - those who after 1515 have invented or incited
heresy or who have been or still are heads and leaders of heretics, such as
Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Hubmaier, Schwenckfeld, and the like — whatever
their name, title or argumentation — are prohibited without exception. As
far as other heretics are concerned, only those books are condemned without
exception which deal ex professo with religion. Others will be
permitted after Catholic theologians have examined and approved them by the
order of bishops and inquisitors. Likewise, Catholic books written by those
who subsequently fell into heresy or by those who after their lapse returned
into the bosom of the Church can be permitted after approval by a
theological faculty or the inquisition.
Rule III
Translations of older works, including the church fathers, made by
condemned authors, are permitted if they contain nothing against sound
doctrine. However, translations of books of the Old Testament may be allowed
by the judgment of bishops for the use of learned and pious men only. These
translations are to elucidate the Vulgate so that Sacred Scripture can be
understood, but they are not to be considered as a sacred text. Translations
of the New Testament made by authors of the first sections in this Index are
not to be used at all, since too little usefulness and too much danger
attends such reading.
Rule IV
Since experience teaches that, if the reading of the Holy Bible in the
vernacular is permitted generally without discrimination, more damage than
advantage will result because of the boldness of men, the judgment of
bishops and inquisitors is to serve as guide in this regard. Bishops and
inquisitors may, in accord with the counsel of the local priest and
confessor, allow Catholic translations of the Bible to be read by those of
whom they realize that such reading will not lead to the detriment but to
the increase of faith and piety. The permission is to be given in writing.
Whoever reads or has such a translation in his possession without this
permission cannot be absolved from his sins until he has turned in these
Bibles ...
Rule VI
Books in the vernacular dealing with the controversies between Catholics
and the heretics of our time are not to be generally permitted, but are to
be handled in the same way as Bible translations. ...
Die Indices Librorum Prohibitorum des sechzehnten
Jahrhunderts (Tübingen, 1886), page 246f.
Source: The Reformation, by Hans J. Hillerbrand, copyright 1964 by
SCM Press Ltd and Harper and Row, Inc., Library of Congress Catalog Card
Number 64-15480, pages 474, 475.
ITEM #7 POPE CLEMENT XI ON READING SCRIPTURE
From
UNIGENITUS,
The Dogmatic Constitution issued by Pope Clement XI on Sept. 8, 1713:
The following statements are condemned as being error:
79. It is useful and necessary at all times, in all places, and for every
kind of person, to study and to know the spirit, the piety, and the
mysteries of Sacred Scripture.
80. The reading of Sacred Scripture is for all.
81. The sacred obscurity of the Word of God is no reason for the laity to
dispense themselves from reading it.
82. The Lord's Day ought to be sanctified by Christians with readings of
pious works and above all of the Holy Scriptures. It is harmful for a
Christian to wish to withdraw from this reading.
83. It is an illusion to persuade oneself that knowledge of the mysteries of
religion should not be communicated to women by the reading of Sacred
Scriptures. Not from the simplicity of women, but from the proud knowledge
of men has arisen the abuse of the Scriptures and have heresies been born.
84. To snatch away from the hands of Christians the New Testament, or to
hold it closed against them by taking away from them the means of
understanding it, is to close for them the mouth of Christ.
85. To forbid Christians to read Sacred Scripture, especially the Gospels,
is to forbid the use of light to the sons of light, and to cause them to
suffer a kind of excommunication.
ITEM #8 POPE PIUS VI ON READING
SCRIPTURE
From the Constitution Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794,
of Pope Pius VI:
[D. Errors] Concerning Duties, Practices, Rules
Pertaining to Religious Worship.
The Reading of Sacred Scripture
[From the note at the end of the decree on grace]
[p. 390]
1567 67. The doctrine asserting that
"only a true impotence excuses" from the reading of the Sacred Scriptures,
adding, moreover, that there is produced the obscurity which arises from a
neglect of this precept in regard to the primary truths of religion,—false,
rash, disturbing to the peace of souls, condemned elsewhere in Quesnel [Unigenitus,
quoted above].
Errors of the Synod of Pistoia, Condemned in the Constitution
Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794, Denzinger, The Sources of Catholic
Dogma, Translated by Roy J. Deferrari, from the Thirtieth Edition of
Henry Denzinger's Enchiridion Symbolorum, published by B. Herder Book
Co., Copyright 1957, page 390.
ITEM #9 POPE LEO XII CONDEMNS VERNACULAR BIBLES AS HARMFUL
From the Encyclical
UBI PRIMUM
of POPE LEO XII, MAY 5, 1824:
17. You have noticed a society, commonly called the Bible society, boldly
spreading throughout the whole world. Rejecting the traditions of the holy
Fathers and infringing the well-known decree of the Council of Trent,[16] it
works by every means to have the holy Bible translated, or rather
mistranslated, into the ordinary languages of every nation. There are good
reasons for fear that (as has already happened in some of their commentaries
and in other respects by a distorted interpretation of Christ's gospel) they
will produce a gospel of men, or what is worse, a gospel of the devil![17]
18. To prevent this evil, Our predecessors published many constitutions.
Most recently Pius VII wrote two briefs, one to Ignatius, Archbishop of
Gniezno, the other to Stanislaus, Archbishop of Mohileu, quoting carefully
and wisely many passages from the sacred writings and from the tradition to
show how harmful to faith and morals this wretched undertaking is.
19. In virtue of Our apostolic office, We too exhort you to try every
means of keeping your flock from those deadly pastures. Do everything
possible to see that the faithful observe strictly the rules of our
Congregation of the Index. Convince them that to allow holy Bibles in the
ordinary language, wholesale and without distinction, would on account of
human rashness cause more harm than good.
ITEM #10 POPE PIUS VIII ON UNAUTHORIZED
VERNACULAR BIBLES
From the encyclical
TRADITI
HUMILITATI of Pope Pius VIII, May 24, 1829
5. We must also be wary of those who publish the Bible with new
interpretations contrary to the Church's laws. They skillfully distort the
meaning by their own interpretation. They print the Bibles in the vernacular
and, absorbing an incredible expense, offer them free even to the
uneducated. Furthermore, the Bibles are rarely without perverse little
inserts to insure that the reader imbibes their lethal poison instead of the
saving water of salvation. Long ago the Apostolic See warned about this
serious hazard to the faith and drew up a list of the authors of these
pernicious notions. The rules of this Index were published by the Council of
Trent;[8] the ordinance required that translations of the Bible into the
vernacular not be permitted without the approval of the Apostolic See and
further required that they be published with commentaries from the Fathers.
The sacred Synod of Trent had decreed[9] in order to restrain impudent
characters, that no one, relying on his own prudence in matters of faith and
of conduct which concerns Christian doctrine, might twist the sacred
Scriptures to his own opinion, or to an opinion contrary to that of the
Church or the popes. Though such machinations against the Catholic faith had
been assailed long ago by these canonical proscriptions, Our recent
predecessors made a special effort to check these spreading evils.[10] With
these arms may you too strive to fight the battles of the Lord which
endanger the sacred teachings, lest this deadly virus spread in your flock.
ITEM #11 POPE GREGORY XVI CONDEMNS BIBLE SOCIETIES, VERNACULAR
BIBLES
From the encyclical
INTER
PRAECIPUAS (On Biblical Societies) by Pope Gregory XVI, May 8,
1844:
1. Among the special schemes with which non-Catholics plot against the
adherents of Catholic truth to turn their minds away from the faith, the
biblical societies are prominent. They were first established in England and
have spread far and wide so that We now see them as an army on the march,
conspiring to publish in great numbers copies of the books of divine
Scripture. These are translated into all kinds of vernacular languages for
dissemination without discrimination among both Christians and infidels.
Then the biblical societies invite everyone to read them unguided. Therefore
it is just as Jerome complained in his day: they make the art of
understanding the Scriptures without a teacher" common to babbling old women
and crazy old men and verbose sophists," and to anyone who can read, no
matter what his status. Indeed, what is even more absurd and almost unheard
of, they do not exclude the common people of the infidels from sharing this
kind of a knowledge.
4. Moreover, regarding the translation of the Bible into the vernacular,
even many centuries ago bishops in various places have at times had to
exercise greater vigilance when they became aware that such translations
were being read in secret gatherings or were being distributed by heretics.
Innocent III issued warnings concerning the secret gatherings of laymen and
women, under the pretext of piety, for the reading of Scripture in the
diocese of Metz.[12] There was also a special prohibition of Scripture
translations promulgated either in Gaul a little later[13] or in Spain
before the sixteenth century.[14]
[Footnote #13: Council of Toulouse (1229), can. 14., as listed at the
beginning of this article]
11. ... We again condemn all the above-mentioned biblical societies of
which our predecessors disapproved. ... Besides We confirm and renew by Our
apostolic authority the prescriptions listed and published long ago
concerning the publication, dissemination, reading, and possession of
vernacular translations of sacred Scriptures.
12. ... In particular, watch more carefully over those who are assigned
to give public readings of holy scripture, so that they function diligently
in their office within the comprehension of the audience; under no pretext
whatsoever should they dare to explain and interpret the divine writings
contrary to the tradition of the Fathers or the interpretation of the
Catholic Church.
ITEM #12 POPE PIUS IX DECLARES BIBLE SOCIETIES "PESTS"
On December 8, 1866, Pope Pius IX, in his encyclical
QUANTA CURA,
issued a
syllabus
of eighty errors under ten different headings. Under heading IV, we find
listed:
IV. Socialism, Communism, Secret Societies, Biblical Societies,
Clerico-Liberal Societies
Pests of this kind are frequently reprobated in the severest terms in the
Encyclical
Qui
pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846, (See #13-14):
13. You already know well, venerable brothers, the other portentous
errors and deceits by which the sons of this world try most bitterly to
attack the Catholic religion and the divine authority of the Church and
its laws. They would even trample underfoot the rights both of the sacred
and of the civil power. For this is the goal of the lawless activities
against this Roman See in which Christ placed the impregnable foundation
of His Church. This is the goal of those secret sects who have come forth
from the darkness to destroy and desolate both the sacred and the civil
commonwealth. These have been condemned with repeated anathema in the
Apostolic letters of the Roman Pontiffs who preceded Us[15] We now confirm
these with the fullness of Our Apostolic power and command that they be
most carefully observed.
14. This is the goal too of the crafty Bible Societies which renew the
old skill of the heretics and ceaselessly force on people of all kinds,
even the uneducated, gifts of the Bible. They issue these in large numbers
and at great cost, in vernacular translations, which infringe the holy
rules of the Church. The commentaries which are included often contain
perverse explanations; so, having rejected divine tradition, the doctrine
of the Fathers and the authority of the Catholic Church, they all
interpret the words of the Lord by their own private judgment, thereby
perverting their meaning. As a result, they fall into the greatest errors.
Gregory XVI of happy memory, Our superior predecessor, followed the lead
of his own predecessors in rejecting these societies in his apostolic
letters.[16] It is Our will to condemn them likewise.
Allocution Quibus quantisque, April 20, 1849,
Encyclical
Noscitis et nobiscum, Dec. 8, 1849, (See #14):
14. The crafty enemies of the Church and human society attempt to
seduce the people in many ways. One of their chief methods is the misuse
of the new technique of book-production. They are wholly absorbed in the
ceaseless daily publication and proliferation of impious pamphlets,
newspapers and leaflets which are full of lies, calumnies and seduction.
Furthermore, under the protection of the Bible Societies which have long
since been condemned by this Holy See,[7] they distribute to the faithful
under the pretext of religion, the holy bible in vernacular translations.
Since these infringe the Church's rules,[8] they are consequently
subverted and most daringly twisted to yield a vile meaning. So you
realize very well what vigilant and careful efforts you must make to
inspire in your faithful people an utter horror of reading these
pestilential books. Remind them explicitly with regard to divine scripture
that no man, relying on his own wisdom, is able to claim the privilege of
rashly twisting the scriptures to his own meaning in opposition to the
meaning which holy mother Church holds and has held. It was the Church
alone that Christ commissioned to guard the deposit of the faith and to
decide the true meaning and interpretation of the divine
pronouncements.[9]
Allocution Singulari quadam, Dec. 9, 1854,
Encyclical
Quanto
conficiamur (On Promotion Of False Doctrines), August 10,
1863.
ITEM #13 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
THE ONLY TRUE GUIDE TO SCRIPTURE
14. ... Wherefore it must be recognized that the sacred writings are
wrapt in a certain religious obscurity, and that no one can enter into their
interior without a guide[32]; God so disposing, as the Holy Fathers commonly
teach, in order that men may investigate them with greater ardor and
earnestness, and that what is attained with difficulty may sink more deeply
into the mind and heart; and, most of all, that they may understand that God
has delivered the Holy Scriptures to the Church, and that in reading and
making use of His Word, they must follow the Church as their guide and their
teacher. ... the Council of the Vatican, which, in renewing the decree of
Trent declares its "mind" to be this—that "in things of faith and morals,
belonging to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be considered
the true sense of Holy Scripture which has been held and is held by our Holy
Mother the Church, whose place it is to judge of the true sense and
interpretation of the Scriptures; and therefore that it is permitted to no
one to interpret Holy Scripture against such sense or also against the
unanimous agreement of the Fathers."[34] ... Hence it follows that all
interpretation is foolish and false which either makes the sacred writers
disagree one with another, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Church.
15. ... But it is most unbecoming to pass by, in ignorance or contempt,
the excellent work which Catholics have left in abundance, and to have
recourse to the works of non-Catholics—and to seek in them, to the detriment
of sound doctrine and often to the peril of faith, the explanation of
passages on which Catholics long ago have successfully employed their talent
and their labor. For although the studies of non-Catholics, used with
prudence, may sometimes be of use to the Catholic student, he should,
nevertheless, bear well in mind—as the Fathers also teach in numerous
passages[41]—that the sense of Holy Scripture can nowhere be found incorrupt
out side of the Church, and cannot be expected to be found in writers who,
being without the true faith, only gnaw the bark of the Sacred Scripture,
and never attain its pith.
Source:
PROVIDENTISSIMUS DEUS (On the Study of Holy Scripture), Encyclical
of Pope Leo XIII promulgated on 18 November 1893.
ITEM #14 POPE LEO XIII PROHIBITS NON-CATHOLIC
BIBLES
From Leo XIII, Apostolic Constitution Officiorum ac Munerum, Jan.
25, 1897, art. 1., "Of the Prohibition of Books," chaps. 2,3, trans. in the
Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII (New York: Benziger, 1903):
[p. 412]
CHAPTER II.
Of Editions of the Original Text of Holy Scripture and of Versions not
in the Vernacular.
5. Editions of the original text and of the ancient Catholic versions of
Holy Scripture, as well as those of the Eastern Church, if published by
non-Catholics, even though apparently edited in a faithful and complete
manner, are allowed only to those engaged in theological and biblical
studies, provided also that the dogmas of Catholic faith are not impugned in
the prolegomena or annotations.
6. In the same manner, and under the same conditions, other versions of
the Holy Bible, whether in Latin or in any other dead language, published by
non-Catholics, are permitted.
CHAPTER III.
Of Vernacular Versions of Holy Scripture.
7. As it has been clearly shown by experience that, if the Holy Bible in
the vernacular is generally permitted without any distinction, more harm
that utility is thereby [p. 413] caused, owing to human temerity: all
versions in the vernacular, even by Catholics, are altogether prohibited,
unless approved by the Holy See, or published, under the vigilant care of
the bishops, with annotations taken from the Fathers of the Church and
learned Catholic writers.
8. All versions of the Holy Bible, in any vernacular language, made by
non-Catholics are prohibited; and especially those published by the Bible
societies, which have been more that once condemned by the Roman Pontiffs,
because in them the wise laws of the Church concerning the publication of
the sacred books are entirely disregarded.
Nevertheless, these versions are permitted to students of
theological or biblical science, under the conditions laid down above (No.
5)
ITEM #15 OUR SUNDAY VISITOR ON BANNING VERNACULAR
BIBLES
Is it not an historical fact that the church forbade the
reading of the Bible in the vernacular?
It is and it is not. The Church never issued a general
prohibition that made the reading of the Bible in the vernacular unlawful;
but at various time she laid down certain conditions regarding the matter,
which had to be observed by the faithful, so that they might not wrest
the Scriptures to their own destruction. It was not until the Albigenses,
the Wyclifites, and later on the Protestants, issued editions of the Bible
that bristled with mistranslations, and the most arbitrary changes of the
original text, that the Church made stringent regulations in regard to the
reading of the Scriptures. These regulations did not make Bible reading
unlawful, but required that only approved editions, well supplied with
explanatory notes taken from the writings of the Early Fathers, should be
used. In this matter, as in so many others, Protestants failed to
distinguish between the actions of the Church and the actions of the
Provincial Synods. It is indeed true that the Synod of Toulouse, in 1229,
the Synod of Tarragona, 1233, and the Synod of Oxford, in 1408, issued
formal prohibitions against the reading of the Bible by the laity, but these
prohibitions had only a local application, and were revoked as soon as the
danger that threatened the faith in these localities had passed. The
Church's legislation in the matter of Bible reading was never prohibitive,
but only tended to the enactment of such restrictions as the common good
evidently required.
Source:
Our Sunday Visitor, July 5th, 1914, of
Huntington Indiana, page 3, Bureau of Information.
ITEM #16 THE 1918 CODE OF CANON LAW
ON CENSORSHIP AND PROHIBITING BOOKS
The previous Code of Canon Law, quoted here, went into effect in
1918, and was superceded in 1983:
(boldface numbers are paragraph numbers, the Canon numbers are in parenthesis)
TITLE XXIII.
Censorship and Prohibition of Books.
1227. The Church has the right to
rule that Catholics shall not publish any books unless they have first been
subjected to the approval of the Church, and to forbid for a good reason the
faithful to read certain books, no matter by whom they are published.
The rules of this title concerning books are to be applied
also to daily papers, periodicals, and any other publication, unless the
contrary is clear from the Canons. (Canon 1384).
CHAPTER I.
Censorship of Books.
1241. The prohibition of books has
this effect that the forbidden books may not without permission be
published, read, retained, sold, nor translated into another language, nor
made known to others in any way.
The book which has in any way been forbidden may not again be
published except after the demanded corrections have been made and the
authority which forbade the book, or his superior, or successor, has given
permission. (Canon 1398.)
1242. By the very law are forbidden:
1. editions of the original text, or of ancient Catholic
versions, of the Sacred Scriptures, also of the Oriental Church, published
by non-Catholics; likewise any translation in any language made or published
by them;
2. books of any writers defending heresy or schism, or
tending in any way to undermine the foundations of religion;
3. books which purposely fight against religion and good
morals;
4. books of any non-Catholic treating professedly of religion
unless it is certain that nothing is contained therein against the Catholic
faith;
5. books on the holy Scriptures or on religious subjects
which have been published without the permission required by Canons 1385, §
1, nn. 1, and 1391; books and leaflets which bring an account of new
apparitions, revelations, visions, prophecies, miracles, or introduce new
devotions even though under the pretext that they are private; if these
books, etc., are published against the rules of the Canons;
6. books which attack or ridicule any of the Catholic dogmas,
books which defend errors condemned by the Holy See, or which disparage
Divine worship, or tend to undermine ecclesiastical discipline, or which
purposely insult the ecclesiastical hierarchy, or the clerical and religious
states; ... (Canon 1399.)
Source: THE NEW CANON LAW, A commentary and Summary of the New Code of
Canon Law, by Rev. Stanislaus Woywod, O.F.M., Published and Copyright,
1918, by Joseph F. Wagner, New York, pages 282-289.
ITEM #17 INDEX OF PROHIBITED BOOKS OF 1930
From Cardinal Merry de Val, "Forward," in the Index of Prohibited Books,
revised and published by order of His Holiness Pope Pius XI (new ed.; [Vatican
City]: Vatican Polyglot Press, 1930), pp. ix-xi:
[p. ix] What many, indeed fail to appreciate, and what, moreover
non-Catholics consider a grave abuse — as they put it of the Roman Curia, is
the action of the Church in hindering the printing and circulation of Holy
Writ in the vernacular. Fundamentally however, this ac- [p. x] cusation is
based on calumny. During the first twelve centuries Christians were highly
familiar with the text of Holy Scripture, as is evident from the homilies of
the Fathers and the sermons of the mediaeval preachers; nor did the
ecclesiastical authorities ever intervene to prevent this. It was only in
consequence of heretical abuses, introduced particularly by the Waldenses,
the Albigenses, the followers of Wyclif, and by Protestants broadly speaking
(who with sacrilegious mutilations of Scripture and arbitrary
interpretations vainly sought to justify themselves in the eyes of the
people; twisting the text of the Bible to support erroneous doctrines
condemned by the whole history of the Church) that the Pontiffs and the
Councils were obliged on more than one occasion to control and sometimes
even forbid the use of the Bible in the vernacular...
[p. xi] Those who would put the Scriptures indiscriminately into the hands
of the people are the believers always in private interpretation — a fallacy
both absurd in itself and pregnant with disastrous consequences. These
counterfeit champions of the inspired book hold the Bible to be the sole
source of Divine Revelation and cover with abuse and trite sarcasm the
Catholic and Roman Church.
ITEM #18 CURRENT CODE OF CANON LAW ON VERNACULAR
BIBLES
The current Code of Canon Law, which went into effect in 1983,
reads as follows:
Can. 825 § 1. Books of the Sacred Scriptures cannot be published unless
they have been approved either by the Apostolic See or by the conference of
bishops; for their vernacular translations to be published it is required
that they likewise be approved by the same authority and also annotated with
necessary and sufficient explanations.
§ 2. With the permission of the conference of bishops Catholic members of
the Christian faithful can collaborate with separated brothers and sisters
in preparing and publishing translations of the Sacred Scriptures annotated
with appropriate explanations.
Source: Code of Canon Law, Latin-English Edition, copyright 1983
by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Vatican City, published by the Canon Law
Society of America, Washington DC 20064, ISBN: 0-943616-19-0, page 309.
This is by no means a complete list, but it is what I have for the moment.
Far from championing the spread of the Bible, and the translation into the
vernacular, the Catholic Church has a history of repression and censorship in
this regard. It was really the combination of the reformation and the advent
of the printing press that "let the cat out of the bag." It seems that Bibles
could be printed faster than they (and their authors or owners) could be
burned. Since Catholicism could no longer contain the Bible and keep it out of
the hands of the laity, the issue has become one of authority to interpret.
For those Catholics who continue to maintain that the Roman Catholic Church
was justified in seizing and burning "faulty" vernacular Bibles, and that
grave errors in translation were the primary reason for destroying them, I
offer the following challenge:
Tyndale's Bible has recently been republished by David Daniell and Yale
University Press and can still be found at some bookstores. Tyndale's New
Testament is 0-300-04419-4 for the hardback and 0-300-06580-9 for the
paperback. Tyndale's Old Testament in hardback is ISBN 0-300-05211-1. Mr.
Daniell has updated the spelling but remained faithful to the original text.
The Geneva Bible's 1602 New Testament has also been reprinted in facsimile
by Pilgrim Classic Commentaries in 1989 from an original in the Cambridge
University Library. The ISBN is 0-8298-0789-6 for the hardback and ISBN
0-8298-0785-3 for the paperback.
The 1611 Authorized Version (King James) Bible has also been reprinted
word-for-word with original spelling by Thomas Nelson Publishers in 1993.
In addition, to my knowledge, the Roman Catholic Church was unsuccessful in
completely destroying all copies of any "heretical" reformation era vernacular
translations of the Bible. Despite their diligence, there are surviving copies
existing today that can be studied. I therefore challenge Catholics to produce
Catholic documents from the reformation period that cite and explain in detail
the grave "errors" in vernacular Protestant Bibles, that warranted not only
their destruction, but also frequently the death of the author, as well as
those found in possession of said Bibles. It would seem that any charge of
grave translation "errors" can still be verified by almost anyone today from
either original editions or facsimile reprints. So mere claims of faulty
vernacular Bibles proves absolutely nothing without providing
citations of the exact verse and Bible edition where the alleged error occurs.
I maintain that the objections of the Catholic church to the various
attempts to produce a Bible in the vernacular, were not that of faulty
translations (although that claim was made), but rather that of "unauthorized
heretical" interpretations that resulted from widespread publication and the
laity finally being able to read the entire Bible for themselves in their own
tongue, as noted in the various items above. The laity was then able to
discern the truth for themselves, and the biblical truth was often at odds
with Catholic teaching. Dissent flourished with the availability of the Bible,
and so persecution of these heretics increased as well, in an attempt by the
church to maintain control and assert her presumed authority. It is a sad
chapter in history that is quite well documented.
