Biblia Sacra Vulgatae: Clementine Vulgate Latin Bible

page vii

While [Pope Clement VIII] holds the steering-oars of the universal Church, the work which Sixtus V had intended has been perfected, with God’s gracious help. Receive therefore, Christian Reader, with the approval of the same Supreme Pontiff Clement, from the Vatican Printing House Typographia Vaticana The official printing office of the Holy See, established in 1587 to produce standardized ecclesiastical texts., the ancient and common Vulgata Meaning the "common" or "widely used" Latin version of the Bible, attributed primarily to Saint Jerome in the 4th century. edition of the Holy Scriptures, corrected with as much diligence as possible. While it is difficult to affirm that it is perfect in every respect original: "omnibus numeris absolutam" due to human frailty, there is no doubt that it is more corrected and purer than all others that have appeared up to this day. And indeed, although no small effort was applied in this revision of the Bible—comparing it with manuscript codices, Hebrew and Greek sources, and the commentaries of the ancient Fathers—nevertheless, in this widespread reading, just as some things were changed on purpose, so others which seemed to need changing were deliberately left unchanged. This was done partly because Saint Jerome Saint Jerome (c. 347–420 AD) was the primary translator of the Latin Vulgate and a Doctor of the Church. warned more than once that this should be done to avoid causing offense to the people; and partly because it is easy to believe that our ancestors, who translated the Latin from Hebrew and Greek, had a greater supply of better and more corrected books than those which have come down to us after their time, which perhaps, through being copied repeatedly over so long a period, have turned out less pure and intact.

Finally, because the sacred Congregation of most Illustrious Cardinals, and other most learned men chosen for this work by the Apostolic See, did not intend to forge some new edition, or to correct or emend the ancient Translator in any part; but rather to restore that same ancient and common Latin edition—cleansed from the faults of ancient copyists and the errors of wicked emendations—to its original integrity and purity, so far as it could be done. Once restored, they endeavored with all their might to ensure it was printed as correctly as possible, according to the Decree of the Ecumenical Council Referring to the Council of Trent (1545–1563), which sought to standardize Catholic doctrine and scripture.. Furthermore, in this Edition, it was decided to include nothing that is not canonical, nothing supplementary, and nothing extraneous; and for that reason, the books titled 3 and 4 Esdras Apocryphal books associated with Ezra that were not included in the official Roman Catholic canon of scripture., which the sacred Synod of Trent did not number among the Canonical books, and even the Prayer of King Manasseh itself—which exists neither in Hebrew nor even in Greek, and is not found in the older manuscripts, nor is it part of any Canonical book—have been placed outside the sequence of Canonical scripture. And no cross-references in the margin (which are not forbidden from being placed there hereafter), no notes, no variant readings, and finally no prefaces or summaries original: "argumenta" at the beginnings of the books are to be seen. But just as the Apostolic See does not condemn the industry of those who have inserted cross-references, variant readings, prefaces of Saint Jerome, and other things of that kind in other editions; so too it does not prohibit such aids from being added in the future to this very Vatican edition—using a different type of character for the convenience and utility of studies—provided, however, that variant readings are not annotated in the margin of the Text itself.