Sixtine Vulgate: Difference between revisions

In 1546, the [[Council of Trent]] had decreed that the Vulgate was authoritative and authentic, and ordered that the Vugateit be printed as correctly as possible. No edition of the Vulgate officially approved by the Catholic Church existed at the time. Twenty years later, work to produce an official edition of the Vulgate began: [[Pius V]] appointed a commission to produce an official edition of the Vulgate. However, his successor, [[Gregory XIII]], did not continue the work.

In 1566{{Sfnp|Quentin|1922|loc="Chapitre sixième – Les commissions pontificales du concilde de Trente à Sixte-Quint" [Chapter Six – The Pontifical Committees from the Council of Trent to Sixtus Quintus]|p=160}}{{Sfnp|Gerace|2016|p=210}} or 1569,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Thomson|first=Francis J.|title=Methodios und Kyrillos in ihrer europäischen Dimension|publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]]|year=2005|editor-last=Konstantinou|editor-first=Evangelos|pages=83|chapter=The Legacy of SS Cyril and Methodius in the Counter Reformation|chapter-url=http://www.europa-zentrum-wuerzburg.de/unterseiten/Band10-Thomson.pdf}}</ref> another commission was appointed by [[Pope Pius V]] (''Congregatio pro emendatione Bibliorum''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Vercellone|first=Carlo|url=https://archive.org/details/variaelectiones00vercgoog|title=Variae lectiones Vulgatae Latinae Bibliorum editionis|date=1860|publisher=I. Spithöver|others=Harvard University|pages=XXII|isbn=9780790583181 |language=la|author-link=Carlo Vercellone}}</ref>) to produce an official edition of the Vulgate.{{Sfnp|Gerace|2016|p=210}}<ref name=":322">{{Cite book|last=Hastings|first=James|title=A Dictionary of the Bible|date=2004|publisher=University Press of the Pacific|isbn=9781410217295|volume=4, Part 2 (Shimrath - Zuzim)|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|pages=880|language=en|chapter=Vulgate|author-link=James Hastings|orig-year=1898|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yk1CKgPRKtAC&q=pius+V+commission+vulgate&pg=PA880}}</ref> This commission was composed of five cardinals ([[Marco Antonio Colonna (16th-century cardinal)|M. A. Colonna]], [[Gugliemo Sirleto|G. Sirleto]], [[Cristoforo Madruzzo|C. Madruzzo]], [[Jérôme Souchier|J. Souchier]], and [[Antonio Carafa (cardinal)|Antonio Carafa]]){{Sfnp|Gerace|2016|p=210}}{{Sfnp|Quentin|1922|loc="Chapitre sixième – Les commissions pontificales du concilde de Trente à Sixte-Quint" [Chapter Six – The Pontifical Committees from the Council of Trent to Sixtus Quintus]|p=160}}<ref name=":2" /> and twelve advisors.{{Sfnp|Quentin|1922|loc="Chapitre sixième – Les commissions pontificales du concilde de Trente à Sixte-Quint" [Chapter Six – The Pontifical Committees from the Council of Trent to Sixtus Quintus]|p=160}}

Sixtus V worked by himself on the edition of the Vulgate. From 17 November 1588 until June 1589, he revised the text; until the end of November 1589, he corrected the proofs.<ref name=":10" /> Sixtus made the corrections using simple conjectures and working quickly.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.revue-resurrection.org/La-Bible-latine-de-la-Vetus-latina-a-la-Neo|title=La Bible latine : de la Vetus latina à la Néo-Vulgate|last=Gandil|first=Pierre|date=April–July 2002|website=revue-resurrection.org|publisher=Résurrection {{!}} N° 99–100 : La traduction de la Bible|language=fr|access-date=2019-09-19|archive-date=16 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216120112/http://www.revue-resurrection.org/La-Bible-latine-de-la-Vetus-latina-a-la-Neo|url-status=dead}}</ref> He used the ''Codex Carafianus''.<ref>Carlo Vercellone, [https://archive.org/stream/variaelectiones00vercgoog#page/n34/mode/2up ''Variae lectiones Vulgatae Latinae Bibliorum editionis''], Romae 1860, p. XXX.</ref> Sixtus was helped in his editing work by a few people he trusted, including [[Francisco de Toledo (Jesuit)|Toledo]] and [[Angelo Rocca|Rocca]] but excluding the members of the commission and Carafa.{{Sfnp|Quentin|1922|loc=Chapitre septième – Les éditions Sixtine et Clémentine (1590–1592) [Chapter seven – The Sixtine and Clementine editions (1590–1592)]|p=190}}

In May (or April<ref name=":9" />) 1590 the completed work was issued{{Sfnp|Metzger|1977|p=348|loc=}} in one volume, in a [[Folio|folio edition]], containing three distinct parts,{{Efn|The title page bears the indication "three distinct volumes/sections" (''tribus [[wiktionary:tomus|tomis]] distincta'')<ref name=":32"/>|name=|group=}} with the [[page numbering]] continuous throughout the entire volume.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":32" /><ref>{{Cite web <!-- Citation bot no -->|url=http://corsair.themorgan.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=53652|title=Biblia sacra vulgatae editionis ad concilii Tridentini praescriptum emendata et a Sixto V.P.M. recognata et approbata.|website=The Morgan Library & Museum|date=14 September 1590 |access-date=15 March 2020| type= library holding record}}</ref> The Sixtine Vulgate was mostly free of [[typographical error]]s.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":32" /> Regardless, even after the printed edition was issued, Sixtus continued to tinker with the text, revising it either by hand or by pasting strips of paper on the text.<ref name=":0">Le Bachalet, Xavier-Marie, ''Bellarmin et la Bible Sixto-Clémentine : Étude et documents inédits'', Paris: Gabriel Beauchesne & Cie, 1911 (in French). The majority of this work is reproduced [http://www.virgo-maria.org/articles_HTML/2007/010_2007/VM-2007-10-03/VM-2007-10-03-B-00-Madiran-imposture-Bible_Sixto-Clementine.htm at the bottom of this article]{{Unreliable source?|date=February 2024}} ("Annexe 1 – Etude du Révérend Père Le Bachelet (1911)").</ref>

On 27 August 1590 Sixtus V died. After his death, many alleged that the text of the Sixtine Vulgate was "too error-ridden for general use".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/reformationofbib0000peli|url-access=registration|title=The reformation of the Bible, the Bible of the Reformation|last=Pelikan|first=Jaroslav Jan|date=1996|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|others=Dallas: Bridwell Library; Internet Archive|location=New Haven|page=[https://archive.org/details/reformationofbib0000peli/page/98 98]|chapter=Catalog of Exhibition [Item 1.14]|isbn=9780300066678 |author-link=Jaroslav Pelikan}}</ref> On 5 September of the same year, the [[College of Cardinals]] stopped all further sales of the Sixtine Vulgate and bought and destroyed as many copies as possible{{Efn|"However, this work [the Sixtine Vulgate] was not appreciated by the Congregation of the Cardinals and a week [''sic'', 9 days] after the death of Pope Sixtus V (27 August 1590) they ordered, first, the suspension of the selling of this edition and the destruction of the printed copies shortly thereafter."{{Sfnp|Gerace|2016|p=225}}|name=|group=}} by burning them; the reason invoked for this action was printing inaccuracies in Sixtus V's edition of the Vulgate. [[Bruce M. Metzger|Metzger]] believes that the inaccuracies may have been a pretext and that the attack against this edition had been instigated by the [[Jesuits]], "whom Sixtus had offended [[Disputationes de Controversiis#Almost in the Index|by putting one of Bellarmine's books on the 'Index']],{{Efn|"Bellarmine's intellectual efforts gained him a more central position within the [[Roman Curia]] but he also encountered dangerous setbacks. In 1587 he became a member of the [[Congregation of the Index]] and in 1598 became one of the ''consultores'' of the [[Inquisition]]. Meanwhile, the implications of the doctrine of ''potestas indirecta'' angered Pope Sixtus V, who often opposed the Society of Jesus because he thought the Society's doctrines diminished the authority of the bishop of Rome. In 1589–90 Sixtus moved to put Volume 1 of [[Disputationes de Controversiis|''Controversiae'']] on the Index of Prohibited Books while Bellarmine was in France on a diplomatic mission. However, the Congregation of the Index and, later, the Society of Jesus resisted this. In 1590 Sixtus died, and with him the project of the Sistine Index also died."<ref name=Temporal>{{Cite web|url=https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/on-temporal-and-spiritual-authority|title=On Temporal and Spiritual Authority|last=Bellarmine|first=Robert|year=2012|editor-last=Tutino|editor-first=Stefania|website=Online Library of Liberty|publisher=[[Liberty Fund]]|location=Indianapolis|access-date=2019-10-01}}</ref>|name=|group=}} and took this method of revenging themselves".{{Sfnp|Metzger|1977|pp=348–349}} [[Henri Quentin|Quentin]] suggests that this decision was due to the fact that the [[heretics]] could have used against the Catholic Church the passages of the Bible which Sixtus V had either removed or modified. Bellarmine did not take part in the ban on the Sixtine Vulgate as he was in Paris when Sixtus published the Sixtine Vulgate, and only came back in Rome in November 1590.{{Sfnp|Quentin|1922|pp=190–191|loc="Chapitre septième – Les éditions Sixtine et Clémentine (1590–1592)" [Chapter seven – The Sixtine and Clementine editions (1590–1592)]}}

After Sixtus V's death, [[Robert Bellarmine]] wrote a letter in 1602 to Clement VIII trying to dissuade him from resolving the question of the ''[[Congregatio de Auxiliis|auxiliis divinae gratiae]]'' by himself. In his letter Bellarmine wrote concerning the Sixtine Vulgate: "Your Holiness also knows in what danger Sixtus V put himself and put the whole Church, by trying to correct the Bible according to his own judgment: and for me I really do not know if there has ever been greater danger".<ref>Le Bachalet, Xavier-Marie, ''Bellarmin et la Bible Sixto-Clémentine : Étude et documents inédits'', Paris: Gabriel Beauchesne & Cie, 1911 (in French). The majority of this work is reproduced [http://www.virgo-maria.org/articles_HTML/2007/010_2007/VM-2007-10-03/VM-2007-10-03-B-00-Madiran-imposture-Bible_Sixto-Clementine.htm at the bottom of this article] ("ANNEXE 1 – Etude du Révérend Père Le Bachelet (1911)").<br />"Votre Sainteté sait encore dans quel danger Sixte-Quint, de sainte mémoire, se mit lui-même et mit toute l'Eglise, en voulant corriger la Bible d'après son propre jugement, et pour moi je ne sais vraiment pas s'il y eut jamais plus grand danger." <!--"de sainte mémoire" ("of holy memory") is only found here, it is not present in the sources giving the Latin version, nor in the article Le Bachelet later wrote on the DTC (DTC article: http://jesusmarie.free.fr/robert_bellarmin_dictionnaire_theologie_catholique.html)--></ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=van Ess|first=Leander|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=59wGAAAAQAAJ&q=Leander+van+Ess+novit+beatitudo&pg=PA290|title=Pragmatisch-kritische Geschichte der Vulgata im Allgemeinen, und zunächst in Beziehung auf das Trientische Decret. Oder: Ist der Katholik gesetzlich an die Vulgata gebunden?|date=1824|publisher=Ludwig Friedrich Fues|location=Tübingen|pages=290–291|language=de|trans-title=Pragmatico-critical history of the Vulgate in general, and initially in relation to the Decree of Trent. Or: Are Catholics bound by law to the Vulgate?|chapter=𝔊𝔢ſ𝔠𝔥𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔱𝔢 𝔡𝔢𝔯 𝔖𝔦𝔵𝔱𝔦𝔫ſ𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔅𝔲𝔩𝔤𝔞𝔱𝔞. §. 22.|trans-chapter=History of the Sixtine Vulgate § 22|quote="Novit beatitudo vestra cui se totamque ecclesiam discrimini commiserit Sixtus V. dum juxta propriae doctrinae sensus sacrorum bibliorum emendationem aggressus est; nec satis scio an gravius unquam periculum occurrerit"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Le Blanc|first=Augustino|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2bVWAAAAcAAJ&q=novit+beatitudo+vestra,+cui+se+totamque+ecclesiam+discrimini+commiserit+sixtus+V.&pg=RA4-PA5|title=Historiae Congregationum De Auxiliis Divinae Gratiae, Sub Summis Pontificibus Clemente VIII. Et Paulo V. Libri Quatuor: Quibus ... confutantur recentiores hujus Historiae Depravatores, maximè verò Autor Libelli Gallicè inscripti, Remonstrance à M. l'Archevêque de Reims, sur son Ordonnnance du 15. Juillet 1697. ...|date=1700|publisher=Denique|location=Leuven|pages=326|language=la|chapter=De auxilis lib. II. Cap. XXVI.|quote=Novit Beatitudo Vestra, cui se totamque eccleſiam discrimini commiſerit Sixtus V. dum juxta propriæ doctrinæ ſenſus, ſacrorum Bibliorum emendationem aggreſſus eſt: nec fatiſcio an gravius unquam periculum occurerit.}}</ref>

According to [[James Hastings]], Clement VIII's "personal hostility" toward Sixtus and his belief that the Sixtine Vulgate was not "a worthy representative of the Vulgate text" were the reasons behind the recall.<ref name=":32"/> [[Eberhard Nestle]] suggests that the revocation was really due to the influence of the Jesuits, whom Sixtus had offended by putting one of Bellarmine's books on the Index Librorum prohibitorum.<ref name=":3" /> [[Frederic G. Kenyon|Kenyon]] writes that the Sixtine Vulgate was "full of errors", but that Clement VIII was also motivated in his decision to recall the edition by the Jesuits, "whom Sixtus had offended".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kenyon|first=Frederic G.|url=https://archive.org/details/MN41613ucmf_0|title=Our Bible and the ancient manuscripts; being a history of the text and its translations|date=1903|publisher=[[Eyre and Spottiswoode]]|others=University of Chicago|edition=4th|location=London, New York [etc.]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/MN41613ucmf_0/page/n288 187]–188|chapter=Chapter IX. The Vulgate in the Middle Ages|author-link=Frederic G. Kenyon}}</ref> Sixtus regarded the Jesuits with disfavour and suspicion. He considered making radical changes to their constitution, but his death prevented this from being carried out.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Sixtus |volume= 25 |short=x}}</ref> Sixtus V objected to some of the Jesuits' rules and especially to the title "Society of Jesus". He was at the point of changing these when he died.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14033a.htm|title=Catholic Encyclopedia: Pope Sixtus V|website=newadvent.org|access-date=21 September 2019}}</ref> Sixtus V "had some conflict with the Society of Jesus more generally, especially regarding the Society's concept of blind obedience to the [[Superior General of the Society of Jesus|General]], which for Sixtus and other important figures of the [[Roman Curia]] jeopardized the preeminence of the role of the pope within the Church".<ref name="Temporal" /> [[Jaroslav Pelikan]], without giving any more details, says that the Sixtine Vulgate "proved to be so defective that it was withdrawn".<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/reformationofbib0000peli|title=The reformation of the Bible, the Bible of the Reformation|last=Pelikan|first=Jaroslav Jan|date=1996|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|others=Dallas : Bridwell Library ; Internet Archive|location=New Haven|pages=14|chapter=1 : Sacred Philology|isbn=9780300066678 |chapter-url-access=registration|author-link=Jaroslav Pelikan}}</ref>

After [[Pope Clement VIII|Clement VIII]] had recalled all the copies of the Sixtine Vulgate in 1592,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":32"/> in November of that year he published a new official version of the Vulgate known as the [[Clementine Vulgate]],{{Sfnp|Metzger|1977|p=349}}<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/reformationofbib0000peli|url-access=registration|title=The reformation of the Bible, the Bible of the Reformation|last=Pelikan|first=Jaroslav Jan|date=1996|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|others=Dallas : Bridwell Library ; Internet Archive|location=New Haven|pages=[https://archive.org/details/reformationofbib0000peli/page/14 14], 98|chapter=1 : Sacred Philology ; Catalog of Exhibition [Item 1.14]|isbn=9780300066678 |author-link=Jaroslav Pelikan}}</ref> also called the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate.<ref name=":8" />{{Sfnp|Gerace|2016|p=225}} Faced with about six thousand corrections on matters of detail, and a hundred that were important, and wishing to save the honour of Sixtus V, Bellarmine undertook the writing of the preface of this edition. He ascribed all the imperfections of Sixtus' Vulgate to [[Printing press|press]] errors.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bungener|first=Félix|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcouncil00bung|title=History of the Council of Trent|publisher=[[Harper (publisher)|Harper and Brothers]]|year=1855|edition=2nd|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofcouncil00bung/page/92 92]}}</ref>{{Efn|1=See also Bellarmine's testimony in his autobiography:

In 1591, [[Gregory XIV]] wondered what to do about the Bible published by Sixtus V, where so many things had been wrongly corrected. There was no lack of serious men who were in favor of a public condemnation. But, in the presence of the [[Sovereign Pontiff]], I demonstrated that this edition should not be prohibited, but only corrected in such a way that, in order to save the honor of Sixtus V, it be republished amended: this would be accomplished by making disappear as soon as possible the unfortunate modifications, and by reprinting under the name of this Pontiff this new version with a preface where it would be explained that, in the first edition, because of the haste that had been brought, some errors were made through the fault either of printers or of other people. This is how I returned good for evil to Pope Sixtus. Sixtus, indeed, because of my thesis on the direct power of the Pope, had put my [[Disputationes de Controversiis|''Controversies'']] on the [[Index of Prohibited Books]] until after correction; but as soon as he died, the [[Sacred Congregation of Rites]] ordered my name to be removed from the Index. My advice pleased Pope Gregory. He created a Congregation to quickly revise the Sistine version and to bring it closer to the vulgates in circulation, in particular [[Leuven Vulgate|that of Leuven]]. [...] After the death of Gregory (XIV) and [[Innocent V|Innocent (V)]], [[Clement VIII]] edited this revised Bible, under the name of Sixtus (V), with the Preface of which I am the author.

{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/autobiografia16100bell/page/59|title=Autobiografia (1613)|last=Bellarmino|first=Roberto Francesco Romolo|date=1999|publisher=Morcelliana|others=Internet Archive|isbn=88-372-1732-3|editor-last=Giustiniani|editor-first=Pasquale|location=Brescia|pages=[https://archive.org/details/autobiografia16100bell/page/59 59–60]|language=it|translator-last=Galeota|translator-first=Gustavo|chapter=Memorie autobiografiche (1613)|chapter-url-access=registration}}<br>(in original Latin: [https://books.google.com/books?id=kbs-xzAKadgC&dq=sixto+V&pg=PA5 ''Vita ven. Roberti cardinalis Bellarmini''], pp. 30–31); (in French [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k932002v/f108.image here], pp. 106–107)|name=|group=}} According to Quentin, "a slight possibility remains that Sixtus V, who we know worked until the last day of his life to purge his Bible of the printing mistakes it contained, had let slip a few words which were heard by his [[wiktionary:familiar#Noun|familiars]], one of whom was Angelo Rocca, giving the impression that he was planning a new edition".{{Sfnp|Quentin|1922|loc=Chapitre septième – Les éditions Sixtine et Clémentine (1590–1592) [Chapter seven – The Sixtine and Clementine editions (1590–1592)]|pp=200–201}}

* {{Cite journal|last=Gerace|first=Antonio|s2cid=193547960|year=2016|title=Francis Lucas 'of Bruges' and Textual Criticism of the Vulgate before and after the Sixto-Clementine (1592)|url=https://limo.libis.be/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=LIRIAS1883326&context=L&vid=Lirias&search_scope=Lirias&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US&fromSitemap=1|journal=Journal of Early Modern Christianity|volume=3|issue=2|pages=201–237 |doi=10.1515/jemc-2016-0008|via=[[KULeuven]]}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

*{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/variaelectiones00vercgoog|title=Variae lectiones Vulgatae Latinae Bibliorum editionis|last=Carlo Vercellone|date=1860|publisher=I. Spithöver|others=Harvard University|location=Rome|isbn=9780790583181 |language=la}}

[[Category:16th-century Latin books in Latin]]