Gutenberg bible Old Testament Epistle of St Jerome

Jerome's first epistle to Paulinus is the letter number 53 of

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

, addressed to

Paulinus of Nola Paulinus of Nola (; la, Paulinus Nolanus; also Anglicized as Pauline of Nola; – 22 June 431) born Pontius Meropius Anicius Paulinus, was a Roman poet, writer, and senator who attained the ranks of suffect consul () and governor of Campan ...

. It has been used as the preface for the

Gutenberg Bible The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the " Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed ...

. This Bible was published by Johannes Gutenberg and

Johann Fust Johann Fust or Faust (c. 1400 – October 30, 1466) was an early German printer. Family background Fust was born to burgher family of Mainz, traceable back to the early thirteenth century. Members of the family held many civil and religio ...

in Mainz, Germany in 1454. The Gutenberg Bible is an edition of a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible known as the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

or common text.

Jerome

was a prominent religious figure – a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, historian and Doctor of the Church. He was recognised as a Saint by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

and was responsible for a translation of the Bible into Latin: the

In Bible editions

Many medieval Vulgate manuscripts included Jerome's epistle number 53, to Paulinus bishop of Nola, as a general prologue to the whole Bible. Notably, this letter was printed at the head of the Gutenberg Bible. Jerome's letter promotes the study of each of the books of the Old and New Testaments listed by name (and excluding any mention of the

deuterocanonical books The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to be ...

); and its dissemination had the effect of propagating the belief that the whole Vulgate text was Jerome's work despite the fact it is not.

Content and date of the epistle

"Jerome urges Paulinus, bishop of Nola, (for whom see Letter LVIII.) to make a diligent study of the Scriptures and to this end reminds him of the zeal for learning displayed not only by the wisest of the pagans but also by the apostle Paul. Then going through the two Testaments in detail he describes the contents of the several books and the lessons which may be learned from them. He concludes with an appeal to Paulinus to divest himself wholly of his earthly wealth and to devote himself altogether to God." This epistle was written in 394 A.D.

In the Gutenberg Vulgate

Creation

The Gutenberg Bible was created using a pioneering invention that allowed sheets of paper to be printed in large quantities resulting in the same quality as manuscripts. Only 135 copies of the Bible were printed on paper and 45 on

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. Parchment is another term for this material, from which vellum is sometimes distinguished, when it is made from calfskin, as opposed to that made from other anima ...

. The fact that such a small number of copies were produced, the innovative procedure used to create it, and the quality of the result are features that make Gutenberg and Fust authority figures in the book-making process. Additionally, because it was written in Latin, only an elite audience of aristocrats, merchants, and some educated priests could understand it.

References

External links

Read the letter in English
*{{Cite web, url=https://time.com/3987590/gutenberg-bible-page/, title=See a Page From a Gutenberg Bible in Close-Up, last=Rothman, first=Lily, date=24 August 2015, website=Time, language=en, url-status=live, archive-url=, archive-date=, access-date=2020-04-25

Early printed Bibles Latin texts