The Leuven Vulgate or Hentenian Bible (, ) was the first standardized edition of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

. The Leuven Vulgate essentially served as the standard text of the Catholic Church from its publication in 1547 until the

Sixtine Vulgate The Sixtine Vulgate or Sistine Vulgate () is the edition of the Vulgate—a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that was written largely by Jerome—which was published in 1590, prepared by a commission on the orders of Pope Sixtus V an ...

was published in 1590. The 1583 edition of the Leuven Vulgate is cited in the Oxford Vulgate New Testament, where it is designated by the ''

siglum Scribal abbreviations, or sigla (singular: siglum), are abbreviations used by ancient and medieval scribes writing in various languages, including Latin, Greek, Old English and Old Norse. In modern manuscript editing (substantive and mecha ...

'' (H for ''Hentenian''). In 1546, partly in response to the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

, the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

declared the Vulgate the official Bible of the Catholic church. However, there were different versions of the Vulgate in use, and no edition was accepted as standard. In response, Biblical scholar John Henten sought to produce a more reliable edition by comparing thirty different manuscripts of the Vulgate and drawing from the work of earlier scholars, such as

Robert Estienne Robert I Estienne (; 15037 September 1559), known as ''Robertus Stephanus'' in Latin and sometimes referred to as ''Robert Stephens'', was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his f ...

. This standardized Vulgate was edited by Hentenius (1499–1566) and published in 1547 in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, hence the name "Leuven Vulgate". This edition was republished several times, and in 1574, a revised edition was published.

History

Publications

On 8 April 1546, at the

, a decision was made to prepare an authorized version of the Vulgate. No direct action was taken for the next forty years, and many scholars continued to publish their own editions. Among these editions, the edition prepared by Hentenius served almost as the standard text of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. The first edition of Hentenius was entitled ''Biblia ad vetustissima exemplaria nunc recens castigata'' and was published by the printer in November 1547. Hentenius used over thirty

Vulgate manuscripts The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible, largely edited by Jerome, which functioned as the Catholic Church's ''de facto'' standard version during the Middle Ages. The original Vulgate produced by Jerome around 382 has ...

to make his edition. Hentenius' edition is similar to the 1532 and 1540 editions of the Vulgate produced by

Lucas Brugensis editions

After the death of Hentenius in 1566,

Franciscus Lucas Brugensis Franciscus Lucas Brugensis or François Luc de Bruges (1548/49–1619) was a Roman Catholic biblical exegete and textual critic from the Habsburg Netherlands. Life Early life Franciscus Lucas was born in Bruges late in 1548 or early in 1549, t ...

continued his critical work and prepared his own edition; the edition was published in 1574 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

by Plantin, under the title: ''Biblia Sacra: Qui in hac editione, a Theologis Lovanienibus prestitum sit, paulo post indicatur''.

A. C. De Schrevel Arthur Carolus De Schrevel (1850–1934) was a Belgian priest and historian, specialising in the 16th and 17th centuries, and in particular Catholic Church history during the Dutch Revolt. He was also a prolific contributor to the ''Biographie Nati ...

, "Lucas, François, dit Lucas Brugensis", ''

Biographie Nationale de Belgique The ''Biographie nationale de Belgique'' (; ) is a biographical dictionary of Belgium. It was published by the Royal Academy of Belgium in 44 volumes between 1866 and 1986. A continuation series, entitled the ''Nouvelle Biographie Nationale'' (, ...

''
vol. 12
(Brussels, 1893), p. 552. This revision has the same text as the original edition. However the punctuation was modified, and supplementary variants were added in the margin; few variants from the original edition were removed. In 1583, a new edition of the Leuven Vulgate was published by the

Plantin Press The Plantin Press at Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest ...

. This edition was a reprint of the 1574 edition with as a supplement in

appendix Appendix (: appendices or appendixes) may refer to: __NOTOC__ In documents * Addendum, an addition made to a document by its author after its initial printing or publication * Bibliography, a systematic list of books and other works * Index (publis ...

critical apparatus A critical apparatus () in textual criticism of primary source material, is an organized system of notations to represent, in a single text, the complex history of that text in a concise form useful to diligent readers and scholars. The apparatu ...

made by Lucas Brugensis: his ''Notationes in sacra Biblia'' previously published independently in 1580. This edition was published under the title: ''Biblia Sacra, quid in hac editione a theologis Lovaniensibus praestitum sit, eorum praefatio indicat.''

Importance

The 1583 edition of the Leuven Vulgate served as the basis for the elaboration of the Sixtine and

Clementine A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who f ...

editions of the Vulgate. Using the Leuven Vulgate as basis, Nicolaus van Winghe (1548), and Nicolas de Leuze (1550). Both translations were published in

Jakub Wujek Jakub Wujek (1541 – 27 April 1597) was a Polish Jesuit, religious writer, Doctor of Theology, Vice-Chancellor of the Vilnius Academy and translator of the Bible into Polish. He is well-known for his translation of the Bible into Polish: the ...

based his translation, the Wujek Bible, on the 1574 edition of the Leuven Vulgate. Because the Douay-Rheims Bible was translated in 1582, it is a virtual certainty that the Leuven Vulgate, presumably the 1574 revision, was the translation basis for the Douay-Rheims Bible.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

1547 edition

* * (click on "metadati", if the image does not load)

1574 edition

* *

1583 edition

* *{{Cite web, url=http://www.flandrica.be/flandrica/items/show/455, title=Biblia sacra. Quid in hac editione a theologis Lovaniensibus praestitum sit, eorum praefatio indicat, year=1583, website= Flandrica.be, publisher= Flanders Heritage Library, access-date=2020-02-20

Miscellaneous

Leuven Vulgate from 1574
''Antique Holy Bible''
Biblia Sacra
Editions of the Vulgate 1547 books 16th-century books in Latin