''Scripturarum thesaurus'' (), is an apostolic constitution signed by

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 25 April 1979, the first year of the pontificate of this Pope; the document promulgates the ''

Nova Vulgata The ''Nova Vulgata'' (complete title: ''Nova Vulgata Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio'', ; abr. ''NV''), also called the Neo-Vulgate, is the official Classical Latin translation of the original-language texts of the Bible published by the Holy See. It ...

'' as the official Bible of the

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 ...

. In ''Scripturarum thesaurus'', the Pope declares "the New Vulgate edition of the Holy Bible as 'typical and promulgates it "to be used especially in the sacred

Liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

but also as suitable for other things" On 8 April 1546 with the

Council of Trent The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento, Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italian Peninsula, Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation ...

, the Catholic Church had approved the 4th century

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 ...

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

as its official Bible. When this decree came into effect there did not exist a single authoritative copy of this text. Rather a great variety of manuscript copies (up to 10,000) and editions. Over time different authors had attempted to improve the Vulgate with no regard for Jerome's wording, while others had attempted to restore the text to a more original version, since the 13th century this task had taken a more professional shape in the form of correctories dedicated to identifying textual variants to help scribes avoid the reproduction of common errors. By 1528 these undertakings had even led to the first

critical edition Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

of the Vulgate by

Robert Estienne The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

comparing textual variants found in different correctories, which by 1540 was already in its 4th revision.

Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...

had attempted to solve the problem created by decreeing a single text to be the Church's official Bible, but not providing a copy, by appointing a commission to oversee the creation of a single authoritative Vulgate edition. His successor

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

however did not continue appointments to this commission. This led to a 44 year gap between the decree and the first authorized version of the Vulgate, the 1590

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 a ...

. This version was short lived however due to Jesuit objections to it. It was succeeded by the 1592

Sixto-Clementine Vulgate The Sixto-Clementine Vulgate or Clementine Vulgate () is the edition promulgated in 1592 by Pope Clement VIII of the Vulgate—a 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible that was written largely by Jerome. It was the second edition of the V ...

, which remained in liturgical use until this apostolic constitution was issued. The Abbey of St Jerome in Rome was founded by

Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from ...

to prepare the revision of the Vulgate.Const. Apost. ''Inter praecipuas'', 15 June de 1933; ''

A.A.S. An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The f ...

'', XXVI, 1934, pp. 85 ss.

References

External links

* {{Cite web, title=Scripturarum Thesaurus (April 25, 1979) {{! John Paul II, url=http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19790425_scripturarum-thesaurus.html, access-date=2020-10-13, website=www.vatican.va
Address of His Holiness John Paul II to members of the Pontifical Commission for the New Vulgate
Apostolic constitutions of Pope John Paul II

See also

References

External links