Catholics forbidden to read the Bible

[TypesAndShadows]

"Matt Guitar Man:

Don’t forget, except for some of the extended genealogies and statistics in numbers etc. If a Catholic attends mass every day, in a three year period he/she will have nearly the whole Bible read to them

After all the very first Bible was Jerome’s *Vulgate * in about 400 AD. There were no protestants then and there would not be for another 1100+ years.

While we’re all enthusiastic for history and God and the Church, we should avoid spreading these sorts of Catholic urban legends.

If a Catholic attends Mass every day for 3 years (the Sunday and Feast Day cycle is three years, and the weekday cycle is two years) they’ll have heard almost all of the Gospels (~90%), and a lot of the New Testament (~70%), and a smattering of the Old (~10%). They will never hear the book of Judith, for example.

Jerome’s Vulgate was not at all the first complete Bible. It wasn’t even the first translation of the Bible into Latin. He included some of the older “Vetus Latina” versions in his Vulgate, especially when it came to the Deuterocanon. The various Old Latin translations are why we still pray “give us this day our daily bread” and “gloria in excelsis deo”, despite these not corresponding to the Latin in Jerome’s Vulgate.

I worry that, when we include these Catholic legends in otherwise good criticisms of anti-Catholic legends, we discredit the good arguments. After all, once you spot an obvious error in a criticism, how carefully do you consider the rest of the argument? To say nothing of the general goodness of Truth!

 

[Sujo]

I am 86 yrs old and went to a Catholic Grade School [8yrs] The Nuns told us that the Church “discourages” us from reading the Bible, because we do not know enough about the History of the Church to be able to translate it. The Church did not ban us from owning or reading it. Personally I would rather go to a Bible Study with a priest officiating, rather than a lay teacher., which I did as a young adult. My priest-teacher said that we should take the Bible as a whole, rather than trying to translate a certain parable. For instance John 14-6 says one thing and yet I was taught that Jews, and people of other religions go to Heaven, as long as they believe in God.

 

[Steveabrous]

Jerome’s Vulgate was not at all the first complete Bible. It wasn’t even the first translation of the Bible into Latin.

I understand that that Jerome translated from older Latin texts but how could there be a complete version of the bible before Jerome’s since the canon wasn’t settled on prior to Jerome. We consider that Damasus ordered Jerome to do the Vulgate based on his list which included books that were not universally accepted at that time such as Revelations.

So your telling me that there are "“Bibles” that included all the books and only the books we use today before Jerome?

I would like some references on that.

 

[Classicist]

Anyone who opens the Loreto Publishing version of the Douai-Rheims Bible will see, on the first page inside the cover, these words:

"THE HOLY BIBLE

INDULGENCES

Pope Leo XIII granted to the faithful who shall read for at least a quarter of an hour the books of the Sacred Scripture with the veneration due to the Divine Word and as spiritual reading, an indulgence of 300 days.

Preces et Opera, 645."

Leo XIII was Pope from 1878-1903. Somewhat before Vatican II.

 

[Fragile]

Catholics forbidden to read the Bible

St Jerome said “Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ”

The Church [Catholic] compiled, protected, preserved and canonized the “Bible” … why do all of that if the Church really wanted to keep the Bible away from its people?

I have known Catholics who listen to Protestants tell them we don’t [insert here: Read, Use, Hear, Know] the Bible and believe it … When a fellow Catholic leaving Mass said to me - "Why don’t we hear the Bible at Mass?" … I said - "what do you think you hear at Mass? The First reading, Psalm, Second Reading and Gospel Reading - plus all the prayers [like the Lord’s Prayer]?" … they responded … “that’s the Missal - not the Bible”

Go figure … ?!? …

Catholics come to Mass to worship God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass … it is not Bible study … The Mass is a Liturgy - the public work of the Church - founded by Christ and grounded in the roots of Jewish tradition. I have brought Bibles to Mass - and know many people who do. II know many people who bring their own Missals to Mass …

For Catholic Christians - Bible Study is something you do in small groups or alone - outside of Mass …

For many Protestant faiths [yes - I have belonged to protestant churches - first hand knowledge] Sunday worship is in reality a large Bible Study led by the pastor which may or may not include prayer, symbolic communion and singing - and which may be proceeded or followed by small group - Sunday School …

But the Church loves the Bible as God’s Word. She wants us to hear it proclaimed ******to study it

 

[Zooey]

Anyone who opens the Loreto Publishing version of the Douai-Rheims Bible will see, on the first page inside the cover, these words:

"THE HOLY BIBLE

INDULGENCES

Pope Leo XIII granted to the faithful who shall read for at least a quarter of an hour the books of the Sacred Scripture with the veneration due to the Divine Word and as spiritual reading, an indulgence of 300 days.

Preces et Opera, 645."

Leo XIII was Pope from 1878-1903. Somewhat before Vatican II.

That is in the front of my Baronius-published Douay-Rheims as well. And that Bible is a page for page reproduction of a Douai-Rheims published in 1898.