Catholics Not Supposed to Read Bible Before 1952?

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St. John Chrysostom (344/354 -407 AD) Doctor of the Church.
“To become adult Christians you must learn familiarity with the scriptures”
[On the Letter to the Ephesians - Education of Children.]

“But what is the answer to these charges? ‘I am not,’ you will say, ‘one of the monks, but I have both a wife and children, and the care of a household.’ This is what has ruined everything, your thinking that the reading of scripture is for monks only, when you need it more than they do. Those who are placed in the world, and who receive wounds every day have the most need of medicine. So, far worse even than not reading the scriptures is the idea that they are superfluous. Such things were invented by the devil.”
[St. John’s Second Homily on Matthew section 10
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St. Isidore (560-636 AD) Bishop and Doctor of the Church
“Prayer purifies us, reading instructs us… If a man wants to be always in God’s company, he must pray regularly and read regularly. When we pray, we talk to God; when we read, God talks to us.
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“All spiritual growth comes from reading and reflection. By reading we learn what we did not know; by reflection we retain what we have learned.
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“Reading the holy Scriptures (the Bible) confers two benefits. It trains the mind to understand them; it turns man’s attention from the follies of the world and leads him to the love of God."
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St. Venerable Bede (died 735 AD) He is the first person known to translate the Gospel into Old English (Anglo-Saxon.)

Yet, all clerics and scribes could read Latin? It must have been for the benefit of the laity.

Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903 AD)
“The solicitude of the apostolic office naturally urges and even compels us…to desire that this grand source of Catholic revelation (the Bible) should be made safely and abundantly accessible to the flock of Jesus Christ”
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Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914 AD)
“Nothing would please us more than to see our beloved children form the habit of reading the Gospels - not merely from time to time, but every day.”
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Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922 AD) He repeated St. Jerome’s statement:

“Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
He expressed his desire that, “… all the children of the Church, especially clerics, to reverence the Holy Scriptures, to read it piously and meditate on it constantly.”
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Pope Pius XII 1943 AD
“Our predecessors, when the opportunity occurred, recommended the study or preaching or in fine the pious reading and meditation of the sacred Scriptures.
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“…This author of salvation, Christ, will men more fully know, more ardently love and more faithfully imitate in proportion as they are more assiduously urged to know and meditate the Sacred Letters, especially the New Testament…”
[Divino Afflante Spiritu]
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He also granted indulgences (a blessing of God’s grace) to those who read Scripture. (1 Cor. 4:1.)

All before 1952
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Eileen_T said:
Hardly, when there is an indulgence attached to the reading of Scripture.
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I have a Douay Rheims Bible that was printed in 1899, and in the front, it says that there is a plenary indulgence for reading the Bible for a half-hour or more.
That sounds like permission & then some!!👍 👍
 
stove said:
I heard somewhere that Catholics were not supposed to read the bible before 1952. Is there any truth to this?
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My mother is now 72 years old. Her testimony to me is that when she was a child in the 1940’s living in North Bergen NJ, she was told by her catechists, which were comprised of sisters, that reading the bible is for the priests.

This statement of hers I can believe to be true, because even myself can bear witness that a priest once told me that reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church is not for people like me who is not ordained (this was about four years ago).

Obviously the priest who told me that statement was wrong and I knew it. Obviousely the sister/s who taught my mom that idea was also wrong, but unfortunatly my mom did not know it. Even to this day my mother will not read scripture which is really sad.

Peace
 
Lets not forget the 4 papal documents that speak of the importance of the bible and bible reading.

Lets start with Providentissimus Dues 1893 by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Benedict XV Spiritus Paraclitus
Pope Pius Divino Afflante Spiritu

And lastly Die Verbum- cant remember the year on that “NEW” one, but I think one can safely say this will suffice.

These papal documents can be accesed on the EWTN site or the official site of the Holy See.

Sorry I just picked up one of my old bibles prior to vat 2 and the above 3 were listed. I dont memorize dates of papal documents.
 
First_of_9 said:
This is not true, as previous posters said. I merely attempted to provide a reason for this erroneous belief.
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Did you provide a reasonable reason, or perpetuate myth?

"To repeat, Catholics were taught that they should not read protestant translations, i. e. the KJV.

well… if one doesn’t trust the accuracy of another’s translation, should one be encouraged to read and study what is disagreed with? Do Christian churches encourage members to read the JW Bible, or are they told to be careful?

This was misunderstood to mean that Catholics should not read ANY Bible.

misunderstood, or misrepresented?

In fact, one of the causes of the establishment of Catholic schools in the U. S. was that children attending PUBLIC schools in the 1800s were required to read the KJV Bible in school.

never heard that one before, any unbiased references or links to back that up?

Catholics objected to the fact that only the KJV was required to be read, and and the D-R was not allowed."

Michael
 
Mt_28_19_20 said:
In fact, one of the causes of the establishment of Catholic schools in the U. S. was that children attending PUBLIC schools in the 1800s were required to read the KJV Bible in school.

never heard that one before, any unbiased references or links to back that up?

Michael
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When I was in elementary school (public school) in the 1930s, our opening exercises every day consisted of the Pledge, a chapter from the KJV, and the Lord’s Prayer…
 
NMJenny said:
When I was in elementary school (public school) in the 1930s, our opening exercises every day consisted of the Pledge, a chapter from the KJV, and the Lord’s Prayer…
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You must be south of the Mason Dixon line…

Oh, yes- you are!🙂
 
Hellisreal said:
Better tell my BIL this, as he (MIL and FIL) had his bible blessed before then.

Oh well. 🤷
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Nah, they didn’t print Catholic bibles before 1952. A guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy told me that.
 
EJM said:
My mother is now 72 years old. Her testimony to me is that when she was a child in the 1940’s living in North Bergen NJ, she was told by her catechists, which were comprised of sisters, that reading the bible is for the priests.

This statement of hers I can believe to be true, because even myself can bear witness that a priest once told me that reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church is not for people like me who is not ordained (this was about four years ago).

Obviously the priest who told me that statement was wrong and I knew it. Obviousely the sister/s who taught my mom that idea was also wrong, but unfortunatly my mom did not know it. Even to this day my mother will not read scripture which is really sad.

Peace
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I know catechists today who don’t like it when the students read the Bible or the Catechism, because it causes them to come up with “difficult” questions.

Of course the proper solution is for these catechists to learn their Bible and Catechism, but some are just born lazy, so they discourage the students from doing independent research. (This, of course, eventually causes them to rebel.)
 
Hellisreal said:
NMJenny;2761687:
When I was in elementary school (public school) in the 1930s, our opening exercises every day consisted of the Pledge, a chapter from the KJV, and the Lord’s Prayer…
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You must be south of the Mason Dixon line…

Oh, yes- you are!🙂
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Yeah, see, I grew up in Massachusetts in the 1970’s. Every morning in public school we read from the Communist Manifesto and plotted the overthrow of the NATO nations.
 
Gamera said:
Yeah, see, I grew up in Massachusetts in the 1970’s. Every morning in public school we read from the Communist Manifesto and plotted the overthrow of the NATO nations.
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:rotfl:

I wear a tin hat.
 
Tim_Kirchoff said:
Once, my science teacher showed us the difference between tin and aluminum foil.
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🙂

I am sorry, just reacting from a thread in apologetics where a link showed a anti catholic view, that said the Earth does not move!

Tin, al u mini um, titanium,

Its all good, when you are one flew over the cuckoo’s nest like me:thumbsup:
 
Hellisreal said:
You must be south of the Mason Dixon line…

Oh, yes- you are!🙂
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Actually this was in New Jersey, where I lived as a child.

South of the Mason Dixon line???:confused: Well, at least you didn’t compliment me on my good English…🤷
 
Gamera said:
Yeah, see, I grew up in Massachusetts in the 1970’s. Every morning in public school we read from the Communist Manifesto and plotted the overthrow of the NATO nations.
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This is Mr. Hellisreal here, sorry for the confusion. My name is Bob.
My wife will have my head on a platter now, she takes this stuff so seriously.
She thinks I should learn sometning here, about my faith. Everytime I see what she is replying to, I have to wonder what the heck is going on here?
I wondered why she had to dig up my fathers bible to get the "papal documents for so called educated catholics here.

But, she seems to hate going to Mass because of people like you.
She is not even taking the sacraments now. I see this forum, and I see why.
 
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