Did the Catholic Church Supress Knowledge of the Bible?

[Arizona_Mike]

I came across this site which maybe helpful. catholicbridge.com/catholic/did_the_catholic_church_forbid_bible_reading.php

I did hear someone citing the fact that Bibles were chained to the ambo as proof that the Church suppressed reading the Bible. That was in the day when few people could read and Bible’s were written by hand and therefore worth a large sum of money. Chaining the Bible was the only way it could be shared with the parishioners instead of being hidden in a rich persons house.

That’s true. To argue otherwise would be like claiming banks are trying to suppress literacy because they keep pens chained to the counters in their branches.

 

[AmbroseSJ]

It is also difficult for moderns to imagine life without the printing press. The Gutenberg Bible was certainly the first mass produced printed work. Until that was invented all Bibles were produced in Catholic monasteries painstakingly penned by monks at candelinght. Each one might take a year.

They were chained to the podium of the Church because they were too expensive to replace. Only nobles and the very rich could afford to commission one for their home.

Even that may be an overstatement.

What I mean is, that the Gutenberg Bible was not MASS PRODUCED by any stretch of the imagination. It was certainly produced at a greatly reduced cost compared to the hand copied manuscript copies. But that would be like saying that the Rolls Royce is mass produced because they use factories.

After all, the Gutenberg Bible was entirely in Latin, and was meant for Monasteries, Libraries and other well endowed institutions. Private individuals (unless they were royalty etc.) were not buying their own copies of the Gutenberg Bible.