What Bible prior to Vatican II?

[slewi]

Hello all!

I am in RCIA currently and am very interested in the different translations of the Bible and Catholic tradition.

Does anyone know which bible version was in use before the changes at Vatican II? My guess is Douay-Rheims, but I could be wrong.

Thanks!
Steve

 

[Eileen_T]

Our family had the Douay Rheims pre-V2

 

[puzzleannie]

the bible used in our Catholic school in the 50s and 60s was the Confraternity Version English Translation, translated from the Vulgate, Nihil Obstat 1941. My mother’s Catholic bible, large, white leatherbound with gorgeous color pictures was a gift when she entered the Church in 1950, Douay-Rheims-Challoner, with revisions in the 1800s and early 1900s, with new English translation of the psalms orderd by Pius XII, dated 1947. We also had a huge German Catholic bible dated in the 1700s, a family heirloom. My dad also had the Ronald Knox translation in a paperback version, I believe from Image Books.

 

[Roman_Army]

**The Douay-Rheims, the Confraternity Version, the Latin Vulgate, and if you were an advanced scholar there was the original texts in the original languages. However, the Douay-Rheims (which is still in wide use) was the most popular catholic English translation of course. Today, the best English translation (according to many orthodox scholars) is the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. That one has the approval and recognition of Pope Paul VI. The latest NAB and NRSV don’t have Papal recognition. The Douay-Rheims, Latin Vulgate, and the Nova Vulgata (New Vulgate in Latin) also have Papal recognition. **

If you’re capable of reading it, I would recommend the Douay-Rheims and/or Latin Vulgate (which is by St. Jerome).

 

[Anima_Christi]

Wasn’t the Confraternity only the New Testament? I thought that they never got around to translating the Old Testament?
I own a reprint Confraternity New Testament in addition to the Douay-Rheims; both are translated directly from the Vulgate.

 

[puzzleannie]

Anima Christi:

Wasn’t the Confraternity only the New Testament? I thought that they never got around to translating the Old Testament?
I own a reprint Confraternity New Testament in addition to the Douay-Rheims; both are translated directly from the Vulgate.

I still have my bibly from Confirmation (6th grade) and it says Confraternity version in the front. The OT reads very much like the DR-C, with the same name spellings, Noe for Noah, etc. I believe that the new OT translation was put on hold and the end result was the New American Bible.

 

[anawim]

Anima Christi:

Wasn’t the Confraternity only the New Testament? I thought that they never got around to translating the Old Testament?
I own a reprint Confraternity New Testament in addition to the Douay-Rheims; both are translated directly from the Vulgate.

The Confraternity Edition was the entire Douay-Rheims with an updated NT in terms of the English spelling/grammar. They were in the process of updating the OT when the NAB was published in 1970, and so the project was scrapped. I’ve always wondered how much they had completed.