Help | The Challoner Douay Rheims version of the Sacred Bible
Version Information
The original Douay Rheims version was translated from the Latin Vulgate and diligently compared with editions in Hebrew, Greek, and other languages. The New Testament of the Douay Rheims was first published by the English college at Rheims in A.D. 1582. The Old Testament of the Douay Rheims was first published by the English college at Douay in A.D. 1609.
The Challoner Douay Rheims version was prepared by Bishop Richard Challoner, about A.D. 1749-1752, by revising the original Douay Rheims version and by comparing it to the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible. The Challoner Douay Rheims was a combination of an update of the original Douay Rheims version and a new translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible.
The version of the Latin Vulgate used by Bishop Challoner was probably the Clementine Vulgate, a version approved by Pope Clement VIII in A.D. 1598. Clement VIII's version was based in large part on a version published under his predecessor, Pope Sixtus V, and so his name often appears on this version along with Pope Clement VIII.
Jerome's Latin Vulgate was translated by Saint Jerome from Hebrew and Greek manuscripts in the late 4th and early 5th century. Saint Jerome was not the first to translate the Bible into Latin. In the centuries before Jerome, there were many varied translations of the books of the Bible into Latin. Jerome consulted with these texts in addition to translating from the Hebrew and Greek. Saint Jerome actually was responsible for three different versions of the Bible in Latin.
The older Latin versions of the Bible, those that predate Saint Jerome's versions, are called Vetus Latina, meaning "Old Latin." During the time of Saint Jerome, there were almost as many different versions of the Bible in Latin as there were copies of the Bible in Latin. Pope Damasus I ordered Jerome to work on an updated Latin version of the Bible in order to address this problem.
This electronic copy of the Challoner Douay Rheims version is entirely in the public domain, including all html and css files.
May God be ever blessed.