Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/174

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DOUAY


140


DOUAY


in the North, and St. Edmund's, Old Hall, in the South. The Roman pension was divided equally be- tween these two until the French occupied Rome in 1799, when it ceased to be paid. Both these colleges exist at the present day. After the Revolution, Bonaparte united all the British establishments in France imder one administrator. Rev. Francis ^^ alsh, an Irishman. On the restoration of the Bourbons, a large sum of money was paid to the English Govern- ment to indemnify those who had suffered by the Revolution; but none of this ever reached Catholic hands, for it was ruled that as the Catholic colleges were carried on in France for the sole reason that they were illegal in England, they must be considered French, not English, establishments. The buildings, however, were restored to their rightful owners, and most of them were sold. The Anglo-Benedict inee alone retained their ancient monastery; and as the community of St. Gregorj' was then permanently es- tablished at Downside, they handed over their house at Douai to the community of St. Edmimd, which had formerlj' been located in Paris. These Benedictines carried on a school at Douai until 190.3, when in con- sequence of the Associations' Law passed by the Gov- ernment they were forced to leave. They returned to England, and settled at Woolhampton, near Reading. DoDD, Church History of England; Idem, ed. Tierney; R. C, Hist, of Eng. Col., Douay, ed. Dodd (1713); Butler, Reminis- cences (1S22); Kxox, Doimy Diaries (1878); Idem, Letters of Cardinal Allen (1882); J. Gillow, Haydoek Papers (1S88); H. GlLLOW, Chapels of Ushaw; Ward, History of St. Edmund's College (1893); Husenbeth, Eng. Colleges and Convents on the Continent (1849); Cameron. The Catholic Church in Scotland (Gla-sgow, 1869); Boyle, Irish College in Paris (1901); Biht, Downside (1902); Thaddeus, Franciscans in England (1898); Calendar of English Martyrs (1876); Daucoisne, Etablis.iements Britannigues it Douai (Douai, 1881 1; Handecceur. Histoire du College Anglais, Douai (Reims, 1S9S); Tailuar, Chroniques de Douai (1875); Catholic Magazine (1831). Also many unpub- lished MSS. in the Westminster archives, and in those of the "Old Brotherhood" (fonnerly the "Old Chapter").

Bernard W.\rd.

Douay Bible. — The original Douay Version, which is the foundation on which nearly all English Catholic ver- sionsare still based, owed its existence to the religious controversies of the sixteenth century. Many Protest- ant versions of the Scriptures had been issued and were used largely by the Reformers for polemical purposes. The rendering of some of the texts showed evident signs of controversial bias, and it became of the first impor- tance for the English Catholics of the day to be furnished with a translation of their own, on the accuracy of which they could depend and to which they could appeal in the course of argument. The work of preparing such a version was undertaken by the members of the Eng- lish College at Douai, in Flanders, founded by William Allen (afterwards cardinal) in 156S. The cliief share of the translating was borne by Dr. Gregory Martin, formerly of St. John's College, Oxford. His text was revised by Thomas Worthington, Richard Bristowe, John Reynolds, and Allen himself — all of them Oxford men. A series of notes was added, designed to answer the theological arguments of the Reformers; these were prepared by Allen, assisted by Bristowe and Worthington.

The object of the work was, of coiu-se, not limited to controversial purposes ; in the case of the New Testa- ment, especially, it was meant for pious use among Catholics. The fact, however, that the primary end was controversial e.xplains the course adopted by the translators. In the first place they translated directly, not from the original Hebrew or Greek, but from the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome. This had been declared authoritative for Catholics by the Council of Trent; but it was also commonly admitted that the te.xt was purer than in any manuscripts at that time extant in tlic original languages. Then, also, in the translation, many technical words were retained bodily, such as IKisrIi, /iiiriiKcfiv, (izymes, etc. In some instances, also, where it was found difTicult or impossible to find a


suitable English equivalent for a Latin word, the latter was retained in an anglicized form. Thus in Phil., ii, 8, we get "He exinanited himself", and in Heb., ix, 28, " Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many". It was considered that an ordinary reader, finding the word unintelligible, would pause and inquire its mean- ing, and that this was preferable to satisfying him with an inadequate rendering. In other cases latinisms seem to have crept in unawares, as in Luke, x, 1, " Our Lord designed also other seventy-two"; or in Phil., ii, 10, " In the name of Jesus, every knee bow of the celestials, terrestruds and inferruils". The proper names are usu- ally (though not always) taken from the \'ulgate; but the word Domimis is rendered throughout Our Lord. The general result was a version in cumbersome Eng- lish, so full of latinisms as to be in places hardly read- able, but withal scholarlj- and accurate.

In the year 1578, owing to political troubles, the college was temporarily transferred from Douai (which was then in the dominions of the ICing of Spain) to Reims, and during its sojourn there, in 1582, the New Testament was published, and became consequently known as the " Rheims Testament ". It contained no episcopal imprimatur, but a recom- mendation was appended signed by four tlivines of the University of Reims. The Old Testament was de- layed by want of means, until the whole Bible was eventually published in two quarto volumes, in 1609 and 1610, by which time the college had returned to Douai, and the reconmiendation was signed by three doctors of that university. Thus the New Testament appeared nearly thirty years before the Anglican ".\uthorized Version", and although not officially mentioned as one of the versions to be consulted, it is now commonly recognized to have had a large influ- ence on the King James Version (see Preface to R. V., i, 2; also, Carleton, "Rheims and the English Bible"). The Reims Testament was reprinted twice at Ant- werp — in 1600 and 1621 — and a fourth edition was issued at Rouen in 1633. Then it was allowed to rest for over a century, before a fifth edition appeared, with some slight changes, dated 1728, but without any place of publication stated. It is believed to have been printed in London and was edited by Dr. Chal- loner (afterwards bishop), and Father Blyth, a Car- melite. The Douay Bible was never after this printed abroad. A si.xth edition of the Reims Testament was printed at Liverpool in 1788, and a seventh dated Dublin, 1803, which was the last Catholic edition. Several Protestant editions have appeared, the best known being a curious work by Rev. \Mlliam Fulke, first published in 1589, with the Reims text and that of the Bishops' Bible in parallel columns. A Protests ant edition of the Reims Testament was also brought out by Leavitt of New York, in 1834.

Although the Bibles in use at the present day by the Catholics of England and Ireland are popularly styled the Douay Version, they are most improperly so called; they are founded, with more or less alteration, on a series of revisions undertaken by Bishop Chal- loner in 17-19-52. His object was to meet the prac- tical want felt by the Catholics of his day of a Bible moderate in size and price, in readable Engli.sh, and with notes more suitable to the time. He brought out three editions of the New Testament, in 1749, 1750, and 1752 respectively, and one of the Old Testament in 1750. The changes introduced by him were so con- siderable that, according to Cardinal Newman, they "almost amounted to a new translation". So also, Cardinal Wiseman wrote, "To call it any longer the Douay or Rheimish Version is an abuse of terms. It has been altered and modified until scarcely any verse remains as it was originally published." In nearly every case Challoner's changes took the form of ap- proximating to the Authorized Version, though hia three editions of the New Testament tlilTer from one another in numerous passages. The best known