About the Douay-Rheims Translation

In 1568, following the conversion of the English monarchy to Protestantism, English Catholic exiles established the English College of Douay, Flanders, under William (later, Cardinal) Allen. In 1578, a team of professors at the college (most originally from Oxford) began the work of preparing an English translation of the Bible for Catholic readers, the first such translation into modern English.

In 1582, after a temporary relocation to Rheims, France, the college published the New Testament with a preface and explanatory notes aimed at answering many Protestant anti-Catholic arguments. Though a translation was ready, the Old Testament could not be published at that time due to financial troubles. However, after the college had returned to Douay, the Old Testament was published in two parts in 1609 and 1610.

The translation of both Old and New Testament was made directly from the Latin Vulgate instead of the original Hebrew or Greek, which led to some awkwardness in the language. In some instances where no English word conveyed the full meaning of the Latin, a Latin word was “anglicized.” Rather than settle for an inaccurate translation, the translators left the work to the ordinary reader to look further into the meaning and significance of unfamiliar words they encountered.

In 1749, Dr. (later, Bishop) Richard Challoner began a major revision of the Douay and Rheims texts, which had become increasingly obscure in the almost two centuries since the translations were first produced. He modernized the language and style, while correcting some of the original translation according to a later version of the Latin Vulgate and the original Hebrew and Greek. St. John Henry Newman believed the changes to be so considerable that it “almost amounted to a new translation.” Still, Bishop Challoner’s revision became the most popular biblical text for English speaking Catholics until the twentieth century.

The translations of the Challoner Revision have not been revised in any way in our Student’s Douay-Rheims volumes. However, three formatting changes have been made to enhance readability for students. First, the numbering of the verses has been removed, and the verses grouped into paragraphs to accentuate the narrative. Second, the footnotes from the Douay-Rheims text have been omitted. Third, Challoner’s revision made heavy use of the colon for punctuation. In many places in this edi-tion, the colon has been replaced by either a comma or a semi-colon, as appropriate.

Sources

Akin, Jimmy. “Uncomfortable Facts about the Douay-Rheims,” Catholic Answers Magazine (Feb. 1, 2002) (available at www.catholic.com).

“History,” The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version (available at www.gutenberg.org).

Newman, St. John Henry. “The History of the Text of the Rheims and Douay Version of Holy Scripture,” The Rambler (July 1859) (available at www.newmanreader.org).

Ward, B. “Douay Bible,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, New York: Robert Appleton Company (1909) (available at http://www.newadvent.org).