Vulgate facts for kids

The Vulgate (which means Vulgata in Latin) is a very important translation of the Christian Bible. Most of the work on this translation was done by a saint named Jerome. The Vulgate was written in the Latin language during the 5th century.

The Latin phrase Versio vulgata actually means "the version commonly used." This shows how popular and important this Bible translation became.

What is the Vulgate Bible?

The Vulgate is a special version of the Christian Bible. It was translated into Latin, which was the main language used in Europe for many centuries. This translation became the standard Bible for the Catholic Church for over 1,000 years.

Who was Saint Jerome?

Saint Jerome was a scholar and priest who lived a long time ago. He was born around the year 347 AD. He spent many years studying and learning different languages, including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

Jerome was asked by the Pope, Pope Damasus I, to create a new Latin translation of the Bible. The old Latin versions had some mistakes and were not always clear. Jerome's goal was to make a single, accurate, and easy-to-understand Bible for everyone.

How was the Vulgate created?

Jerome started his work in the late 300s AD. He went to Bethlehem in the Holy Land to work on the translation. This was a good place because he could learn Hebrew directly from Jewish scholars.

• For the Old Testament, Jerome mostly translated directly from the original Hebrew language texts. This was a big change because earlier Latin Bibles were often translated from the Greek version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint.
• For the New Testament, Jerome mainly revised the existing Latin translations. He compared them to the original Greek language texts to make them more accurate.

It took Jerome many years to complete this huge project. He finished most of the work by the early 5th century.

Why was the Vulgate important?

The Vulgate became very important for several reasons:

• Standard Bible: It became the official and most used Bible translation in the Western world for over a thousand years.
• Accuracy: Jerome's translation was more accurate than many earlier Latin versions because he used original Hebrew and Greek texts.
• Influence: It influenced many later Bible translations in other languages.
• Education: It was used by scholars, priests, and teachers throughout the Middle Ages.

Even today, the Vulgate is still studied by scholars. It helps us understand how the Bible was read and understood in the past.

Images for kids

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  A page from the Codex Amiatinus.

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  First page of the first volume of the Gutenberg Bible: the epistle of St Jerome to Paulinus from the University of Texas copy. The page has 40 lines.

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  The Sixtine Vulgate.

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  Concordance to the Vulgate Bible for the Stuttgart Vulgate

See also

In Spanish: Vulgata para niños