The Old and New Testaments - from the 1899 edition published by John Murphy Company, Baltimore, Maryland. Imprimatur: James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (the whole revised and diligently compared with the latin Vulgate by the Servant of God Bishop Richard Challoner). The Old and New Testaments and Historical and Chronological Index have been beautifully retypeset, faithfully to reproduce the original 1899 Gibbons edition. The text is set in the classic Century Expanded font, which was originally used in the 1899 edition, and has been lovingly typed line by line to represent exactly the original edition. The Family Register pages have also been digitally typeset and redrawn.

The text is set in CenturyExpandedBT font, size 8.5pt. Click here to open sample pages in PDF format.

Maps - from the 1911 edition published by Wm. Aleiter Co., Catholic Supply House, Indianapolis. Imprimatur: John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York. Eleven coloured maps digitally redrawn by hand and fully coloured.

Click on a map to view an enlarged version in a new window

Engravings - from the 1941 edition published by The Douay Bible House, New York. Imprimatur: Francis J. Spellman, D.D., Archbishop of New York. These thirty-two beautiful engravings recreate key moments in Biblical History. In our edition, they have been scanned, carefully remastered and enhanced, and their captions have been retypeset and corrected to match the appropriate verses in the Bible text.

Click on an engraving to view an enlarged version in a new window

Included in this edition - Three Papal encyclicals regarding the importance of the Holy Bible!

PROVIDENTISSIMUS DEUS - Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII - On the Study of Holy Scripture
SPIRITUS PARACLITUS - Encyclical of Pope Benedict XV - On St. Jerome
DIVINO AFFLANTE SPIRITU - Encyclical of Pope Pius XII - On Promoting Biblical Studies, Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Providentissimus Deus

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Catholics looking for the traditional Catholic Bible in English should look no further!

• The Douay-Rheims Bible is an English translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible, a version universally used in the Church for over 1500 years, itself meticulously translated from the original Hebrew and Greek by St. Jerome (A.D. 340-420).

• In 1546, the Council of Trent declared the Latin Vulgate Bible as authentic, and declared that “No one (may) dare or presume under any pretext whatsoever to reject it” (4th Session, April 8, 1546).

• In 1943, Pope Pius XII stated that the continuous use of the Vulgate Bible in the Church for many centuries showed that it was “free from any error whatsoever in matters of faith and morals” (Divino Afflante Spiritu (1943), paragraph 21).

• In 1749-1752, Bishop Challoner, knowing that many English Catholics were reading distorted Protestant versions of the Bible such as the King James Version (KJV), made major revisions to the Douay-Rheims version, to improve its readability without diminishing its accuracy.

• The revised Douay-Rheims Bible has been approved by the Church many times over, including the approbation of Cardinal Gibbons for the 1899 edition that Baronius Press is publishing.

• For over 300 years, the Douay Rheims Bible was the only Catholic English translation of Scripture used. It continues to be used officially in Catholic churches today.

• Many anti-Catholics accuse the Church of having hidden Scripture from the faithful by refusing to translate it into the vernacular tongue. The Douay-Rheims was completed in 1609, and is therefore older than the King James Version, the oldest Protestant translation still in use, which was published in 1611. The Rheims New Testament was published nearly thirty years earlier, in 1582.

• Further, the translators of the KJV make specific reference to the Douay version in their translators’ preface. It is commonly acknowledged that, in preparing the KJV, the translators made use of the Rheims New Testament and adopted many of its readings in preference to those of other English editions.

• Since it was translated quite literally and with great reverence for each individual word from the Vulgate, which in turn reflects the structure of the original languages very clearly, the Douay-Rheims Bible can give great insight into the minds of the sacred authors. The notes, written by Bishop Challoner are entirely faithful to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church.