L9 Old Latin and the Vulgate


The Christian Bible’s translation into Latin is important for both religious and cultural influence. The Old Latin version spread throughout North Africa and other Latin-speaking regions of the empire. The Vulgate translation by St. Jerome was resisted by St. Augustine…but finally this translation helped separate Western Christendom from the Byzantine Empire and thus a major influence on European culture for the next millennium.


  1. The Latin version of the Bible has had the greatest historical role.

    1. Constantine moved his capital to Constantinople. The church in the East was Greek speaking, read the LXX Old and New Testament.

    2. The Bishop of Rome held supreme ecclesiastical and political authority in Western parts of the empire.

    3. As the West moved toward the Latin usage, the East retained the Greek.


  1. Latin was the second language of the Empire whereas Greek was its first.

    1. Some Roman philosophical literature was in Latin: Cicero, Virgil, Horace.

    2. In the first Christian writings by Paul Greek was the language, and those of the Christian “fathers” e.g. Justin, Clement were also in Greek.

    3. Latin translations may date as late as 2nd or 3rd century, perhaps originating in communities in North Africa brought by Roman merchants. Tertullian of Carthage (160-225) wrote in Latin in his refutations of the heretics.


  1. To generate a standard translation into Latin, Pope Damasus (304-384) charged his secretary Jerome of Aquileia the task of translating the Bible into a standard Latin version (the Vulgate).

    1. Jerome committed himself to asceticism in a monastery in Bethlehem.

    2. He was a good linguist, versed in Latin and Greek, and knew some Hebrew.

    3. He wrote many biblical commentaries filled with linguistic and topographical information.

    4. The translation of the Vulgate was Jerome’s greatest accomplishment as a scholar. He began the work in 382-384 using the Greek text of the Gospels. He translated the Psalms from Greek and then from Hebrew and increasingly preferred the Hebrew text over the LXX.

    5. The earliest form of the complete Vulgate is from the 6th century, in it is Jerome’s translation of all the Hebrew canonical books, Psalter, Gospels, revised version of Acts, letters and revelation.

    6. Jerome’s translation did not become standard immediately and was revised and corrected several times by other scribes.


  1. The Vulgate translation made its way through ecclesial use. His translations and oversight led to a seamless Scripture we recognize as the Bible. The Vulgate along with Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine became the source and shaper of liturgy, literature, and learning during the Middle Ages of the West.