The Holy Catholic Bible
Origin, Inspiration and History
 Origin of the Holy Catholic Bible: No book in the history of the world has wielded as much influence on
civilization as the Holy Catholic Bible. It is unique in that it had God as its Author, while human beings composed
all other books. The word: Bible is derived from the Greek word biblion meaning: the book, the plural is ta biblia:
the books. In the Greek language, this word is a neuter, but later on the word biblia was taken for a feminine
singular, the book. The Holy Catholic Bible is truly indeed the Book of Books.
 Inspiration for the Holy Catholic Bible: The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Sacred Books contained in the
Holy Catholic Bible; therefore they have God as their true author. This does not mean that He dictated what they
were to write, but rather they were inspired to write down in their own words and in the manner & style of the day,
what He wanted them to write. He guided them to the extent that they wrote faithfully what they had been taught.
This inspiration covers not only matters of faith and morals, but extends as well to the facts of history, as related to
the entire Holy Catholic Bible.
 History of the Holy Catholic Bible: No original manuscripts of the Holy Catholic Bible have come down to us, due
to the perishable material upon which they were originally written and to the fact that the Roman emperors decreed
the destruction of the manuscripts, during the Christian persecutions in the first centuries of the Catholic Church.
While none of the original manuscripts are known to exist today, some very ancient transcriptions have survived.
1. Ancient Manuscripts of the Holy Catholic Bible: The oldest known Hebrew manuscript is a copy of the Book of Isaiah,
written in Hebrew in the second century AD. It was found in a cave near Jerico in AD1947. Also from the
second century AD, is the oldest known Greek fragment that is in the John Ryland Library in Manchester, England.
2. The Septuagint Translation of the Old Testament: In 233BC, Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, established
the Alexandria Cannon of the Old Testament. The Greek Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament, was
begun in 250BC and completed in 100BC. It was made for Greek speaking Jews in Egypt. The Latin title:
Septuagint, comes from an account of how seventy-two Jewish scholars were asked by the Greek King of
Egypt, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, to translate the Torah or Pentateuch from Hebrew into Greek. Although the
translators were kept in separate chambers to do their work, each one produced an identical version of the
text in only seventy-two days. Jesus Christ and His twelve Apostles used this translation in their teachings.
3. The Holy Catholic Bible in the First Two Centuries after Jesus Christ: In the early days of the Catholic Church,
the Scriptures were read at divine services in Greek. An early translation from Greek to Latin was needed for
the many Christians, living in the West, who could not understand Greek. Such translations, put together,
made up the first Holy Catholic Bible written in Latin. Since it was prepared by so many different people of
such varying educational backgrounds, the translations were uneven and inaccurate. By the second century AD,
there were a number of Latin translations; the most widely circulated version being the Old Latin or Italia.
4. The Vulgate Translation of the Holy Catholic Bible: In AD375, because of the many versions of the Italia,
Pope Damasus asked St. Jerome to correct the New Testament. St. Jerome began his work with the four Gospels,
and then corrected the other sacred books, but much more hastily. In AD384, he completed his work in Rome.
After Pope Damasus’ death, St. Jerome went to the Holy Land to continue his work. He spent thirty-four-years
there, translating the Alexandria Canon of the Old Testament into Latin from books written in Aramaic, Greek,
Hebrew and Old Latin. This work extended over a period of fifteen-years and was a prodigious task. By the
ninth century AD, his version of the Holy Catholic Bible was universally accepted. It was given the official title:
Latin Vulgate, meaning: disseminated language or people’s Bible. In AD1546, at the Council of Trent, the
Roman Catholic Church designated the Latin Vulgate as the official translation of the Holy Catholic Bible. Thus
the Alexandria Canon of the Old Testament has always been a part of the many translations of the Holy Catholic Bible.
5. The First Printed Holy Catholic Bible: In the fifteenth century AD, the invention and development of a practical
printing process, by Johannes Gutenberg, did more to revolutionize and modernize the world than any other
invention. Prior to this, all manuscripts had to be copied by hand and only wealthy people could afford to own
one. It did away with the professional copyist and eliminated the many human errors made during copying. By
AD1450, Gutenberg had developed the art of printing to the point that he was ready to print his very first book,
the Latin Vulgate version of the Holy Catholic Bible. It took him two-years to print just two-hundred copies.
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