49 Fun Facts About Catholic Bible

How many books are in the Catholic Bible?

The Catholic Bible has 73 books, seven more than the 66 of Protestant Bibles; the extra seven are Old Testament books, and Esther and Daniel are longer too.

How many books make up the Old Testament of a Catholic Bible?

The Catholic Old Testament has 46 books: the 39 of the Hebrew Bible as Christians count them, plus seven more that Protestant Bibles set aside as Apocrypha.

What term describes the seven Old Testament books Catholics accept that are absent from the Hebrew canon?

Deuterocanonical, from the Greek for 'second canon', is the Catholic term for the seven books; Protestants group them as Apocrypha, which Luther set apart in his 1534 Bible.

Which 16th-century theologian, a convert from Judaism, coined in 1566 the term for books of 'second canon'?

Sixtus of Siena, a Dominican convert from Judaism, coined 'deuterocanonical' in his 1566 Bibliotheca Sancta for books whose canonical standing was settled later, in both Testaments.

Which of these is NOT one of the seven books unique to the Catholic Old Testament?

Ecclesiastes is in every canon; the seven are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch and 1 and 2 Maccabees.

The seven disputed books are all found in which ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures?

The Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament begun by Jewish scholars in the 3rd century BC, contains all seven books and was the scripture most early Christians read and quoted.

Which 16th-century council fixed the Catholic canon in 1546 and declared the Vulgate the Church's authentic Latin Bible?

The Council of Trent defined the canon on April 8, 1546, anathematizing anyone who rejected the listed books, and declared Jerome's Vulgate the authentic Latin text.

Which pope commissioned Jerome in 382 to revise the Latin Gospels, the start of the Vulgate?

Pope Damasus I, whose secretary Jerome was, asked him in 382 to revise the Latin Gospels; Jerome later translated the Old Testament from Hebrew on his own initiative.

Jerome did most of his Vulgate translation work while living for 34 years near which town?

The Roman aristocrat Paula funded his monastery beside the Church of the Nativity; he died there in 420.

What are the Latin Bible translations that predate the Vulgate collectively called?

Vetus Latina ('Old Latin') is the collective name for the pre-Vulgate Latin versions, translated piecemeal from the Greek Septuagint from the 2nd century onward.

The two official post-Trent Latin Bibles, of 1590 and 1592, are named after which two popes?

The Sixto-Clementine Vulgate remained the standard Latin text until the Nova Vulgata of 1979.

Which pope promulgated the Nova Vulgata, the Church's official Latin Bible, in 1979?

John Paul II promulgated the Nova Vulgata with the apostolic constitution Scripturarum thesaurus on April 25, 1979; Paul VI had set up the revision commission in 1965.

In which town did English Catholic exiles publish the first Catholic Old Testament in English?

The New Testament appeared at Rheims in 1582 and the Old Testament at Douai in 1609-10, giving the Douay-Rheims its name.

Which 1943 Pius XII encyclical encouraged Catholic translations from Hebrew and Greek rather than the Vulgate?

Divino afflante Spiritu, issued by Pius XII on September 30, 1943, urged translations from the original Hebrew and Greek and endorsed critical study of literary forms.

Which 1970 Catholic translation became the basis of the US Mass lectionary?

The New American Bible, published in 1970 after decades of work sponsored by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, was adopted as the basis of the US Mass lectionary.

The 1966 Jerusalem Bible was inspired by a French translation by Dominicans at which school?

The Jerusalem Bible followed La Bible de Jérusalem (1956), produced by Dominicans of the École Biblique in Jerusalem; J. R. R. Tolkien contributed to the English edition.

Vatican II's 1965 Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation is known by what Latin title?

Dei verbum ('The Word of God'), promulgated by Paul VI on November 18, 1965 after a vote of 2,344 to 6, is Vatican II's constitution on revelation and scripture.

Which Latin mark in a Catholic Bible shows a bishop has authorized its publication?

Imprimatur is Latin for 'let it be printed', the bishop's permission to publish; it usually follows a censor's nihil obstat declaring the text free of doctrinal error.

In the Book of Tobit, which archangel travels in disguise with young Tobias?

Raphael, calling himself Azariah, guides Tobias to Media and tells him a fish's burnt heart and liver drive out demons and its gall cures blindness.

In Tobit, what blinds the pious Tobit as he sleeps in his courtyard?

Sparrow droppings fall into Tobit's eyes as he sleeps by the courtyard wall (Tobit 2:10), forming white films; physicians' ointments only worsen it until fish gall restores his sight.

Which demon kills Sarah's suitors on their wedding nights in the Book of Tobit?

Asmodeus has killed seven of Sarah's bridegrooms before Tobias, guided by Raphael, drives the demon off with the smoke of a burning fish heart and liver.

Which Assyrian general does Judith behead in his tent to save her city of Bethulia?

Judith beheads the Assyrian general Holofernes with his own sword after plying him with wine (Judith 13), a scene painted by Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi and Klimt.

Most modern Catholic scholars classify the Book of Judith as what?

Most Catholic scholars read Judith as a theological novel: its anachronisms, such as Nebuchadnezzar ruling the Assyrians from Nineveh (Judith 1:1), signal didactic fiction rather than history.

1 Maccabees is best known for recounting the origin of which Jewish festival?

Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple in 164 BC after Judas Maccabeus retook Jerusalem, an eight-day festival instituted in 1 Maccabees 4:59.

Which Seleucid king's bans on Jewish practices provoked the Maccabean revolt?

Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed circumcision and Sabbath observance and desecrated the Temple in 167 BC, provoking the revolt led by Mattathias and his son Judas Maccabeus.

Catholics cite 2 Maccabees 12 as scriptural support for which practice?

2 Maccabees 12:44-46 praises Judas Maccabeus for having atonement made for his fallen soldiers, calling prayer for the dead 'holy and pious'; Catholics cite it for purgatory.

Unlike 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees was originally written in which language?

2 Maccabees was composed in Greek as an abridgement of a five-volume history by Jason of Cyrene (2 Macc 2:23), whereas 1 Maccabees was written in Hebrew.

By what Latin name, roughly 'church book', is the Book of Sirach also known?

Ecclesiasticus, 'the church book', is the Latin name for Sirach, written in Hebrew around 180 BC by Jesus ben Sira, who names himself in the text (Sirach 50:27).

Who translated Ben Sira's Hebrew wisdom book into Greek around 117 BC, adding a prologue?

Ben Sira's grandson translated the book into Greek after settling in Egypt in 132 BC; his prologue is the earliest witness to the threefold division of Law, Prophets and Writings.

The Book of Wisdom was actually composed in Greek by a Jewish author in which city?

The Book of Wisdom was written in Greek in Alexandria, the center of Hellenistic Judaism, probably in the first century BC, making it among the latest Old Testament books.

The Book of Baruch is named after the scribe of which prophet?

Baruch ben Neriah was Jeremiah's scribe, who wrote the prophet's oracles on a scroll (Jeremiah 36); the book bearing his name is set during the Babylonian exile.

The story of Susanna and the Elders appears in Catholic Bibles as which part of Daniel?

Susanna is Daniel chapter 13 in the Vulgate and Catholic Bibles; young Daniel exposes the two elders' false adultery charge by questioning them separately about the tree.

In 'Bel and the Dragon', how does Daniel prove the idol Bel's priests are eating the offerings?

The tale is Daniel chapter 14 in Catholic Bibles and places Daniel at the court of Cyrus.

The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children is inserted into which scene in Daniel?

The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three are inserted into the fiery furnace scene (Daniel 3:24-90); Azariah is Abednego's Hebrew name and the song became the canticle Benedicite.

Which two books of the Hebrew Bible never explicitly mention God?

Esther and Song of Songs never name God in their Hebrew text; the Greek additions to Esther, kept in Catholic Bibles, supply prayers and explicit references to God.

Which three disputed books did the 1592 Latin Bible and first English Catholic Bible print only in an appendix?

The Prayer of Manasseh and 1 and 2 Esdras (the Vulgate's 3 and 4 Esdras) were relegated to an appendix in the 1592 Clementine Vulgate and the 1609-10 Douay Old Testament, outside the canon defined at Trent.

The 1450s Gutenberg Bible was an edition of what?

The Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz around 1454-55, reproduced the Latin Vulgate text; of roughly 180 copies, about 49 survive, and a Paris copy bears a rubricator's date of 15 August 1456.

Codex Vaticanus has been in the Vatican Library since at least what century?

The 4th-century manuscript came to Western scholars' attention through Erasmus's correspondence with the library's prefects.

Since the 1969 Ordo Lectionum Missae, Sunday Mass readings follow a cycle of how many years?

Since 1969 Sunday readings run on a three-year cycle, Years A, B and C, featuring Matthew, Mark and Luke respectively; weekday readings run on a two-year cycle.

How many readings, including a psalm, does the post-Vatican II Sunday Mass lectionary provide?

Sunday Mass has four: a first reading (Old Testament, or Acts in Eastertide), a responsorial psalm, a New Testament epistle and a Gospel; weekday Masses have one reading, a psalm and the Gospel.

Monsignor Ronald Knox's mid-20th-century English Bible was translated from which base text?

Knox translated from the Clementine Vulgate, checking it against Hebrew and Greek, publishing the New Testament in 1945 and the Old in 1949; he was also a detective novelist.

The 1966 RSV Catholic Edition adapted a translation produced by which body?

The RSV Catholic Edition (1966) adapted the Revised Standard Version, copyrighted by the National Council of Churches' Division of Christian Education, placing the deuterocanonical books in their Catholic Old Testament order.

Per the Letter of Aristeas, which king had 72 scholars translate the Jewish law into Greek?

The Letter of Aristeas says Ptolemy II Philadelphus (reigned 283-246 BC) had 72 elders translate the Torah for the Library of Alexandria, the origin of the Septuagint, 'the Seventy' (LXX).

Which book directly follows Nehemiah in the Catholic Old Testament?

In the Catholic Old Testament, Tobit comes directly after Nehemiah, opening the run of Tobit, Judith and Esther that precedes the books of Maccabees.

Which gathering of 382 is credited in the Decretum Gelasianum with the earliest Catholic canon list?

The Council of Rome of 382 under Pope Damasus I is credited, via the Decretum Gelasianum, with the list; Hippo (393) and Carthage (397) confirmed the same canon.

How many books does the Catholic New Testament contain?

The Catholic New Testament has 27 books, the same list Athanasius gave in his Easter letter of 367; the canon disputes between Catholics and Protestants concern only the Old Testament.

How many Pauline epistles does the Catholic New Testament count, with Hebrews listed separately?

The seven general epistles run from James to Jude, and the Apocalypse of John closes the canon.

A 2008 Vatican letter ruled that the divine name Yahweh in liturgical texts must be rendered how?

The Congregation for Divine Worship's letter of 29 June 2008 directed that the tetragrammaton be rendered 'Lord', following the Jewish Adonai and the Septuagint's Kyrios, rather than pronounced as Yahweh.

Which Catholic Old Testament book recounts the martyrdom of seven brothers and their mother?

2 Maccabees 7 tells of seven brothers and their mother tortured to death by Antiochus IV for refusing pork, each professing hope in bodily resurrection.