Biblium

The FREE Bible app now translated into Latin! Faith Comes By Hearing in partnership with the Vatican Press recorded the Latin Edition of the New Testament, the Neo-Vulgate, for use in Catholic seminaries, parishes, and personal individual study around the world. Included in the Latin version are various Psalms and Scripture readings in Gregorian chant.

The Neo-Vulgate is currently the typical Latin edition published by the Catholic Church for use in the Roman Rite. As the first vernacular version of the Bible, it is only fitting that it be among the languages in which Faith Comes by Hearing makes the Holy Scriptures available in audio using the rendering of the translator, St. Jerome.

St. Jerome’s work

Born Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius, Saint Jerome was a prolific writer and a powerful voice in the Christian community. He lived from 342 B.C to 420 B.C. and devoted his life to accurately translating the Holy Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin.

The writings of Jerome express a scholarship unsurpassed in the early church and helped to create the cultural tradition of the Middle Ages. Jerome revised his works several times to gain the best translations of the times, still existing and in use today.

Message from Pope Benedict XVI

“. . . I ask that future priests, from their time in the seminary, receive the preparation needed to understand and to celebrate Mass in Latin, and also to use Latin texts and execute Gregorian chant. . . .” (Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 2007)

Liturgical Significance

“The Roman Church has special obligations towards Latin, the splendid language of ancient Rome, and she must manifest them whenever the occasion presents itself.”

- Pope John Paul II, Dominicae Cenae, 1980

“The use of Latin language. . . is to be preserved in the Latin rites.”

- Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium [Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy], no. 36

“Care must be taken to ensure that the faithful may also be able to say or sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.”

- Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 54

“I believe this is a worthwhile project. With the renewed interest in Latin in the Church these days, a recording of the spoken Scriptures does have a place. An ancillary benefit would be the availability of another opportunity for students of Latin to hear a new recording of spoken Latin.”

– James F. Pauer , President, Latin Liturgy Association

“From an academic point of view, I can assert that there is considerable scholarly interest in the Latin Vulgate because it is the substratum for the prayers of the Roman liturgy and offers the spiritual milieu for it. To hear, as well as to read, the Holy Scriptures in Latin – the first language into which the original Hebrew and Greek were translated – would be a wonderful source for reinforcement of biblically grounded faith as well as cultural enrichment.”

– Rev. Thomas M. Kocik, Editor, Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal