Vulgate.Net is dedicated to promoting the study of the Bible in Latin. Its mission is to produce an online critical edition of both St. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate and the Vetus Latina, along with a new English translation.
The Vulgata + Vetus Latina Project has set out to create a comprehensive online edition of the Latin Vulgate and the Vetus Latina (also called the Old Latin Bible or Vetus Itala). This edition will include a detailed critical apparatus and a new English translation. We aim to collate all known manuscripts of the Vulgate and the Old Latin Bible, making them available to readers through Vulgate.Net.
Editors of the Greek New Testament often regard the testimony of early versions as essential, particularly in the case of the Old Latin Bible and St. Jerome’s Vulgate.
Goals of Vulgate.Net
- To produce a critical edition of the Vulgate as close as possible to the original text.
- To gather and compare Vulgate manuscripts, building a thorough critical apparatus.
- To collate all extant manuscripts of the Old Latin Bible.
- To produce a new English translation of both the Vulgate and the Vetus Latina.
- To gather biblical citations made by Latin Church Fathers.
- To produce a Greek text of the New Testament that aligns with the vorlage (source text) used by Jerome.
- To provide a downloadable PDF edition of the Vulgate and Vetus Latina.
The Vetus Latina
The earliest known Christian writing in Latin is the Latin version of the Bible, traditionally known as the Vetus Latina, or sometimes, the Itala. In the early period of Western Christianity, there was no single, authorized Latin version of the Bible. Instead, numerous individuals who believed they had the necessary expertise made their own translations, many of which gained substantial use. Amid the various Latin versions was one known as the Itala, noted for its distinctive quality. Although opinions differ, many scholars believe the diverse forms of the Old Latin text that have survived may be appropriately labeled as the Itala or Vetus Itala. This term has since found a place in critical scholarship, where it refers to the various Latin texts that have been discovered or published.