VULGATE. The term " Vulgate " or " Vulgata editio " was used by Jerome of the Septuagint Version as compared with the original Hebrew: of the common or corrupt text of the Septuagint as contrasted with the text in Origen's Hexapla: of the Old Latin version which was made from the Septuagint; and of the New Testa ment of the Old Latin Version. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) declared Jerome's own version to be the " vetus et vulgata editio " of the Scriptures as beUeg the common and authentic version of the Church, and from that time the term has been used of this version alone. The work was undertaken by Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus, commonly called Jerome (331-420), at the request of Pope Damasus. In the first instance (383) he was asked to revise the current Latin version of the New Testament. He therefore produced a revised vers ion of the Gospels. Whether he revised the rest of the New Testament in the same way we do not know. His next task was to revise the Psalms. The revision which he made at this time (383) was made by comparison with the Septuagint and is known as the Roman Psalter. because Pope Damasus introduced it into ecclesiastical use in the Roman Church, in which use it remained until the time of Pope Pius V. At St. Peter's and in the Ambrosian rite it is still retained. In 387 Jerome made a more careful revision by comparison with the text of Origen's Hexapla. This is known as the Galilean Psalter, because it is said to have been introduced into Gaul by Gregory of Tours. In 1566 Pope Pins V. assigned this the place of honour formerly held by the Roman Psalter. Jerome next revised the rest of the Old Testament by comparison of the Hexaplar text. But apart from the Psalms, only the Book of Job in this revision has been preserved. It now became his aim to make his revised
version of the Old Testament direct from the Hebrew, and with this intent he learned Hebrew at forty-five years of age under the guidance of a converted Jew. In 392 he began a translation of the Books of Samuel and Kings, and he published them with the Preface Prologus galeatiss, which gives an account of the Hebrew Canon. The rest of the books, including a large part of the Apocrypha, followed, and the work was completed in 405. No revision or translation at this time seems to have been made of Wisdom, Eccleslasticus, or the Books of Maccabees; and other books, such as Esther, Judith, and Tobit were translated in haste. In the age in which Jerome lived a thorough knowledge of Hebrew was im possible. With this qualification, " it is admitted on all hands that Jerome's version from the Hebrew Is a masterly work, and that there is nothing like it or near it in antiquity " (Oath. Dict.). The demand for Jerome's undertaking was due to the existence at the end of the fourth century of a great variety of Latin renderings. " Three groups of Old Latin manuscripts are recognised, each representing a distinct type of text : (1) African, agreeing generally with quotations in Tertullian and Cyprian; (2) European, either independent or based on the African; (3) Italian, formed on the European type, and revised with the aid of later Greek manuscripts. Many of the Old Latin manuscripts, however, present texts which cannot be assigned to either of these classes " (M. R. Vincent). Jerome's labours were devoted mostly