An historical text. In 1955 the Douay-Rheims Challoner Bible received the Imprimatur ✠ of the English Catholic Church from the Archbishop of Westminster.

Douay-Rheims Translation 1609

The Douay-Rheims Bible is a Roman Catholic translation of the Bible. It was translated from the Latin Vulgate into English, with reference to the Hebrew and Greek and other English translations. It was started by English Catholic exiles at the English College at the University of Douai (spelt by the English as Douay) in northern France. The translation team was led by Gregory Martin, an Oxford scholar, under the sponsorship of William (later Cardinal) Allen. The New Testament was published in 1582 at Rheims in northern France, and was thus known as the Douay-Rheims. The whole of the Old Testament was translated and published by the University of Douai in 1609. The Douay-Rheims Old Testament has 46 books including the 7 deuterocanonical books of the Catholic tradition (Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 1 and 2 Machabees). It also includes the longer Septuagint versions of Esther and Daniel. The naming and ordering of the books, and the numbering of the psalms follows that of the Vulgate.

Challoner Revision 1752

Starting in 1749, the whole Bible was revised by Richard Challoner (1691-1781), an English Catholic bishop, and the revision was published in 1752. He revised the text according to the Clementine edition of the Vulgate (published by Pope Clement VIII in 1592) and the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. He also updated the spelling, vocabulary, and sentence structure to make it more readable.

The Challoner revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible is still used by some English speaking Catholics today.

Imprimatur ✠

In 1955 the Douay-Rheims Challoner Bible received the Imprimatur of the English Catholic Church from the Archbishop of Westminster.

Digital Edition

The 1752 Challoner revision of the Douay-Rheims Bible was digitised by the British and Foreign Bible Society at the request of friends within the Catholic community. The Douay-Rheims Bible is important because the Douay-Rheims was the standard English language Bible translation used by Catholics before the Jerusalem Bible was produced. It is also of interest since the 1582 New Testament was one of the English translations consulted by the committee who worked on the King James Authorised Version of the Bible and referred to in its preface Translators to the Reader.

This version of the 1752 Douay-Rheims Challoner Version is out of copyright, but is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.