The Douay-Rheims Bible, also known as the Douai Bible, and abbreviated D-R or DV, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English by members of the English College, Douai, who were commissioned by the Catholic Church. Its name stems from the fact that the New Testament portion of the translation was published in Reims, France in 1582, while the Old Testament translation was published in two volumes in 1609 and 1610 by the University of Douai. The purpose of the translation was to uphold Catholic tradition in the face of the Protestant Reformation, which was then dominating religious academic debate. Margin notes took up the bulk of the volumes. Much of the text of the D-R employed a densely Latinate vocabulary, so much so people found portions of it to be unreadable. Revisions to the translation were made in 1749, 1750 and 1752 by Bishop Richard Challoner, who used the King James Version of the Bible as a base text rather than the Latin Vulgate. Subsequent editions of the Challoner revision reproduce his text of the Old Testament with few changes, but Challoner's New Testament text was extensively revised by Bernard MacMahon in a series of editions from 1783 to 1810, although subsequent editions of the Challoner Bible printed in England often follow the 1749 and 1750 text, as do most 20th century printings and online versions of the Douay-Rheims. Although other translations are more commonly used in English-speaking Catholic churches today, the Challoner revision of the Douay-Rheims text is often the Bible of choice for more traditional Catholics, often used in Latin Missals, and revered for its history, tradition and language, much as the King James Version is revered by more traditional Protestants.
Recommended Resources
A source for printed copies of the Douay-Rheims Bible, several editions may be purchased online, including Communion Bibles, the Haydock Bible, the Douay-Rheims and Clementina Vulgate side-by-side and others. Informational articles and photographs depict the making of its Bibles, and discusses reasons why the Douay-Rheims is the best for Catholics.
http://www.bestcatholicbible.com/
Narrated by Steve Webb, the audio recording of the New Testament and the Old Testament is available in audio MP3 and visual MP4 formats, so that the user can read the text as they hear the translation of the Bible that is often the choice of English-speaking traditional Catholics. The audio Bible can be purchased as an instant download, although it needs to be downloaded to a PC using Windows, and decomposed with a zip utility. It is also available on a memory stick or DVD.
http://www.douayrheimsaudiobible.org/
The Douay-Rheims Bible is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by the Catholic seminary, English College in Douai, France. This earlier version made use of Latinisms that were not uncommon at the time, but cause confusion in later generations. The full text of the earlier Douay-Rheims Bible is available here, along with a brief description of the translation.
http://douayrheimsbible.com/
Douay-Rheims Bible + Challoner Notes
The full text of the Douay-Rheims version of the Catholic Bible, along with the Challoner notes that were added later, are made available here, along with articles about this Douai-Rheims Bible, the 1989 preface, the catechism of the Bible, the most difficult Bible verses for Protestants, the one true Church, the Church and her enemies, and the arguments against the Reformers. An overview and contacts for the presenters of this site is also presented.
http://www.drbo.org/
The dedication page to the Douay-Rheims Bible is presented, and a video presents the history of the translation. Although no longer available, the complete Douay Bible collection, consisting of approximately 1,900 editions of Scripture dated from the 16th through the 20th century, are shown in photographs and defined. Comparisons between the Original Rheims (1582), Nary (1718), Witham (1730) and Simon-Webster (1730) are made using the Gospel of Matthew.
http://www.douaybible.com/
The Real Douay-Rheims Bible Site
A history of the Douay-Rheims translation is presented, with a focus on the original translation from the Latin Vulgate rather than the later translation from the King James Bible, although the later Challoner revision is also discussed, with comparisons made. Catholic and Protestant brochures on the original translation are available for downloading, and copies of the original translation are available for purchase.
http://www.realdouayrheims.com/
