> Is/was the Vulgate, as such, used as a service book?
>
> No, or at least not often. The readings from the Vulgate for the Mass would
> be included in the Lectionary, those for the Office in the Breviary. But
> the Vulgate itself would be used for private reading and study.
[snip, snip]
> Bill.
I'm not sure what might count as a "service book" in this context,
but were not de luxe, often illuminated manuscripts of the Gospels,
often with elaborately worked covers, commonly placed on the altars
of medieval churches? They might not have been read from directly,
but they were there. And Claire Donovan, in her book on the
Winchester Bible, talks of "display Bibles" which were not only set
up open to reveal a particularly impressive illuminated folio in
public display within churches, but also carried open in procession.
Perhaps, however, in this respect, it would be more appropriate to
call them liturgical items than service books.
While on the subject of the Vulgate Bible, when this discussion
began, I was congratulating myself as one of the lucky few who had
managed to find a used Vulgate in a used bookstore, in Oxford, I
believe. But since I am not by any means a biblical scholar, the
subsequent tenor of the discussion has left me wondering just what
kind of Vulgate I have. It is entitled "Biblia Sacra Vulgatae
Editionis Sixti. V Pont. Max. jussu recognita et Clementis viii.
auctoritate edita", and the publishing information is "Tornaci
Nerviorum, typis Soc. Sancti Joannis Evangelistae. Desclee Lefebvre
et Soc. m.dccc.lxxxv". Does anyone know this edition, and can anyone
estimate its reliability and relation to the medieval Vulgate?
Many thanks.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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