The Haydock Bible
The 1806 Divine Office cited above carries the following announcement of what would become Haydock’s most important work: The Doway Bible and Rhemes Testament, with numerous notes, are now under correction, and will be put to press early in September, 1807.
The Doway or Douay Bible (Douay-Rheims Bible) was the standard translation for English speaking Catholics. It was originally translated from the Latin Vulgate in the 16th century chiefly by Gregory Martin, one of the first professors at the English Catholic College affiliated to the university of Douai. It was revised and newly annotated in the 18th century by Richard Challoner q.v., a scholar from university of Douai. Shortly after Challoner’s death, Father Bernard MacMahon (1736?-1816) published further revisions of the Douay-Rheims Bible. A large new edition of the Bible complete with an extended commentary seems a daunting project for a publisher of Haydock’s limited means. He may have been encouraged by the success of a similar Protestant effort: the self-interpreting Bible of John Brown (Theologian, 1722–1787), first published in 1778 and frequently reprinted. The contemporary controversy swirling around efforts to repeal the Penal Laws and the place of Biblical exegetics in that controversy were certainly major encouraging factors for the proposed new Bible. In any case, Haydock’s great enthusiasm for the Catholic cause was sufficient to overcome all obstacles.
Haydock’s old friend Father Benedict Rayment at first offered to compile the commentary for the new Bible, but soon withdrew. Haydock then enlisted his brother George, by now ordained and a pastor of the mission at Ugthorpe, for the project. Father Haydock used the standard Challoner-MacMahon text. His extended commentary was partly original and partly compiled from writings during the Patristic and later eras. Catholics believed the Bible, properly interpreted by the Church, could be used to combat Protestant attempts to dismantle the authority of Rome. As Father Haydock states in his Preface: To obviate the misinterpretations of the many heretical works which disgrace the Scripture, and deluge this unhappy country, has been one main design of the present undertaking.
Production of the Bible would be delayed well beyond the original 1807 projected date. Thomas went to Dublin to settle some business affairs and to open a new establishment. He did not return to Manchester until 1810. In a peculiar turn of events, a competing Catholic Manchester publisher, Oswald Syers, had begun publishing his own Douay Bible in March 1811. Embarrassed by his delay, Haydock had to move quickly to begin his own edition four months later. Syers finished his edition first, by 1813. However, Haydock’s more impressive edition, completed in 1814, quickly overtook it in popularity.
As were many editions of the Bible at the time, Haydock’s was published and sold by subscription, a few leaves at a time, in fortnightly “numbers.” Subscribers would accumulate the numbers and ultimately have the completed Bible bound. As the Bible progressed, new general title pages were issued in 1811, 1812, and 1813, showing variously Thomas Haydock’s Manchester or Dublin locations. For his brother George, annotating the entire Bible under a demanding production schedule while continuing his pastoral duties at Ugthorpe proved too great a task. Therefore, Father Rayment was again called on, and this time persuaded to assist. He compiled the New Testament portion of the commentary with the assistance of colleagues. Pressure to meet deadlines was the likely cause of some errors. However, given Haydock’s limited resources, his Bible must be considered a remarkable achievement. It was produced in impressive large folio with full page plates, and dedicated To that enlightened body of men, the Catholics of the United Kingdoms of England, Ireland and Scotland, in admiration of the steady zeal with which they have kept the deposit of faith bequeathed them by their forefathers, and handed down, without interruption or adulteration to their grateful posterity. The Bible received an enthusiastic welcome from English and Irish Catholics. At least 1,500 copies of the first edition were sold.
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