The
Latin Church has a number of more or less different full translations of the psalms into Latin. Three of these translations, the
Romana,
Gallicana, and
juxta Hebraicum, have been traditionally ascribed to
Jerome, the author of most of the
Latin Vulgate; however, the
Romana was not produced by Jerome. Two other translations, the Pian and
Nova Vulgata versions, were made in the 20th century.
Versio Vetus Latina Also called the
Psalterium Vetus, the psalter of the
Vetus Latina Bible. Quotations from the Psalms in Latin authors show that a number of related but distinct Old Latin recensions were circulating in the mid-4th century. These had by then substantially replaced the older Latin 'Cyprianic Psalter', a recension found in the works of
Cyprian of Carthage that only survived in the 4th-century writings of the
Donatists; and are all thought to be revisions of a lost common early 3rd-century version.
Versio Ambrosiana This is the version used in the
Ambrosian rite for use in
Milan.
Versio Mozarabica This is the version used in the
Mozarabic rite for use in
Toledo. The Roman Psalter is indeed one of five known revised versions of the mid-4th century Old Latin Psalter; but, compared with the four others the revisions in the Roman Psalter are in clumsy Latin and signally fail to follow Jerome's known translational principles, especially in failing to correct harmonised readings. Nevertheless, it is clear from Jerome's correspondence (especially in the long and detailed Epistle 106) that he was familiar with this psalter text, albeit without ever admitting any responsibility for it; and consequently it is assumed that the surviving
Versio Romana represents the minimally revised Roman text as Jerome had found it. The Roman version is retained in the
Roman Missal and is found in the writings of Pope
Gregory the Great, but for the
Divine Office, it was, from the 9th century onwards, replaced throughout most of the
west by Jerome's so-called "Gallican" version. It lived on in England where it continued to be used until the
Norman Conquest and in
Saint Peter's Basilica in
Rome and fragments of it were used in the Offices at
St. Mark's Cathedral in
Venice from at least 1609 until 1807.
Versio Gallicana The
Versio Gallicana or
Psalterium Gallicanum, also known as the Gallican Psalter (so called because it became spread in
Gaul from the 9th century onward This became the psalter of the
Sixto-Clementine Vulgate bible. This most influential psalter has a distinctive style which is attributable to its origins as a translation of the
Septuagint. Following the Septuagint, it eschews anthropomorphisms. For instance, the term
rock is applied to
God numerous times in the Hebrew Psalter, but the Latin term
petra does not occur as an epithet for God in the
gallicana. Instead more abstract words like
refugium, "refuge";
locus munitus, "place of strength"; or
adiutor, "helper" are used.
Versio juxta Hebraicum The
versio juxta Hebraicum or
versio iuxta Hebraeos was the last made by Jerome. It is often informally called the "Hebrew Psalter" despite being written in Latin. Rather than just revise the
Gallicana, he translated these psalms anew from the
Hebrew, using pre-
Masoretic manuscripts ca. 392. This psalter was present in the Bibles until
Alcuin's reforms linked to the
Carolingian liturgical reform: Alcuin replaced the
versio juxta Hebraicum by a version of the psalter used in
Gaul at the time. The latter became known as the
Gallican psalter (see the section above), and it superseded the
versio juxta Hebraicum. The
versio juxta Hebraicum was kept in Spanish manuscripts of the Vulgate long after the Gallican psalter had supplanted it elsewhere. The
versio juxta Hebraicum was never used in the
liturgy.
Versio Piana Under
Pius XII, a new Latin translation of the psalms, was published by the
Pontifical Biblical Institute. This version is sometimes called the
Bea psalter after its author,
Augustin Bea. In 1945, its use was officially permitted by the pope through the
motu proprio In cotidianis precibus, but not required. The 1969 psalter deviates from the previous versions in that it follows the
Masoretic numbering of the psalms, rather than the Septuagint enumeration. It is the psalter used in the edition of the Roman Office published in 1986. ==Comparison==