The Douay-Rheims Bible: History, Text, and Editions

The Douay-Rheims Holy Bible is the traditional Catholic Bible in English. It was translated from the Latin Vulgate by English Catholic scholars in exile: the New Testament was printed at Rheims in 1582, the Old Testament at Douay in 1609-1610. In the eighteenth century Bishop Richard Challoner revised the whole (1749-1752), and his text, with his notes, is what is printed and read today under the name "Douay-Rheims." For more than three centuries it was the Bible of English-speaking Catholics, the English beside the Latin in their missals and the Scripture of their catechisms and prayer books.

What is the Douay-Rheims Bible?

The Douay-Rheims is an English translation of the Vulgate, the Latin Bible of the Western Church, which the Council of Trent declared "authentic" in 1546. It is not translated from the Hebrew and Greek, as almost every modern Bible is, but from the Latin text the Church had read, sung and commented for a thousand years; the story of that Latin text is told in The Latin Vulgate Bible: St Jerome's Text Explained.

It is a Catholic Bible in the full sense: it carries all 73 books, with Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the two books of Machabees, and the longer Esther and Daniel. It also carries notes that explain hard passages according to the Fathers and answer the Protestant readings of the time. The name joins the two towns where its two halves were printed, Rheims (today Reims) and Douay (today Douai), both in northern France.

The history of the Douay-Rheims

The English College at Douay and Rheims

Under Elizabeth I the Catholic religion was outlawed in England, and the Catholic universities were closed to English Catholics. In 1568 William Allen, later Cardinal, founded the English College at Douay, in the Spanish Netherlands, to train priests for the English mission. Political troubles drove the college to Rheims in 1578; it returned to Douay in 1593.

The college saw that the English Protestant Bibles then in circulation were a weapon against the faith, both by their renderings and by their notes, and that Catholics had no English Bible of their own. The task fell to Gregory Martin, a former fellow of St John's College, Oxford, and one of the best scholars of the house.

Gregory Martin and the Rheims New Testament (1582)

Martin began in October 1578 and translated, it is recorded, about two chapters a day. William Allen, Richard Bristow, Thomas Worthington and William Reynolds revised his work, and the notes were prepared by Allen with Bristow and Worthington. The New Testament appeared at Rheims in 1582, with no episcopal imprimatur but with a recommendation signed by four divines of the University of Rheims. Gregory Martin died at Rheims on 28 October of that same year.

The Douay Old Testament (1609-1610)

Martin had translated the Old Testament as well, but the exiled college could not afford to print it. It appeared only after the return to Douay, in two volumes, in 1609 and 1610. Like the Clementine Vulgate of 1592, it printed the Prayer of Manasses and the third and fourth books of Esdras in an appendix, outside the canon.

The Rheims New Testament came out almost thirty years before the King James Version of 1611, and its translators, although they did not acknowledge it, borrowed a good deal of its vocabulary.

Bishop Challoner's revision (1749-1752)

The first Douay-Rheims was a scholar's book: very literal, full of Latin words left as they were (Pasche, Azymes, the bread of Proposition, Corbana), in the spelling of the 1580s. By the eighteenth century it was hard to read and hard to find.

Richard Challoner (1691-1781), later Vicar Apostolic of the London District, revised it between 1749 and 1752: three editions of the New Testament (1749, 1750, 1752) and one of the Old (1750). He modernised the spelling, smoothed the Latinisms, shortened and rewrote the notes, and put the text in an English much closer to the prose of his day, in places closer to the King James. Cardinal Newman judged the changes so great that they "almost amounted to a new translation."

This is the point that matters to anyone buying a Bible today: what is sold as "the Douay-Rheims" is Challoner's text, not the 1582-1610 original. The original survives in facsimiles and reprints for students; the Challoner revision is the Bible English-speaking Catholics actually read, and the one quoted throughout this site. In the United States, Archbishop Francis Kenrick made a separate revision (1849-1859), and the Confraternity New Testament of 1941 revised Challoner again; neither displaced him.

What sets the Douay-Rheims apart

Vulgate numbering of the Psalms

The Douay-Rheims numbers the Psalms after the Greek and the Latin. From Psalm 10 to Psalm 146 its number is usually one lower than in Bibles that follow the Hebrew: the Miserere is Psalm 50, not 51; the "Twenty-Third Psalm" is Psalm 22, "The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing."

This is the numbering of the Roman Breviary and Missal, and of the Fathers who commented the Psalms; it is why a missal citing "Ps. 42" for Judica me matches the Douay and not a modern Bible.

The deuterocanonical books

All seven books the Reformers set aside are present in their place, not in an appendix: Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, 1 and 2 Machabees, with the Greek chapters of Esther and Daniel (the Canticle of the Three Children, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon). Why the Church holds them as Scripture is explained in The Deuterocanonical Books.

The Vulgate names of books and persons

The Douay-Rheims keeps the forms of the Latin Bible:

Douay-Rheims	Modern Bibles
1 and 2 Kings	1 and 2 Samuel
3 and 4 Kings	1 and 2 Kings
1 and 2 Paralipomenon	1 and 2 Chronicles
1 and 2 Esdras	Ezra and Nehemiah
Canticle of Canticles	Song of Songs
Osee, Abdias, Micheas	Hosea, Obadiah, Micah
Sophonias, Aggeus	Zephaniah, Haggai
Apocalypse	Revelation

Persons too: Noe for Noah, Isaias, Jeremias, Elias, Eliseus. The complete list of the 73 books, with both names, is in The Catholic Bible: All 73 Books and How It Differs.

The annotations

Challoner's notes are short and doctrinal. They explain the Catholic sense of texts on the sacraments, the Church, Our Lady and the saints, and they gloss obscure words. For a fuller commentary, readers turn to the edition of George Leo Haydock, first issued at Manchester from 1811, whose notes draw at length on the Fathers; it is reprinted today in facsimile of its nineteenth-century printings.

Douay-Rheims vs King James

The King James Version (1611) and the Douay-Rheims are of the same generation and the same English, which is why they are so often compared. The differences come from three sources: the King James translates the Hebrew and Greek, the Douay the Latin; the King James was made for the Church of England, the Douay for Catholics; and the King James sets the deuterocanonical books apart as "Apocrypha," where most of its editions now leave them out entirely.

A few verses show the difference in doctrine as well as in wording:

Verse	Douay-Rheims	King James
Matthew 3:2	"Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."	"Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Luke 1:28	"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee"	"Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee"
1 Corinthians 11:27	"whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily"	"whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily"
James 5:14	"let him bring in the priests of the church"	"let him call for the elders of the church"

The Douay keeps "full of grace," the words of the Ave Maria; "or drink," which supports Communion under one kind; "priests," which reads the anointing of the sick as a sacrament. In the Our Father of Matthew 6:11 it has, after the Latin supersubstantialem, "Give us this day our supersubstantial bread," keeping the word the Fathers read of the Eucharist, while Luke 11:3 has "our daily bread." As English prose, the King James is generally judged more musical; as a Catholic Bible, it has never been approved by the Church.

Douay-Rheims vs RSV-CE and NABRE

The modern approved Catholic Bibles, the RSV Catholic Edition (1965-1966, second edition 2006) and the New American Bible (1970, revised as the NABRE in 2011; an earlier revision of the NAB supplies the readings of the modern US Lectionary), translate the Hebrew and Greek, in modern English. They carry the full canon and ecclesiastical approval, and on many points of the original languages they are more exact.

Their limits, seen from tradition, are of another kind. They do not follow the text of the traditional liturgy: where the Vulgate and the Douay have "she shall crush thy head" in Genesis 3:15, they have "he" or "they," and the Psalms carry the Hebrew numbering. Their notes, especially those of the NAB, reflect the historical-critical schools of the twentieth century and at times weaken the traditional reading of the prophecies. The Douay-Rheims reads Scripture as the Fathers, the councils and the saints quoted it. The wider landscape of translations is set out in What Bible Do Catholics Use? Versions Compared.

Why traditional Catholics prefer the Douay-Rheims

• It is the English of the liturgy. The traditional Mass and Breviary are sung from the Vulgate; the Douay renders that same text, verse by verse, so that a missal and a Bible agree.
• It follows the authentic edition. Trent declared the Vulgate authentic for public reading, preaching and disputation; a translation of it carries that text into English.
• It speaks the language of the saints. Challoner's Garden of the Soul, the Baltimore Catechism and the old prayer books quote it; reading it, we hear Scripture as generations of Catholics heard it.
• Its sacred register. "Thee" and "thou" and the gravity of its English set the word of God apart from the language of the street, as Latin sets apart the liturgy.

Which Douay-Rheims edition to buy

Since every modern edition is Challoner's text, the choice is mostly one of format, notes and printing:

• TAN Books reprints the 1899 edition of John Murphy Company of Baltimore, with Challoner's notes and the approbation of Cardinal Gibbons (1 September 1899); editions sold under the Saint Benedict Press name come from the same house. It is the most common Douay-Rheims in the United States and comes in standard, large-print and pocket sizes.
• Baronius Press (London) prints the Challoner text with his notes in several sizes and leather bindings, and a Douay-Rheims and Clementina Vulgata edition with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate and the English on facing pages, including the appendix of the Prayer of Manasses and 3 and 4 Esdras. For anyone who wants the Douay-Rheims and the Latin side by side in print, it is the book to look for.
• Haydock editions are for readers who want a commentary: the Challoner text with Haydock's extensive patristic notes.

When buying second-hand, check the title page: "revised by Bishop Challoner" and an approbation or imprimatur are the signs of the standard Catholic text.

Reading the Douay-Rheims online

The Challoner text is in the public domain, and the Douay-Rheims Bible can be read online on many sites. What a website rarely gives is the Latin it was translated from. The Iter Fidei Catholic Bible app sets the Douay-Rheims beside the Clementine Vulgate, verse by verse and book by book, with the Vulgate numbering and names kept, so that the English of a missal and the Latin of the Mass can be read together on a phone, offline.

Douay-Rheims Bible PDF

Many search for a Douay-Rheims Bible PDF; we do not offer one. Scanned files are heavy and hard to search on a phone, while the app carries the whole Douay-Rheims and the Vulgate, Latin and English, with a daily text and a reminder. Rather than print a PDF, install Join early access here. and keep the Douay-Rheims with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Douay-Rheims Bible Catholic?

Yes. It was made by Catholic priests of the English College for Catholic readers, it carries the full 73-book canon, and Challoner's revision was printed for two centuries with the approval of the English Vicars Apostolic and of the American bishops. It is a Catholic Bible in text, notes and origin.

Is the Douay-Rheims Bible approved by the Catholic Church?

The Challoner text has been printed with episcopal approval since the eighteenth century; the edition reprinted by TAN carries the approbation of Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore (1899), and older editions bear the imprimatur of their bishops. It is not the translation of the modern US Lectionary, but approval for reading has never been withdrawn.

Is the Douay-Rheims Bible accurate?

It is a faithful, literal rendering of the Vulgate, the edition Trent declared authentic for public readings, disputations, preaching and exposition. Because it translates a translation, in some verses it follows the Latin where modern scholarship prefers another reading of the Hebrew or Greek; in doctrine it is entirely sound.

Is the Douay-Rheims Bible hard to read?

Less than its reputation. Challoner's English is that of the eighteenth century, with "thee" and "thou" and some Latin words, like the King James. The names (Paralipomenon, Abdias) take a few days to learn; reading it beside a missal or the Latin makes it familiar quickly.

How many books are in the Douay-Rheims Bible?

Seventy-three: 46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. The original Douay also printed the Prayer of Manasses and 3 and 4 Esdras in an appendix, as non-canonical; Challoner's revision dropped them, though the Baronius Latin-English edition restores them.

Does the Douay-Rheims Bible include the Apocrypha?

It includes the books Protestants call the Apocrypha, Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch and the Machabees, but as part of the Old Testament, since the Church holds them canonical. Only the three texts of the Vulgate appendix are outside the canon.

Who wrote the Douay-Rheims Bible, and when?

Gregory Martin translated it at the English College, then at Rheims, from 1578, revised by William Allen, Richard Bristow, Thomas Worthington and William Reynolds. The New Testament was published in 1582 and the Old in 1609-1610; Bishop Challoner revised the whole in 1749-1752.

How do you pronounce Douay-Rheims?

"DOO-ay REEMZ," in the usual English pronunciation. The two towns are spelled Douai and Reims in modern French, and the old English spellings Douay and Rheims are kept in the name of the Bible.

The Iter Fidei app carries the Douay-Rheims Bible beside the Latin Vulgate, with the traditional Divine Office, missal and prayers. Join early access here.

Sources. Holy Scripture, Douay-Rheims, Challoner revision (Psalm 22:1-2; Matthew 3:2; Matthew 6:11; Luke 1:28; Luke 11:3; 1 Corinthians 11:27; James 5:14); the Rheims New Testament (1582) and Douay Old Testament (1609-1610), prefaces; Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis, Sixto-Clementine edition (1592); Council of Trent, Session IV (8 April 1546), Decree concerning the Edition and Use of the Sacred Books.