Thursday, December 13, 2007
RESEARCH TOOL - BIBLIA CLERUS
Check out the apparently new website. A link to a Freeper post sent in by a reader announced it, indicating that it comes straight from the Vatican.
Vatican, Dec. 12, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican Congregation for the Clergy has unveiled a powerful new web site, linking Bible texts with commentary from the Church fathers, doctors of the Church, councils, catechisms, and other magisterial documents.
The Biblia Clerus site links each passage of the Bible-- Old and New Testaments-- with commentary taken from a rich variety of sources. In an introductory note Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, explains that the site provides "Sacred Scripture, its interpretation in light of Sacred Tradition and the teachings of the Magisterium, with appropriate theological commentary and exegesis."
The sources of the commentary-- many of them provided in full on the site-- include the works of the apostolic fathers, saints, Popes, and councils. The site also provides links to the Code of Canon Law (and the Code for the Eastern Church), and to the catechisms of the Council of Trent, St. Pius X, and the 1997 edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Although designed for priests, the Biblia Clerus site is available to the general public. The entire contents of the site can be downloaded.
This promises to be awesome! So far for me the Church Fathers are a reportedly rich source of Catholic theology that I've found mostly impenetrable, making me a curious kid who runs from door to door knocking but never finding one open. If this website is searchable, as it appears to be, the key may at last be placed in the hands of the curious Catholic in the pew.
