Third, from the usage of the universal Church.
Third, from the usage of the universal Church.
§ 498. (III) From the usage of the universal Church. “The universal Church has always employed only these languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, in the common and public use of the Scriptures.” Augustine says: “For an understanding of Scripture, the knowledge of three languages is necessary, namely, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. At the time of Jerome in the entire East only the Greek Septuagint translation was in public use” (De doctr. Christ., bk. 2, c. 11).
We respond. (1) Even if one could prove the Scriptures existed in certain churches for some time only in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, it still would not follow that it was a crime to translate them into a vernacular language, for an inference drawn from the negation of an act to the negation of a right is not valid. (2) We have already shown earlier that the books of both the Old and New Testaments were translated into the vernacular languages for each people. (3) We also repeat our argument: As the prophets and apostles preached, so also did they write in the vernacular language for those to whom they preached and wrote. Therefore their writings, too, can be set forth in the vernacular language of each people.