BIRTHING AWARENESS PUBLISHING

Mark Mann-Harris • Birthing Awareness Publishing

The 1582 Rheims Matthew

“The text as it stood. The annotations as they meant.”

Thirty years before the King James Version, Catholic scholars translated the New Testament under persecution in Rheims. Discover the original 1582 text and the rigorous, polemical annotations that every modern edition discarded.

Download Free Volume I (PDF) View Side-by-Side Comparison
Two Volumes, One Gospel

Why Another Douay-Rheims?

Every traditional Catholic already owns a Douay-Rheims. Almost all of them own Challoner’s eighteenth-century revision, which is the standard text and which left the annotations out.

This is not a new Bible. It is the 1582 text as it was printed, and — separately, in English you can actually read — the annotations every modern edition throws away. The annotations are the product: argumentative, learned, and a direct window on how English Catholics read Scripture under persecution.

The Editions

The Works

Volume I 196 pages · print, Kindle & PDF
The 1582 Rheims: Matthew — Volume I

The 1582 Rheims: Matthew

The complete Gospel of Matthew as it was printed at Rheims in 1582: the first Catholic New Testament in English, translated from the Latin Vulgate thirty years before the King James Version.

  • • Exact 1582 spelling & marginal notes
  • • Chapter annotations printed as originally issued
  • • King James name cross-references in square brackets
  • • 1,071 verses, exactly as printed in 1582
Free PDF Paperback £14.99 Kindle £4.99
Free PDF Paperback Kindle
Volume II 121 pages · print & Kindle
The 1582 Annotations: Matthew — Volume II

The 1582 Annotations: Matthew

The exact same argument, citations, and polemic charges of 1582 rendered in present-day English so modern readers can finally follow the argument without the barrier of the language.

  • • 250 annotations & 432 marginal notes rendered
  • • Keyed chapter and verse to Volume I
  • • Short headnote before each chapter
  • • Comprehensive glossary of names & abbreviations
Paperback £11.99 Kindle £6.99
Paperback Kindle
Look Inside the Work

The Annotation Side-by-Side

Witness how the 1582 Rheims translators argued their case in sixteenth-century print, and how Volume II renders that exact polemic into clear, contemporary English.

Volume I: The 1582 Text Matthew 16:18

“18. And vpon this rocke.] Vpon that which he said Peter was, wil he build his Church: and therfore by most euident sequele he foundeth his Church vpon Peter. And the Aduersaries wrangling against this, do against their owne conscience and knowledge: specially seing they know and confesse that in Christes wordes speaking in the Syriake tonge, there was no difference at al betwene Petrus and Petra…”

Original spelling, contractions, and marginal apparatus intact.
Volume II: Contemporary Rendering Annotation 16:18

“Upon that which he said Peter was, he will build his Church; and therefore by most evident consequence he founds his Church upon Peter. And the adversaries, wrangling against this, do it against their own conscience and knowledge — especially seeing they know and confess that in Christ’s words, spoken in Syriac, there was no difference at all between Petrus and Petra…”

The exact argument, citations, and polemic — made readable for the modern reader.

Volume II contains 250 chapter annotations and 432 marginal notes, keyed directly to Volume I.

About the Author

Mark Mann-Harris

Mark Mann-Harris is not a cleric or an academic. The authority of these volumes rests entirely upon the historical text itself and the painstaking labour of transcription and rendering.

Published under Birthing Awareness Publishing, this project was undertaken to restore to readers the complete textual and polemical heritage of the first English Catholic New Testament without editorial omission.

Where It Began

For Father John Owens — faithful servant of Christ and friend.

The dedication is his because the work is. He asked the question that started it — what is it that makes the Douay-Rheims hard to read? — and the answer, the names, set the shape of the whole.

He chose Matthew, chose the King James as the reference, and read the first sample with a priest’s eye and a friend’s honesty. And when he explained why Challoner’s revision left the annotations out, the second volume began.

M. M-H.

Common Inquiries

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the Challoner text or the Rheims?

This is the 1582 Rheims — the original editio princeps. It is completely distinct from Bishop Challoner’s eighteenth-century revision (1749–52), which modernized the language and notoriously omitted the original polemical annotations.

Does this edition carry an ecclesiastical imprimatur?

No. These volumes are a historical and scholarly republication of the 1582 editio princeps and its contemporary rendering. They do not carry a modern ecclesiastical imprimatur, nor are they offered for liturgical use.

Why keep the old spelling in Volume I?

Volume I preserves the original 1582 spelling, contractions, and marginal notes to provide an uncompromising historical witness. Where names differ between Rheims and the King James Version, KJV forms are supplied in square brackets for immediate recognition.

Do I need Volume I to use Volume II?

Not strictly. Volume II stands on its own as a fascinating reading text of sixteenth-century Catholic apologetic commentary. However, because every note is keyed chapter and verse, pairing Volume II with Volume I (or with any standard Douay-Rheims) unlocks their full explanatory power.

Is the free PDF of Volume I complete?

Yes — all 1,071 verses, with the marginal notes and the annotations. It is a working edition: complete, and open to correction. The paperback and the Kindle are the finished text.

Acquire the Works

Free Text, Printed Books

The 1582 text is public domain, and the complete edition is free as a PDF — no email, no list. Volume II, the annotations in present-day English, is in paperback and on Kindle.

Download Volume I — Free PDF

The complete 196-page edition, all 1,071 verses. 487 KB.

The Books

Volume I is free as a PDF, and it is a book in two formats. Volume II is a book only — the annotations exist in print and on Kindle, and in no other form. Cream paper, UK English, printed to order.

VOLUME I

The 1582 Rheims: Matthew

Free PDF · Paperback £14.99 · Kindle £4.99

Free PDF Paperback Kindle

VOLUME II

The 1582 Annotations: Matthew

Paperback £11.99 · Kindle £6.99 · book only

Paperback Kindle

The free PDF is a working edition of Volume I. Corrections are welcome — write and they will go into the next printing.