COUNCIL OF TOULOUSE - 1229 A.D Canon 14. We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; unless anyone from motive of devotion should wish to have the Psalter or the Breviary for divine offices or the hours of the blessed Virgin; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.
Source: Heresy and Authority in Medieval Europe, Edited with an introduction by Edward Peters, Scolar Press, London, copyright 1980 by Edward Peters, ISBN 0-85967-621-8, pp. 194-195, citing S. R. Maitland, Facts and Documents [illustrative of the history, doctrine and rites, of the ancient Albigenses & Waldenses], London, Rivington, 1832, pp. 192-194.
The Council of Tarragona of 1234, in its second canon:
“No one may possess the books of the Old and New Testaments in the Romance language, and if anyone possesses them he must turn them over to the local bishop within eight days after promulgation of this decree, so that they may be burned lest, be he a cleric or a layman, he be suspected until he is cleared of all suspicion.” (-D. Lortsch, Historie de la Bible en France, 1910, p.14.)
metmom,
It is a sad note in history that the Catholic Church forbid ownership of God’s Holy Word that alone is able to save, when the very mission of every Christian Church is to spread the Gospel of Salvation and mature new believers into active followers of Christ.
After this unholy decree, it was hundreds of years of darkness before Luther came along, pointed out that salvation is via the grace of God alone as a free gift, condemned the selling of indulgences, translated the Bible into the common language, and challenged the Church where it was off track. His message was not well received by the pope at the time, nor the Church at large. Instead of self-reflection, when their authority was challenged, they huddled together and examined the writings not for truth, but for heresy.
When hauled before the Diet of Worms and accused of heresy and admonished to recant, he courageously said, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.”
Was Luther without fault as a man? Absolutely not. He had plenty of abject failurs, as we all do... but God used him to speak to the Catholic Church of his time, just as he used Balaam’s ass to speak corrective words to Balaam. Whatever faults Balaam had, he was wise enough to repent when an ass spoke to him. When the Church failed to repent and take corrective actions to the simple truths Luther put forth, a changed Church arose outside the false institutional church teachings.
Here we are today, discussing many of the same issues on FreeRepublic. I don’t think that any of these issues will be resolved here after hundreds of years.
"Toulouse, France, where a council was held in 1229. And, yes, that council dealt with the Bible. It was organized in reaction to the Albigensian or Catharist heresy, which held that there are two gods and that marriage is evil because all matter (and thus physical flesh) is evil. From this the heretics concluded that fornication could be no sin, and they even encouraged suicide among their members. In order to promulgate their sect, the Albigensians published an inaccurate translation of the Bible in the vernacular language (rather like the Jehovah’s Witnesses of today publishing their severely flawed New World Translation of the Bible, which has been deliberately mistranslated to support the sect’s claims). Had it been an accurate translation, the Church would not have been concerned. Vernacular versions had been appearing for centuries. But what came from the hands of the Albigensians was an adulterated Bible. The bishops at Toulouse forbade the reading of it because it was inaccurate. In this they were caring for their flocks, just as a Protestant minister of today might tell his flock not to read the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation"
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/catholic-inventions
Yews because some of those copies were such poor translations that no one would want them.
Nice try, make sure you get a lovely parting gift.