VulSearch

VulSearch & the Clementine Vulgate project

Last updated: 17/12/05 Behind the scenes

Introduction

This document describes in great detail the dull side of the Clementine Vulgate project—all the technical and mechanical aspects. It is intended only for the incurably curious: all information of interest can be found in the information on the text and the history of VulSearch.

Entering the text

The text was entered entirely by hand. I used a very primitive editor based on VulSearch 3's Bible classes. Picture of my editor As you can see, I would enter a chapter at a time, and run Whitaker's Words at the end to catch the most gratuitous typos. As I finished an entire book, I'd run a little script to compare the number of words in each verse with that in the Weber Bible. This caught almost all of the jumps 'du même au même', and a number of incorrect verse divisions.

Once the day's work is complete, it's time to hit the Convert button to put the raw text I've entered into a suitable format for uploading to the website. VulSearch's 'native format' is plain text, cp 1252 with DOS-style line-breaks, with some very simple markup (e.g. / denotes a line-break in a section of poetry). From this is generated XHTML 1.0 for the main online version, and LaTeX source files from which the PDF version is made.

Proof-reading

Several people have very kindly assisted me with the proof-reading; I'll just describe my own way of working. Each book is proof-read twice. I start by printing the plain text of a book in a large font onto single-sided A4, with wide margins. I then compare line by line with my printed Vulgate, marking any differences and queries with a pen. Periodically, I go back to my little editor to update the text there, comparing if necessary with the Vercellone edition made available by Ron Conte.

For the second proof-reading, I have only the new text in front of me, and do not compare it with a printed text. I think it is very easy for one's eye to jump over words when comparing two texts; in addition, with just one text to concentrate on, it is easier to judge the flow and correct punctuation if necessary. For the second proof-reading, I use the PDF version printed as little booklets. I estimate that about an error every five chapters survives the first proof-reading, and this seems to be about the same for all of the proof-readers; I keep my fingers crossed that almost nothing gets past the second reading, but the unfortunate truth is that given human fraility it would be possible to re-read a text until the trump of doom and still leave something overlooked.

Statistics

In a project of such a great scale, I found it psychologically essential to keep detailed progress statistics—to have a number that I could see going up, letting me know that I really was making progress. The number I picked was the percentage completed (well, really two numbers: I recorded progress by chapters and printed pages). I like to imagine that a small number of devotees followed the bars with me on the progress charts on the web-site.

As you can see from this timeline, I tended to work in spurts: very active for a few weeks, followed by a long break. You can see the order I did the books in here.

Now that the whole thing is almost finished, I've collated various numerical facts about the Clementine text into the table below.

Chapters Verses Words Words/chap Verses/chap
Total 1334 35811 620057 464.8 26.8
Gn 50 1530 25478 509.6 30.6
Ex 40 1211 20224 505.6 30.3
Lv 27 858 13807 511.4 31.8
Nm 36 1288 19439 540.0 35.8
Dt 34 959 18619 547.6 28.2
Jos 24 658 12254 510.6 27.4
Jdc 21 618 12723 605.9 29.4
Rt 4 85 1792 448.0 21.3
1Rg 31 811 18409 593.8 26.2
2Rg 24 695 14768 615.3 29.0
3Rg 22 817 17320 787.3 37.1
4Rg 25 719 16076 643.0 28.8
1Par 29 940 14420 497.2 32.4
2Par 36 822 18019 500.5 22.8
Esr 10 280 5134 513.4 28.0
Neh 13 404 7380 567.7 31.1
Tob 14 298 5052 360.9 21.3
Jdt 16 346 6662 416.4 21.6
Est 16 275 5978 373.6 17.2
Job 42 1070 13141 312.9 25.5
Ps 150 2527 31944 213.0 16.8
Pr 31 915 10639 343.2 29.5
Ecl 12 222 3978 331.5 18.5
Ct 8 116 1886 235.8 14.5
Sap 19 439 7500 394.7 23.1
Sir 51 1592 21560 422.7 31.2
Is 66 1292 25898 392.4 19.6
Jr 52 1363 30548 587.5 26.2
Lam 5 154 2429 485.8 30.8
Bar 6 213 3696 616.0 35.5
Ez 48 1272 27425 571.4 26.5
Dn 14 531 10863 775.9 37.9
Os 14 198 3697 264.1 14.1
Joel 3 73 1413 471.0 24.3
Am 9 147 2920 324.4 16.3
Abd 1 21 453 453.0 21.0
Jon 4 48 976 244.0 12.0
Mch 7 104 2184 312.0 14.9
Nah 3 47 900 300.0 15.7
Hab 3 56 1063 354.3 18.7
Soph 3 53 1118 372.7 17.7
Agg 2 38 826 413.0 19.0
Zach 14 211 4452 318.0 15.1
Mal 4 55 1220 305.0 13.8
1Mcc 16 929 16617 1038.6 58.1
2Mcc 15 558 10494 699.6 37.2
Mt 28 1070 16565 591.6 38.2
Mc 16 677 10313 644.6 42.3
Lc 24 1151 18106 754.4 48.0
Jo 21 880 14104 671.6 41.9
Act 28 1004 16799 600.0 35.9
Rom 16 433 6618 413.6 27.1
1Cor 16 437 6445 402.8 27.3
2Cor 13 256 4302 330.9 19.7
Gal 6 149 2134 355.7 24.8
Eph 6 155 2150 358.3 25.8
Phlp 4 104 1558 389.5 26.0
Col 4 95 1464 366.0 23.8
1Thes 5 89 1404 280.8 17.8
2Thes 3 47 751 250.3 15.7
1Tim 6 113 1591 265.2 18.8
2Tim 4 83 1170 292.5 20.8
Tit 3 46 663 221.0 15.3
Phlm 1 25 322 322.0 25.0
Hbr 13 303 4599 353.8 23.3
Jac 5 108 1650 330.0 21.6
1Ptr 5 105 1661 332.2 21.0
2Ptr 3 61 1052 350.7 20.3
1Jo 5 105 1887 377.4 21.0
2Jo 1 13 218 218.0 13.0
3Jo 1 14 211 211.0 14.0
Jud 1 25 443 443.0 25.0
Apc 22 405 8483 385.6 18.4

Online search script

It is possible to search the Clementine text online. The Perl source of this script is available here.

A final word

I beg the reader's indulgence if I permit myself to be a little fanciful to finish.

By necessity, this online edition of the Vulgate is basic, in the sense that it doesn't include the various accoutrements and appendages commonly found in printed texts. Although having these additional conveniences to the reader would in some respects be desirable, I'm personally quite happy that the text is free of these frills and ornaments. Indeed, this simplicity mirrors the original Typographia Vaticana edition, « in qua nihil non canonicum, nihil ascititium, nihil extraneum apponere visum est : et nullæ ad marginem concordantiæ, nullæ notæ, nullæ variæ lectiones, nullæ denique præfationes, nulla argumenta ad librorum initia conspiciuntur ».

This desire to be content with what is essential, and strip away surrounding affectation, is absolutely characteristic of the counter-reformation mood. If one sets aside certain of the deuterocanonical books, this same spirit embues very many of the Old Testament Hebrew writers. Of course, this approach to divine worship was never more purely expressed than in the Roman Rite, and one can see clearly why St. Jerome's austere translation of these fuss-free texts had such a happy marriage to that Rite. But the Hebrew simplicity was perverted into the Talmud by Jews who had murdered their Saviour; the antique fervour of the counter-reformation was smothered by the dark philosophies of the so-called Enlightenment; and the Roman Rite was almost wiped out by a coterie of barbarians in bishops' garb. (Væ pastoribus Israël, qui pascebant semetipsos! nonne greges a pastoribus pascuntur?) My wish for this project is that it fight back against these assaults: that Christian doctrine, and light, and beauty, expressed with a noble simplicity, even a starkness, might penetrate in some hearts the numbness of the modern world.