The publication of a one-volume translation of the complete Bible
into colloquial Japanese recently has marked the end of a 55-year
effort.
The translation and notes were the work of Studium Biblicum
Franciscanum (Franciscan Biblical School), whose Tokyo branch was
founded in 1956.
At a Mass in Tokyo Cathedral last week, members of the Franciscans
and Paulists presented a copy of the new Bible to Cardinal Raffaele
Farina, S.D.B., head of the Vatican Library.
Although there were Catholic translations of the New Testament in
both literary and colloquial translations in Japan in the 1950s, both
used the Latin Vulgate as their basis.
The new translation is the first
Catholic Bible to be translated into Japanese from the original
languages.
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum published the translation and notes of
Genesis as the first fruit of its labor in 1958.
The complete New
Testament was published in 1979.
The last separate volume, Jeremiah, was
published in September, 2002.
After that, work began on preparing a
single-volume version.
Besides working on their own translation, the Studium staff
cooperated in the production of an ecumenical translation of the Bible
sponsored by the Japan Bible Society in the 1970s and the 80s.
Franciscans in the United States provided funding for the half-century effort.
Father Bernardin Schneider, 93, originally from Louisville, Kentucky,
has served in Japan since 1950 and was involved with the work from the
beginning.