Bellarmine · De Controversiis · On the Word of God · Book I: On the Canonical Books
Chapter 4: Which are the sacred books
Our translation, from the Latin of the Opera Omnia (Paris: Vivès, 1870–74), vol. I, De Verbo Dei, Book I: On the Canonical Books of Scripture. The Latin source text is public domain; this English rendering is released with the site. Scripture quotations follow Bellarmine's Vulgate citations, rendered in Douay-Rheims wording where he quotes exactly. Click “Show the Latin” for the original (raw OCR of the scan; scanning errors remain — the scan itself is the authority).
That the Prophetic and Apostolic Scripture is sacred and divine has been, as I think, sufficiently demonstrated in the foregoing disputation. It follows that we next explain which are truly the Prophetic and Apostolic books. And this whole disputation concerning the number of the sacred books is divided into three parts. For first we must treat of those books concerning whose authority there was never any dispute among Catholic men. Then of those which, though they be truly Prophetic or Apostolic, yet had not always an authority equally certain and ascertained. Lastly, of those which, although they were sometimes held by certain most illustrious and most learned men in the number of the divine volumes, yet were never approved by the public judgment of the whole Church.
Of the books of the first order these are the names: the Pentateuch of Moses; the book of Josue; of Judges; Ruth; the four books of Kings; the two of Paralipomenon; Esdras and Nehemias, two; Job; the Psalter of 150 Psalms; the Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; the Canticle; the four greater Prophets; the twelve lesser Prophets; the four books of the Gospels; the Acts of the Apostles; the Epistles of Paul, thirteen in number (the Epistle to the Hebrews alone being omitted); and two Canonical Epistles, one of Peter, the other of John.
The second order contains these books: Esther, Baruch, a part of Daniel, Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, the first and second of Maccabees, certain parts of Mark, Luke, and John, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of James, the latter of Peter, a particle of the first of John, the second and third of John, the Epistle of Jude, and the Apocalypse.
The third order comprehends all those which are recounted by Innocent, epistle 3 to Exuperius; by Gelasius, distinction 15, canon Sancta Romana; by Athanasius in the Synopsis; by Eusebius, book 3 of the History, chapter 25; of which these few seem to be extant: the Prayer of Manasses; the third and fourth book of Esdras; likewise the third and fourth of Maccabees; the 151st Psalm; the Appendix of the book of Job; and the book of Hermas which is entitled the Shepherd.
And that the books indeed of the first order have always had divine authority in the Catholic Church, witnesses are all the Supreme Pontiffs, all the Councils, all the Fathers, who for whatsoever cause were at pains to enumerate the books. See, of the Pontiffs, Innocent I in epistle 3 to Exuperius, the last chapter; Gelasius I in the decree on the sacred books, which is extant in the second volume of the Councils. Of the Councils, the Laodicene, canon 59; the Third of Carthage, canon 47; the Florentine, in the Instruction of the Armenians, according to the faith of the compendium of the Councils; the Tridentine, session 4. Of the Greek Fathers, Origen (in Eusebius, book 6 of the History, chapter 18); Eusebius himself, book 3 of the History, chapter 25; Athanasius in the Synopsis; Gregory Nazianzen in the book On the Genuine Scriptures, written in verse; Epiphanius in the book On Measures and Weights, and likewise the same against the heresy of the Anomoeans; Cyril of Jerusalem, catechesis 4; John Damascene, book 4 On the Faith, chapter 18. Of the Latin Fathers, Jerome, both in the Helmeted Prologue and in the epistle to Paulinus on the study of the holy Scriptures; Rufinus, in the exposition of the Creed; Augustine, book 2 of the Doctrine of the Christian, chapter 8; Isidore, book 6 of the Etymologies, chapter 1. To these add three other writers, who recount the books of the Old Testament only: Josephus, book 1 against Apion; Melito of Sardis, in Eusebius, book 4 of the History, chapter 26; and Hilary, in the preface on the Psalms. Further, the rest of the Fathers, Justin, Irenaeus, Basil, Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, and all the others, both Greek and Latin, although they write not out the series of the divine books, yet everywhere so use their testimonies as to testify not obscurely that they held them all among the sacred and divine books.
Show the Latin (Vives edition, OCR)
CAPUT IV. Qui sint libri Sacri. Scripturam Propheticam et Apostolicam, sacram divinamque esse , satis, ut arbitror, demonstratum est disputatione superiore. Sequitur, ut qui sint vere Prophetici et Apo- stolici libri deinceps explicemus. Est autem omnis haec de numero sacrorum librorum dis¬ putatio divisa in partes tres. Primum enim de iis libris agendum erit, de quorum aucto¬ ritate nulla unquam fuit inter Catholicos ho¬ mines disceptatio. Deinde de iis qui tametsi vere Prophetici, aut Apostolici sint, non ta¬ men semper aeque certa et explorata eorum auctoritas fuit. Postremo de iis , qui quan- quam a nonnullis clarissimis doctissimisque viris aliquando in numero divinorum volu¬ minum haberentur , publico tamen totius Ecclesias judicio nunquam approbati sunt. Primi ordinis librorum haec sunt nomina : Pentateuchus Mosis , liber Josue, Judicum, Piuth, Regnum quatuor, Paralipomenonduo, Esdrae et Nehemias duo, Job, Psalterium CL Psalmorum , Proverbia , Ecclesiastes, Cantica, Prophetae majores quatuor, Pro¬ phetae minores duodecim, Evangeliorum li¬ bri quatuor , Acta Apostolorum, Epistolae Pauli numero XIII , omissa videlicet sola Epistola ad Hebraeos, Epistolae Canonicae duas, Petri una, Joannis altera. Secundus ordo hos libros continet : Esther, Baruch, Danielis partem, Tobiam , Judith, Sapientiam, Ecclesiasticum , Machabseorum primum et secundum , Marci , Lucae , Joan¬ nis partes quasdam, Epistolam ad Hebraeos, Epistolam Jacobi, posteriorem Petri , pri¬ mas Joannis particulam , secundam et ter¬ tiam Joannis, Epistolam Judae, Apocalyp- sim. Tertius ordo illa omnia comprehendit, quas recensentur ab Innocentio epist. III ad Exu- perium, Gelasio dist. XV. can. Sancta Ro¬ mana, Athanasio in Synopsi , Eusebio 1. III hist. cap. 25 ex quibus lnec pauca videntur exstare , oratio Manassae III et IV, lib. Es¬ drae III, item et IV Machabseorum. Psalmus CLI, Appendix libri Job, liber Hermetis qui inscribitur Pastor. Ac primi quidem ordinis libros in Ecclesia Catholica divinam auctoritatem semper ha¬ buisse, testes sunt omnes summi Pontifices, omnia Concilia, omnes Patres, qui quacum¬ que de causa libros enumerare studuerunt. Vide ex Pontificibus Innocentium I. in epist. III ad Exuperium c. ult. Gelasium I in de¬ creto de libris sacris , quod exstat in II To¬ mo Conciliorum. Ex Conciliis Laodicenum can. LIX, Carthaginense III, can. 47, Flo¬ rentinum in Institut. Armenorum juxta fi¬ dem summae Conciliorum , Tridentinum sess. IV. Ex Graecis Patribus, Origenem apud Euse- binm lib. VI hist. cap. 18. Ipsum vero Eu- sebium lib. III hist. c. 25. Athanasium in Synopsi, Gregorium Nazianzenum in lib. de Genuinis Scripturis carmine conscripto, Epi- phanium in lib. de mensuris et ponderibus, Item eumdem adversus hoiresim Anomaeo- rum, Cyrillum Hierosolymit. catechesi IV, Joannem Damascenum libr. IV, de Fide, cap. 18. Ex patribus Latinis, Hieronymum, cum in prologo Galeato, tum in epist. ad Paulinum de studio sanctarum Scripturarum, Ruffinum (1) Cap, XIX. in explicatione symboli, Augustinum lib. II de Doctrina Christiana capite 8. Isidorum lib. VI Etymologiarum, c. 1. His adde tres alios scriptores, qui solius Testamenti vete¬ ris libros recensent, Josephura lib. I adver¬ sus Appionem , Melitonem Sardensem apud Eusebium lib. IV hist. c. 26. (I), et Hilarium praefatione in Psalmos. Porro caeteri Patres Justinus, Irenaeus, Ba¬ sibus, Tertullianus , Cyprianus , Ambrosius, omnesque alii, tum Graeci, tum Latini, quam¬ vis divinorum librorum seriem non descri¬ bant, passim tamen eorum testimoniis sic utuntur, ut eos omnes in sacris divinisque libris a se habitos non obscure testentur.