Online ebook: Haydock’s Catholic Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition

See this worth-it book and legally free ebook:

• George Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859 edition: A Catholic Bible commentary compiled by the late Rev. Fr. George Leo Haydock, following the Douay-Rheims Bible.
  • The printed book as reprinted by Loreto Publications may be purchased on this page of Loreto Publications;  on this page of Marianland;  and on this page of Angelus Press. [Note: For the support of faithful Catholic publishers, we encourage all readers to purchase the said book. (The Project earns no commission from any such purchase.) Nonetheless, for those who are unable to do so for just reasons, or would like electronic texts, see the following links below.]
  • The electronic text may be read online at Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859 edition (which appears to be a mirror of the defunct original website) and at the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (which is the 22 April 2016 snapshot of the apparently defunct website original website.)
    • [Note 1. This is the most readable copy online, and contains the text of Scripture together with the commentary along with cross-references to other passages.]
    • [Note 2. We have assumed that the new website lawfully reproduced and republished the content of the defunct original website. If this not the case, kindly inform us immediately through a comment so that we may delete the links.]

• Other editions are also available at Hathi Trust Digital Library and other websites:
  • “Haydock’s Catholic Bible“; or The Holy Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate, diligently compared with the Hebrew, Greek, and other editions in divers languages; the Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, and the New Testament, first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582; with useful notes, critical, historical, controversial, and explanatory, selected from the most eminent commentators, and the most able and judicious critics, by the Rev. George Leo Haydock (New York, Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1852). With the approbation of the Archbishop of New York, who said it had “the Complete Notes of Bishop Challoner, Rev. George Leo Haydock, and others, and [was] known as Haydock’s Catholic Bible”. May be read online, and available in pdf format, at Google Books. Also available at Google Play Books and at the Hathi Trust Digital Library.
  • Haydock’s Catholic Bible; or, The Holy Bible; translated from the Latin Vulgate, diligently compared with the Hebrew, Greek, and other editions in divers languages; the Old Testament, first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, and the New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582; with useful notes, critical, historical, controversial and explanatory, selected from the most eminent commentators, and the most able and judicious critics, by the Rev. George Leo Haydock (New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1855). With the approbation of the Archbishop of New York, who described it thus: “with the Complete Notes of Bishop Challoner, Rev. George Leo Haydock, and others, and known as Haydock’s Catholic Bible”. Available at the Hathi Trust Digital Library.

• The text of the commentary, unaccompanied by the text of Scripture, is available thus:
  • The following may be downloaded, mainly through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (22 July 2017 snapshot of this page) :
    1. The 1859 Haydock Bible Commentary (epub format);
    2. The 1859 Haydock Bible Commentary (epub format, expanded version);
    3. The 1859 Haydock Bible Commentary (mobi format); and
    4. The 1859 Haydock New Testament Commentary (rtf format).
  • The commentary be read online (on this page) at e-Catholic 2000; and at StudyLight.org. [N.B. The latter website also has links to non-Catholic commentaries that readers without sufficient theological formation may suitably avoid.]
  • The following may also be downloaded from the St. Isidore e-book library:
    1. The 1859 Haydock Bible Commentary in epub format;
    2. The 1859 Haydock Old Testament Commentary in pdf format; and
    3. The 1859 Haydock New Testament Commentary in pdf format.
  • Commentaries on the books of Scripture are available in individual epub files at Internet Archive

• The text of the Scriptures with an abridged commentary is available here:
  • [Haydock’s Catholic Family Bible and Commentary], being the Douay-Rheims-Challoner translation, with the Notes of the Rev. George Leo Haydock as abridged by the Very Rev. F.C. Husenbeth, D.D. (published about 1884). With the approbation of the Archbishops and Bishops of England and the United States, some of whom referred to the work as “Dr. Husenbeth’s Edition of Haydock’s Catholic Family Bible and Commentary”. Available at Internet Archive, divided into 19 parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19.
    • [N.B. (1) The description of the work in each of the Internet Archive index pages is false and misleading, and may be appropriately ignored. (2) The title and copyright pages of the work are missing. (3) The text of the Scriptures with Rev. Haydock’s commentary begins on this page.]
    • Also contains a “Preface to the Reader” and a “Comprehensive History of the Books of the Holy Catholic Bible” (56 pages) by Rev. Bernard O’Reilly, L.D.; an essay on the “Parables of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6 pages); various maps; a detailed outline of the “Contents of the Books of the Old and New Testaments”; “Chronological and Other Valuable Tables, Designed to Promote and Facilitate the Study of the Holy Bible”; an “Illustrated and Comprehensive Catholic Bible Dictionary, based on the Works of Calmet, Dixon, and Other Catholic Authors, and adapted to the English Version First Published at Rheims and Douay, as Revised by the Ven. Richard Challoner, and Generally Approved by the Catholic Hierarchy” (128 pages); “Scripture Illustrations; Being a Series of Concise and Comprehensive Accounts of Scenes and Incidents in the Sacred Scriptures, the Manners, Customs, Laws, Religious Rites, &c., of the Israelites; with Descriptions and Explanations of Scenes in the Lives of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Kings of the Old Testament, Scenes and Incidents in the Life of Christ, the Cities and Towns of the Bible, the Life of St. Paul, etc. compiled from the most authentic sources” (64 pages).

On the Feast of St. Jerome in the Roman Rite. For other texts and ebooks, you may access the List of Free eBooks (Arranged by Title), the List of Free eBooks (Grouped by Subject), the List of Worth-It Catholic Books & eBooks, and the main page of the Catholic eBooks Project.

“Then there are other assailants of Holy Scripture who misuse principles… in order to overturn the fundamental truth of the Bible and thus destroy Catholic teaching handed down by the Fathers… They refuse to allow that the things which Christ said or did have come down to us unchanged and entire through witnesses who carefully committed to writing what they themselves had seen or heard…; yet of it one wrote: “He who saw it has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he tells the truth, and you also may believe” (Jn. 19:35).” (Pope Benedict XV, Encyclical “Spiritus Paraclitus”, 26-27)

“Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles (…), holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.” (Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution “Dei Verbum”, 11)

“The divine speech that communicates the truths of the Catholic faith is expressed in human languages. The inspired Hebrew and Greek text of the Holy Scriptures is itself uttered by God in all of its parts. It is not a purely human report or interpretation of divine revelation, and no part of its meaning is due solely to human causes. In believing the teaching of the Holy Scriptures we are believing God directly.” (From the Correctio Filialis de Haeresibus Propagatis, 16 July 2017)

[Updated 11 February 2018 to change the links to webpages in the now defunct Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary website. Updated 16 February 2018 to include additional links. Updated 24 June 2018 to change the Wayback Machine link. Updated 04 April 2021 to add links to the printed book sellers and to the new website. Updated 12 April 2021 to add Google Books and Google Play Book links]