Manuscript
Codex Vercellensis
Also known as Codex a · Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare MS a
The oldest surviving Gospels in Latin — from before Jerome, in the rough translation the Latin churches were already using.
translationslatinold-latingospels
Overview
Codex Vercellensis(Fourth century AD (c. 350–400))— Held at Vercelli Cathedral, traditionally since the fourth century
Before Jerome produced the Vulgate in the 380s, Latin-speaking Christians already had Gospels, translated piecemeal and circulating in versions that varied from region to region. Scholars call the whole family the Old Latin.
This manuscript is the oldest substantial witness to it: the four Gospels in the order Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, written on thin parchment in silver ink.
Tradition at Vercelli credits it to Eusebius, the city's bishop, who died in 371 — which would place it before Jerome. The tradition cannot be confirmed, but the fourth-century date is not seriously disputed.
Manuscript Details
- Date
- Fourth century AD (c. 350–400)
- Language
- Latin
- Script
- Uncial, in silver ink
- Material
- Parchment
- Current location
- Biblioteca Capitolare, Vercelli, Italy
- Discovery location
- Held at Vercelli Cathedral, traditionally since the fourth century
- Contains books
- Matthew · John · Luke · Mark
- Tags
- translations · latin · old-latin · gospels
Significance
It preserves what Latin Christians were reading before the Vulgate standardised them — which means its readings witness to Greek copies older than any complete Greek Bible that survives.
Where this witness is read
Codex Vercellensis is one of the manuscripts named in the places your Bible carries a footnote. Each passage below shows what this witness reads and the case each way.
- Mark 16:9-20The Ending of MarkCodex Alexandrinus (A) (5th century) reads: Contains the long ending, 16:9-20, without any mark of doubt.
- John 7:53 - 8:11The Woman Caught in AdulteryCodex Alexandrinus (A) and Codex Ephraemi (C) (5th century) reads: Both are damaged exactly here, so neither can be read directly — but in each case scholars have measured the missing leaves against the surviving handwriting, and there is not enough room for the passage. The gap is too small to have held it.
- 1 John 5:7-8The Three Heavenly WitnessesCodex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus (4th-5th century) reads: None of the great codices contains the passage.
- Acts 8:37The Ethiopian's confession — "If thou believest with all thine heart"The earliest Greek manuscripts of Acts, including Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Alexandrinus (4th–5th centuries) reads: No verse 37. Verse 36 is followed immediately by verse 38 and the descent into the water.
- Mark 1:41Compassion or anger? Jesus and the leperCodex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and the Byzantine majority (4th–15th centuries) reads: *splanchnistheis* — "moved with compassion."
- 1 Timothy 3:16"God was manifest in the flesh" — two letters apartCodex Alexandrinus (5th century) reads: Disputed for centuries. A faint stroke is visible, and scholars have argued over whether it is a genuine bar making the word ΘΣ or ink showing through from the other side of the leaf. The manuscript is a witness whose testimony has to be argued about rather than simply read.