---
title: "1 Corinthians 13 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/1-corinthians/13/
description: "Charity is to be preferred before all gifts. 1 Corinthians 13 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# 1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13 is chapter 13 of 16 in the First Letter to the Corinthians. Here are all 13 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Charity is to be preferred before all gifts.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## 1 Corinthians 13 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. If I were to speak in the language of men, or of Angels, yet not have charity, I would be like a clanging bell or a crashing cymbal.
2. And if I have prophecy, and learn every mystery, and obtain all knowledge, and possess all faith, so that I could move mountains, yet not have charity, then I am nothing.
3. And if I distribute all my goods in order to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned, yet not have charity, it offers me nothing.
4. Charity is patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated.
5. Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil.
6. Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth.
7. Charity suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.
8. Charity is never torn away, even if prophecies pass away, or languages cease, or knowledge is destroyed.
9. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part.
10. But when the perfect arrives, the imperfect passes away.
11. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I thought like a child. But when I became a man, I put aside the things of a child.
12. Now we see through a glass darkly. But then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I am known.
13. But for now, these three continue: faith, hope, and charity. And the greatest of these is charity.

## 1 Corinthians 13 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Si linguis hominum loquar, et angelorum, caritatem autem non habeam, factus sum velut æs sonans, aut cymbalum tinniens.
2. Et si habuero prophetiam, et noverim mysteria omnia, et omnem scientiam: et si habuero omnem fidem ita ut montes transferam, caritatem autem non habuero, nihil sum.
3. Et si distribuero in cibos pauperum omnes facultates meas, et si tradidero corpus meum ita ut ardeam, caritatem autem non habuero, nihil mihi prodest.
4. Caritas patiens est, benigna est. Caritas non æmulatur, non agit perperam, non inflatur,
5. non est ambitiosa, non quærit quæ sua sunt, non irritatur, non cogitat malum,
6. non gaudet super iniquitate, congaudet autem veritati:
7. omnia suffert, omnia credit, omnia sperat, omnia sustinet.
8. Caritas numquam excidit: sive prophetiæ evacuabuntur, sive linguæ cessabunt, sive scientia destruetur.
9. Ex parte enim cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus.
10. Cum autem venerit quod perfectum est, evacuabitur quod ex parte est.
11. Cum essem parvulus, loquebar ut parvulus, sapiebam ut parvulus, cogitabam ut parvulus. Quando autem factus sum vir, evacuavi quæ erant parvuli.
12. Videmus nunc per speculum in ænigmate: tunc autem facie ad faciem. Nunc cognosco ex parte: tunc autem cognoscam sicut et cognitus sum.
13. Nunc autem manent fides, spes, caritas, tria hæc: major autem horum est caritas.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 1826: The Theological Virtues ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 735: The Spirit and the Church In the Last Days ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 800: The Church - People of God, Body of Christ, Temple of the Holy Spirit ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1825: The Theological Virtues ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 953: The Communion of Saints ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 773: The Church in God's Plan ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 25: Necessary Adaptations ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 163: The Characteristics of Faith ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 164: The Characteristics of Faith ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 314: The Creator ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1720: Christian Beatitude ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1023: Heaven ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 2519: Purification of the Heart ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1813: The Theological Virtues ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## The saints

- “Every good deed and every virtue is born of love, and love comes from knowing the truth of God's goodness and of your own nothingness.” — St. Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, ch. 4, 1378 (On this theme: verse 2)
- “The Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our works as at the love with which they are done.” — St. Teresa of Ávila, The Interior Castle, VII.4, 1577 (On this theme: verse 3)
- “Do not try to gain the hearts of the young with punishments, but with love.” — St. John Bosco, Letter to the Salesians from Rome, 1884 (On this theme: verse 4)
- “Love unites us to God; love covers a multitude of sins; love bears all things, is long-suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing arrogant in love.” — St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians, 49, c. 96 (On this theme: verse 4)
- “The soul that walks in love neither tires others nor grows tired.” — St. John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love, 60, c. 1585 (On this theme: verse 7)
- “Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love; I love in order that I may love.” — St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, 83, c. 1150 (On this theme: verse 8)
- “My vocation is love. In the heart of the Church, my Mother, I shall be love.” — St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, ch. 9, 1897 (On this theme: verse 13)
- “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone.” — St. John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love, 57, c. 1585 (On this theme: verse 13)

## Read at Mass (US)

- Sun, Jan 30, 2028 (computed): Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time — Second Reading, 1 Corinthians 12:31—13:13 or 13:4-13
- Wed, Sep 20, 2028 (computed): Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs — First Reading, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).