---
title: "1 Timothy 3 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/1-timothy/3/
description: "What sort of men are to be admitted into the clergy. The church is the pillar… 1 Timothy 3 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# 1 Timothy 3

1 Timothy 3 is chapter 3 of 6 in the First Letter to Timothy. Here are all 16 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> What sort of men are to be admitted into the clergy. The church is the pillar of truth.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## 1 Timothy 3 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. It is a faithful saying: if a man desires the episcopate, he desires a good work.
2. Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher,
3. not a drunkard, not combative but restrained, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
4. but a man who leads his own house well, having children who are subordinate with all chastity.
5. For if a man does not know how to lead his own house, how will he take care of the Church of God?
6. He must not be a new convert, lest, being elated by pride, he may fall under the sentence of the devil.
7. And it is necessary for him also to have good testimony from those who are outside, so that he may not fall into disrepute and the snare of the devil.
8. Similarly, deacons must be chaste, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not pursuing tainted profit,
9. holding to the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.
10. And these things should be proven first, and then they may minister, being without offense.
11. Similarly, the women must be chaste, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
12. Deacons should be the husband of one wife, men who lead their own children and their own houses well.
13. For those who have ministered well will acquire for themselves a good position, and much confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
14. I am writing these things to you, with the hope that I will come to you soon.
15. But, if I am delayed, you should know the manner in which it is necessary to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and the foundation of truth.
16. And it is clearly great, this mystery of piety, which was manifested in the flesh, which was justified in the Spirit, which has appeared to Angels, which has been preached to the Gentiles, which is believed in the world, which has been taken up in glory.

## 1 Timothy 3 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Fidelis sermo: si quis episcopatum desiderat, bonum opus desiderat.
2. Oportet ergo episcopum irreprehensibilem esse, unius uxoris virum, sobrium, prudentem, ornatum, pudicum, hospitalem, doctorem,
3. non vinolentum, non percussorem, sed modestum: non litigiosum, non cupidum, sed
4. suæ domui bene præpositum: filios habentem subditos cum omni castitate.
5. Si quis autem domui suæ præesse nescit, quomodo ecclesiæ Dei diligentiam habebit?
6. Non neophytum: ne in superbiam elatus, in judicium incidat diaboli.
7. Oportet autem illum et testimonium habere bonum ab iis qui foris sunt, ut non in opprobrium incidat, et in laqueum diaboli.
8. Diaconos similiter pudicos, non bilingues, non multo vino deditos, non turpe lucrum sectantes:
9. habentes mysterium fidei in conscientia pura.
10. Et hi autem probentur primum: et sic ministrent, nullum crimen habentes.
11. Mulieres similiter pudicas, non detrahentes, sobrias, fideles in omnibus.
12. Diaconi sint unius uxoris viri, qui filiis suis bene præsint, et suis domibus.
13. Qui enim bene ministraverint, gradum bonum sibi acquirent, et multam fiduciam in fide, quæ est in Christo Jesu.
14. Hæc tibi scribo, sperans me ad te venire cito:
15. si autem tardavero, ut scias quomodo oporteat te in domo Dei conversari, quæ est ecclesia Dei vivi, columna et firmamentum veritatis.
16. Et manifeste magnum est pietatis sacramentum, quod manifestatum est in carne, justificatum est in spiritu, apparuit angelis, prædicatum est gentibus, creditum est in mundo, assumptum est in gloria.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 1577: Who Can Receive This Sacrament? ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 171: The Language of Faith ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 756: The Church in God's Plan ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2641: Prayer of Praise ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 2: “Of one wife” … The meaning is not that every bishop should have a wife (for St. Paul himself had none), but that no one should be admitted to the holy orders of bishop, priest, or deacon, who had been married more than once.
- Verse 6: That is, one lately baptized, a young convert.
- Verse 15: Therefore the church of the living God can never uphold error, nor bring in corruptions, superstition, or idolatry.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Wed, Jan 6, 2027: Wednesday after Epiphany — Alleluia, 1 Timothy 3:16
- Wed, Sep 15, 2027 (computed): Our Lady of Sorrows — First Reading, 1 Timothy 3:14-16
- Wed, Jan 5, 2028 (computed): St. John Neumann, Bishop — Alleluia, 1 Timothy 3:16

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). 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).