---
title: "Revelation 1 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/revelation/1/
description: "St. John is ordered to write to the seven churches in Asia. The manner of… Revelation 1 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Revelation 1

Revelation 1 is chapter 1 of 22 in Revelation. Here are all 20 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> St. John is ordered to write to the seven churches in Asia. The manner of Christ's appearing to him.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Revelation 1 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, in order to make known to his servants the things that must soon occur, and which he signified by sending his Angel to his servant John;
2. he has offered testimony to the Word of God, and whatever he saw is the testimony of Jesus Christ.
3. Blessed is he who reads or hears the words of this Prophecy, and who keeps the things that have been written in it. For the time is near.
4. John, to the seven Churches, which are in Asia. Grace and peace to you, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are in the sight of his throne,
5. and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the leader over the kings of the earth, who has loved us and has washed us from our sins with his blood,
6. and who has made us into a kingdom and into priests for God and for his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7. Behold, he arrives with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth shall lament for themselves over him. Even so. Amen.
8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
9. I, John, your brother, and a sharer in the tribulation and in the kingdom and in patient endurance for Christ Jesus, was on the island which is called Patmos, because of the Word of God and the testimony to Jesus.
10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, like that of a trumpet,
11. saying, “What you see, write in a book, and send it to the seven Churches, which are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamus, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12. And I turned around, so as to see the voice which was speaking with me. And having turned around, I saw seven golden lampstands.
13. And in the midst of the seven golden lampstands was one resembling the Son of man, clothed to the feet with a vestment, and wrapped to the breast with a wide belt of gold.
14. But his head and hair were bright, like white wool, or like snow; and his eyes were like a flame of fire;
15. and his feet resembled shining brass, just as in a burning furnace; and his voice was like the voice of many waters.
16. And in his right hand, he held the seven stars; and from his mouth went out a sharp two-edged sword; and his face was like the sun, shining with all its might.
17. And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet, like one who is dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
18. And I am alive, though I was dead. And, behold, I live forever and ever. And I hold the keys of death and of Hell.
19. Therefore, write the things which you have seen, and which are, and which must occur afterward:
20. the mystery of the seven stars, which you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the Angels of the seven Churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven Churches.”

## Revelation 1 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Apocalypsis Jesu Christi, quam dedit illi Deus palam facere servis suis, quæ oportet fieri cito: et significavit, mittens per angelum suum servo suo Joanni,
2. qui testimonium perhibuit verbo Dei, et testimonium Jesu Christi, quæcumque vidit.
3. Beatus qui legit, et audit verba prophetiæ hujus, et servat ea, quæ in ea scripta sunt: tempus enim prope est.
4. Joannes septem ecclesiis, quæ sunt in Asia. Gratia vobis, et pax ab eo, qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est: et a septem spiritibus qui in conspectu throni ejus sunt:
5. et a Jesu Christo, qui est testis fidelis, primogenitus mortuorum, et princeps regum terræ, qui dilexit nos, et lavit nos a peccatis nostris in sanguine suo,
6. et fecit nos regnum, et sacerdotes Deo et Patri suo: ipsi gloria et imperium in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
7. Ecce venit cum nubibus, et videbit eum omnis oculus, et qui eum pupugerunt. Et plangent se super eum omnes tribus terræ. Etiam: amen.
8. Ego sum alpha et omega, principium et finis, dicit Dominus Deus: qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est, omnipotens.
9. Ego Joannes frater vester, et particeps in tribulatione, et regno, et patientia in Christo Jesu: fui in insula, quæ appellatur Patmos, propter verbum Dei, et testimonium Jesu:
10. fui in spiritu in Dominica die, et audivi post me vocem magnam tamquam tubæ,
11. dicentis: Quod vides, scribe in libro: et mitte septem ecclesiis, quæ sunt in Asia, Epheso, et Smyrnæ, et Pergamo, et Thyatiræ, et Sardis, et Philadelphiæ, et Laodiciæ.
12. Et conversus sum ut viderem vocem, quæ loquebatur mecum: et conversus vidi septem candelabra aurea:
13. et in medio septem candelabrorum aureorum, similem Filio hominis vestitum podere, et præcinctum ad mamillas zona aurea:
14. caput autem ejus, et capilli erant candidi tamquam lana alba, et tamquam nix, et oculi ejus tamquam flamma ignis:
15. et pedes ejus similes auricalco, sicut in camino ardenti, et vox illius tamquam vox aquarum multarum:
16. et habebat in dextera sua stellas septem: et de ore ejus gladius utraque parte acutus exibat: et facies ejus sicut sol lucet in virtute sua.
17. Et cum vidissem eum, cecidi ad pedes ejus tamquam mortuus. Et posuit dexteram suam super me, dicens: Noli timere: ego sum primus, et novissimus,
18. et vivus, et fui mortuus, et ecce sum vivens in sæcula sæculorum: et habeo claves mortis, et inferni.
19. Scribe ergo quæ vidisti, et quæ sunt, et quæ oportet fieri post hæc.
20. Sacramentum septem stellarum, quas vidisti in dextera mea, et septem candelabra aurea: septem stellæ, angeli sunt septem ecclesiarum: et candelabra septem, septem ecclesiæ sunt.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 1403: The Eucharist - "Pledge of the Glory To Come" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 2854: "And Lead Us not into Temptation" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 784: 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 ¶ 1546: The Sacrament of Holy Orders in the Economy of Salvation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 2855: The Final Doxology ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2854: "And Lead Us not into Temptation" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 612: Jesus Died Crucified ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 625: Jesus Christ Was Buried ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 633: Christ Descended Into Hell ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 635: Christ Descended Into Hell ([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 1: and again it is said, ver. 3, The time is at hand-- This cannot be meant of all the things prophesied in the Apocalypse, where mention is made also of the day of judgment, and of the glory of heaven at the end of the world. That some things were to come to pass shortly, is evident, by what is said to the Seven Churches, chap. 2 and 3, Or that the persecutions foretold should begin shortly. Or that these words signified, that all time is short, and that from the coming of Christ, we are now in the last age or last hour. See 1 John 2. 18.
- Verse 8: These are the names of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and signify the same as what follows: The beginning and the end: the first cause and last end of all beings: who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty-- These words signify the true God only, and are here applied to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is to come again to judge the living and the dead.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Mon, Nov 16, 2026: Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Revelation 1:1-4; 2:1-5
- Thu, Apr 22, 2027: Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter — Alleluia, See Revelation 1:5ab
- Sun, May 23, 2027: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity — Alleluia, Revelation 1:8
- Sun, Nov 21, 2027 (computed): The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe — Second Reading, Revelation 1:5-8

6 more dates through December 31, 2028, in the [liturgical calendar](https://blessbible.app/calendar/).

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).