DE VALERA.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 2004, 21 December 1921, Page 4

DE VALERA.

The nam6 De Valera was until recently probably unknown to most living Englishmen; the leader of the Sinn Fein is, however, not the first De Valera who has played a more or. less conspicuous part in history. During the fourth decade of the 16th century a Cipriano de Valera was born in the city of Seville. Early in life he became .a monk in the monastery of San Isidero del Campa, in his native town. There he came under the influence of the doctrines of the reformers —a somewhat unusual occurrence in Spain—and, knowing the uncertainty of his positionfl made his way to England, then, as now, a haven for assorts of foreign refugees. There he found a warm welcome in learned circles, and was elected a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Soon afterwards he married an Englishwoman, and settled in London, where he spent his time in writing books of a devotional and controversial nature. But it was not until he was about 50 that De Valera began the work which has rendered his name famous, namely, the translation of the Bible into Spanish, or perhaps more accurately the revision of Reina's version. It is said that 20 years of his life were devoted to perfecting this work. In 1596 the New Testament was printed in London, and six years later the whole Bible saw light in Amsterdam, nine years before the publication of the Authorised Version.