A limited number of devotional or religiously-inspired writings, such as religiously-themed mystères or saints’ lives, had been published in Breton in the course of the 16th-18th centuries. These were largely of a popular nature, whereas the Bible itself, in accordance with Catholic policy, was available only in Latin. Even so, the Éléments succincts de la langue des Celtes-Gomérites by the Jacques Le Brigant (1779) contains a Breton version of the parable of the prodigal son.
Le Gonidec published his translation of the New Testament (after the Vulgate version, and without notes) in Angoulême in 1827; he used it to showcase the orthographical and lexical agenda outlined in his Breton grammar of 1807. This Bible failed to get endorsement from the Catholic hierarchy, and for this reason, as well as the much-criticized artificiality of his style, the book failed to gain currency. It was, however, taken under the wings of the Protestant British and Foreign Bible Society, which also, through the intercession of the Welsh clergyman and antiquary Thomas Price (who visited Le Gonidec in Angloulême) sponsored a translation of the Old Testament (also after the Vulgate version). Still without the Catholic Church’s imprimatur, the entire Bible was published in 1866, 28 years after Le Gonidec’s death.
Protestant evangelizers had meanwhile settled in Brittany; with the aid of the fabulist Guillaume Ricou, the minister John Jenkins undertook a revision of Le Gonidec’s New Testament, which appeared in 1847, with subsequent re-editions (again, sponsored by the Foreign Bible Society). Later Protestant Bibles were to be published by the Trinitarian Bible Society (1883), and a complete translation by Guillaume Le Coat (1890). None of them met with significant success.
Much more influential were the Catholic Church-endorsed intiatives. An annotated New Testament (by the abbé Joubin) appeared in 1853 with approval of the bishop of Saint-Brieuc; this was part of a massive rise in the publication of devotional works, commented Gospel excerpts and synopses, as well as a dedicated periodical, Feiz ha Breiz (“Faith and Brittany”). This Ultramontanist drive also encouraged a scripturally-inspired way of viewing contemporary affairs; thus the novel Emgann Kerguidu (1877-78) by the abbé Inisan, which relates the Battle of Kerguidu, an event from the Revolutionary period, in the light of Church-State enmity.
The particular characteristic of these commented Bible excerpts is their narrative nature: the focus on storylines that were either biblically-anchored, moralizing or otherwise supportive of Catholic dogma was to mark the thematics of Breton-language literature until the secularization period of the 1970s. Similarly, the overtly nationalistic literature which began to appear from the early 20th century onwards thematized themes like redemptive sacrifice (e.g. Roparz Hémon’s long poem Pric’hiron ar mor, 1933; Jakez Riou’s Geotenn ar Werc’hez, 1934; or Youenn Drezen’s Itron-Varia Garmez, 1941), even among authors who themselves took a critical position vis-à-vis the Church. Similarly, the apocalyptic Great Whore of Babylon is often meant to represent France, and Breton nationalists evince a longing for a Promised Land.
A Catholic Bible has been appearing in its entirety since 1952, in instalments (book by book); services and Bible lectures in the Breton vernacular have become widespread after the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Meanwhile, literary production has become wholly secularized.
