CRAMPON, JOSEPH-THÉODORE-AUGUSTIN. — French exegete, b. at Franvillers (diocese of Amiens) on 4 Feb. 1826, d. at Paris on 16 Aug. 1894. At the seminary of St Sulpice in Paris he had as professor of Hebrew the celebrated Le Hir. More than to inscriptional studies he devoted his life to the publication of various works, such as the commentary on Holy Scripture by Cornelius a Lapide (21 vols., Paris 1857-63), the *Explanatio in Psalmos* of St Robert Bellarmine, to which he added a new Latin version from the original Hebrew (ibid. 1861), the commentary on Job by Balthasar Cordier (ibid. 1861), etc. His principal work was the translation of the whole Bible from the original texts, with introductions and notes. It was the first work of its kind by a Catholic (apart from two uncompleted attempts in Germany) since the Council of Trent.
Crampont, however, was able to publish only his translation with notes of the Pentateuch (Tournai 1894); the rest of the Old Testament appeared under the care of some Fathers of the Society of Jesus who were professors of Scripture, among whom was J. Corlay (ibid. 1898-1904). As for the New Testament, it was simply a revised version of the Vulgate which Crampont had published at Tournai in 1885. An edition of Crampont’s translation with few notes, issued in one volume in 1905, was several times brought up to date and even completely revised in the years 1923, 1930, 1938; it is much used by the educated public and useful to scholars.