TORRES Y AMAT, FÉLIX. — Bishop of Astorga, born at Sallent (diocese of Vich) on 6 August 1772, died at Madrid on 29 December 1847.
Professor in the seminary of Tarragona, then canon of the Collegiate Church of the Real Sitio de S. Ildefonso, in 1815 he became sacristan of the cathedral of Barcelona; after a few years he went to Madrid to devote himself to his publications. Elected bishop of Astorga in 1833, he took part in political life, accused of servility toward the government (cf. Indice dei libri proibiti, s. v.).
T. y A. is known principally for the Spanish translation of the Bible, made from the Vulgate but in the light of the original texts: La Sagrada Biblia, nuevamente, traducida de la Vulgada latina al español, eclaro el sentido de algunos lugares con la luz que dan los textos originales hebreo y griego (9 vols., Madrid 1823–25; 2nd ed., 6 vols., ibid. 1832–35). After that of the celebrated Piarist Scio de S. Miguel, this is the second Spanish version made by Catholics. Commendable for its fidelity to the text, elegance of style, concision, and clarity of its notes, it achieved great success and is still in use as the most popular version, disseminated by the Apostolado de la prensa of Madrid. However, in 1895 the Jesuit C. Sommervogel and, more extensively, in 1936, the Jesuit José M. March (v. BIBLICA), demonstrated that this version (with an introduction and notes partly taken from Antonio Martini [v.]) is the work of the Jesuit José Miguel Petisco (1724–1800), an eminent professor of Sacred Scripture at Valladolid, whose manuscript, after his death, had been sent to King Charles IV for revision and printing. T. y A., having obtained it through his uncle the bishop, Felix Amat, the King’s confessor, would merely have arranged and published II. Consequently, the new editions now bear the names of both authors, with precedence given to Fr. Petisco. In the 1950 edition, their version of the Psalter was replaced by that of the Jesuit Valentino M. Sanchez Ruiz, based on the new Latin translation promulgated by Pius XII (24 March 1945).
The other principal works of T. y A. are: La vida de Félix Amat, arzobispo de Palmyre (Madrid 1835); Memorias para ayudar á formar un Dicionario crítico de los escritores catalanes (Barcelona 1836), the fruit of patient research carried out by his brother Ignacio T. y A., librarian of the Episcopal Library of Barcelona.