Blessed Jerome
Blessed Jerome (Latin: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; born c. 342–347 AD at Stridon, Dalmatia; died 30 September 420 AD at Bethlehem, Roman Palestine) was an early Church Father, Doctor of the Church, priest, and biblical scholar, best known for producing the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible that remained the standard text of Western Christianity for more than a millennium. Born in Dalmatia (near the modern border of Slovenia and Croatia), Jerome received an outstanding classical education in Rome, underwent a decisive spiritual conversion during years as a desert ascetic in Syria, served briefly as secretary to Pope Damasus I, and spent the last thirty-four years of his life at Bethlehem, where he founded monasteries and produced his prodigious body of biblical scholarship, polemical writing, and correspondence. He is venerated as one of the four great Latin Doctors of the Church together with Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, and Saint Gregory the Great. Because he was venerated from antiquity with no formal canonization by a named pope on a specific date, his status is recorded here as Blessed with an immemorial cult. His feast is celebrated on 30 September.
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Jerome
| Blessed Jerome | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | September 30 |
| Profession | Priest; biblical scholar; theologian; translator; polemicist; monk |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church; Eastern Catholic Churches; Anglican Communion; Lutheranism |
| Patronage | Translators; biblical scholars; librarians; students; archaeologists; Croatia; the city of Ljubljana |
| Attributes | Red cardinal's hat (anachronistic); lion; books and scrolls; skull; stylus |
| Birthplace | Stridon, Dalmatia (modern-day border of Slovenia and Croatia) |
| Death Place | Bethlehem, Roman Palestine (modern Israel) |
| Cause of Death | Natural causes; died peacefully at his monastery near the Grotto of the Nativity, Bethlehem, 30 September 420 |
| Primary Shrine | Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome (relics); also Church of Saint Jerome, Bethlehem |
| Liturgical Class | Memorial in the General Roman Calendar |
| Historic Class | Double |
Biography
Birth and early education
Jerome was born at Stridon, a small town on the border of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia (approximately in the region of modern Slovenia or northwestern Croatia), around the year 342 to 347 AD. His family was moderately prosperous and Christian. Around the age of twelve he was sent to Rome to receive an education, where he studied grammar under the celebrated grammarian Aelius Donatus and rhetoric at the Roman schools. He became an avid reader, frequenting the booksellers around the Circus Maximus, and acquired a wide learning in classical Latin literature — a culture that left a permanent imprint on his prose style and that he would later engage in an anguished relationship with Christian asceticism.
In Rome he was baptized, probably in the early 360s, though the precise date is uncertain. He also began visiting the catacombs of Rome with friends on Sundays, an experience that impressed on him the reality of Christian martyrdom and death. After completing his education at Rome he traveled briefly to Trier (in Gaul) and Aquileia, where he associated with a circle of devout clergy and learned men.
Desert asceticism and biblical scholarship
Around 374, Jerome made his way to Antioch in Syria, and from there to the desert of Chalcis, southeast of Antioch, where he spent approximately four or five years as a hermit, practicing severe asceticism in the tradition of the Desert Fathers. It was during this period that he taught himself Hebrew by engaging a Jewish convert as his teacher — an extraordinary undertaking in that era, and one that would prove decisive for his biblical work. His time in the desert was also marked by interior struggle, including the famous dream in which he believed he was condemned at the divine tribunal for being a Ciceronian rather than a Christian ("Ciceronianus es, non Christianus").
Returning to Antioch, Jerome was ordained a priest by Bishop Paulinus, though he refused to accept parish duties, preferring the life of a scholarly monk. He spent time in Constantinople studying the Greek Fathers under Gregory of Nazianzus and then made his way to Rome in 382.
Secretary to Pope Damasus and the Vulgate
In Rome, Jerome came to the attention of Pope Damasus I (366–384), who employed him as his Latin secretary and official correspondent. Most importantly, Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome to revise the existing Latin translations of the Bible — a chaotic collection of divergent and often inaccurate renderings — against the best available Greek and Hebrew manuscripts. Jerome worked on this commission with remarkable energy, producing revised translations of the New Testament from the Greek and beginning to revise the Old Testament from the Septuagint.
When Pope Damasus died in December 384, Jerome's position in Rome became untenable. He had made enemies through his caustic criticism of the Roman clergy's worldliness, and accusations of improper relations with the devout widow Paula (who was his patron and spiritual charge) led to a hostile climate. In the summer of 385 Jerome left Rome permanently, accompanied by Paula and her daughter Eustochium.
Bethlehem: translation and monastery (386–420)
Jerome, Paula, and Eustochium arrived at Bethlehem in 386 and settled near the Grotto of the Nativity. With Paula's financial resources, they established a double monastery — a men's monastery under Jerome's direction and a women's monastery under Paula's — and also a pilgrim hospice. Here Jerome spent the remaining thirty-four years of his life in an unbroken labor of biblical translation and commentary.
The great achievement of this period was the complete translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew rather than from the Septuagint — a methodological decision (what Jerome called the Hebraica veritas, the Hebrew truth) that was controversial in his time but has been vindicated by subsequent scholarship. Together with his revised New Testament, this work eventually constituted the Latin Vulgate Bible, which the Council of Trent (1546) declared the authentic text of Scripture for the Latin Church. Jerome also produced comprehensive commentaries on most of the books of the Old Testament, translations of Origen's homilies, a biographical dictionary of Christian writers (De Viris Illustribus), numerous polemical works, and an enormous correspondence — some 154 of his letters survive, forming one of the richest documents of late antique Christian life.
Jerome was a controversial figure in his own time, fierce in his polemics against Pelagianism, Arianism, Origenism, and the lax morals of the Roman clergy, and his sharp pen made him many enemies. Yet his scholarship was acknowledged without serious rival. He died at Bethlehem on 30 September 420, probably in his late seventies or early eighties, and was buried beneath the Church of the Nativity, near the spot where he believed the Virgin Mary had laid the Christ child.
Relics
Jerome's relics were translated from Bethlehem to Rome and are now principally preserved at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, where they lie beneath the main altar.
Significant events
- Born c. 342–347 at Stridon, Dalmatia; educated at Rome under the grammarian Donatus.
- Baptized in Rome; spent early adult years in Trier, Aquileia, and Antioch.
- Lived as a desert hermit in the Chalcis desert, Syria, c. 374–379; learned Hebrew.
- Ordained priest at Antioch; studied Greek theology in Constantinople.
- Arrived in Rome 382; appointed secretary to Pope Damasus I; commissioned to revise Latin Bible.
- Left Rome after Pope Damasus's death (384); settled at Bethlehem in 386 with Paula and Eustochium.
- Completed the Vulgate translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew at Bethlehem.
- Produced major biblical commentaries and the biographical dictionary De Viris Illustribus.
- Died at Bethlehem, 30 September 420; relics later translated to Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome.
- Declared Doctor of the Church; feast established on 30 September in the universal calendar.
Significant locations
Legend
Birth location: Stridon, Dalmatia (modern-day border of Slovenia and Croatia)
Death location: Bethlehem, Roman Palestine (modern Israel)
Notable location: Birthplace (Stridon, Dalmatia)
Notable location: Where he received his classical education and served as secretary to Pope Damasus I (Rome, Italy)
Notable location: Where he spent c. 374–379 as a desert ascetic, learning Hebrew and beginning biblical study (Desert of Chalcis, Syria)
Notable location: Where he lived 386–420, founded monasteries, and produced the Vulgate (Bethlehem, Roman Palestine (Israel))
Notable location: Where his relics are principally enshrined (Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, Italy)
Dynamic content
Parishes
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| This map created from a Cargo query () |
| Parish | Diocese | City | AdministrativeSubdivision | Country | ParishWebsite |
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| Parish | Diocese | City | AdministrativeSubdivision | Country | ParishWebsite |
| St. Jerome (Diocese of Allentown) | Diocese of Allentown | Tamaqua, PA | Pennsylvania | United States | |
| St. Jerome (Diocese of Austin) | Diocese of Austin | Waco, TX | Texas | United States | |
| St. Jerome (Diocese of Bismarck) | Diocese of Bismarck | Mohall, ND | North Dakota | United States | http://mlscatholic.com/ |
| St. Jerome (Diocese of Bridgeport) | Diocese of Bridgeport | Norwalk, CT | Connecticut | United States | https://www.stjeromenorwalk.org/ |
| St. Jerome (Diocese of Bridgeport) | Diocese of Bridgeport | Ridgefield, CT | Connecticut | United States | https://www.stjeromechurch.org/ |
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Canonization
Immemorial cult and Doctor of the Church
Jerome was venerated as a saint from the earliest centuries of the Church, long before formal canonization procedures were established. He appears in the ancient martyrologies and has been commemorated on 30 September throughout the Western Church from antiquity. He was declared a Doctor of the Church, recognizing the outstanding holiness and doctrinal importance of his writings. Because there is no record of a formal canonization by a named pope on a specific date, his status is classified here as Blessed with an immemorial cult. He has not been formally canonized through the modern process, though he is universally venerated as a saint throughout Catholic and Eastern Christian tradition.
Feast day
September 30
Veneration
Blessed Jerome is venerated as a Doctor of the Church and one of the four great Latin Fathers of the Western Church. His patronage of translators, biblical scholars, and librarians reflects the defining work of his life: the translation of the entire Bible into Latin for the benefit of the Western Church. In art he is most commonly depicted as a cardinal (an anachronism: the cardinalate as known today did not exist in his time, though he is given this rank as a mark of honor as a papal secretary), often with a lion at his side (from a popular legend in which he removed a thorn from a lion's paw), or in the garb of a penitent hermit in the desert with a skull and crucifix. His relics at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and at Bethlehem attract continuous pilgrimage.
Prayers
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