Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Jerome was born about 347 at Stridon in Dalmatia and studied in Rome. In a letter he tells of a fevered dream in which he was accused of being “a Ciceronian, not a Christian”, for loving classical authors more than Scripture. He lived as a hermit in the Syrian desert of Chalcis, learning Hebrew, and from 382 to 385 was secretary to Pope Damasus, who asked him to revise the Latin Gospels. In 386 he settled at Bethlehem with the Roman widow Paula and her daughter, who founded monasteries there. Over some twenty years he translated most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew; this work became the core of the Vulgate. He also wrote commentaries and many letters, often in sharp polemic. He died at Bethlehem on 30 September 420.