Family background
Jerome's native language was Illyrian, and he may be considered an Italian since he came from that wedge of Italy which on the old maps seems to be driven between Dalmatia and Pannonia. Jerome however did not like his birthplace, due to the influence of the pagans. Also, his parents may have been only mildly Christian due to the mix between pagan and Christian practices in their town. When Jerome and his two other siblings embraced the ascetical life and disdained a worldly career, their parents became much disconcerted since their family belonged among the rich in the town.
Education
St. Jerome was an ardent scholar, eager and ambitious for learning and its triumphs. At twelve years of age, his parents sent him to Rome where he stayed until he was twenty. He was in grammar school under the famous Donatus, and afterwards as "a student of the rhetoricians". St. Jerome learned the Greek and Latin Classics, the elements of the sciences, and a little music. He was baptized by Pope Liborius in 360 A.D.
Conversion
After further study at Treves and travel in Gaul, Jerome became an ascetic in Aquileia in 370 A.D., joining a group of scholars under the bishop, St. Valerian. When a quarrel broke up the group, Jerome traveled in the East and in 374 A.D. settled at Antioch, where he heard Apollinarius of Laodicea lecture. In Antioch, two of his companions died, and Jerome became ill. During his delirium, caused by a high fever, he saw himself standing before the judgment seat of Christ. This vision of Jesus caused Jerome to go to Chalcis in the Syrian desert, and he lived as a hermit for four years, praying and fasting, learning Hebrew, and writing a life of St. Paul of Thebes.
Hermit, priest, and secretary of Pope Damasus
After spending a few years as a hermit in the Syrian desert, he was ordained a priest by St. Paulinus in 380 A.D.. Then he was called to Rome in 382 A.D. with Paulinus to attend a Council. He remained there as a secretary of Pope Damasus. While at Rome, at the suggestion of Pope Damasus, he revised the Latin version of the four gospels, including St. Paul's epistles, and the Psalms. In his spare time, St. Jerome also fostered a new movement of asceticism among some of Rome's noble ladies, several of whom were later canonized. Chief among these ladies were Paula and her daughter Blesilla and Eustochium, to whom Jerome later was to address many of his famous letters.
It was also during this period that St. Jerome made numerous enemies by his fiery attacks on pagan life and on certain influential Romans. Following the death of Pope Damasus in 384 A.D., Jerome's enemies drove him out of Rome and he settled then in Bethlehem. In 386 A.D. at Bethlehem, he headed a monastery (together with St. Paula who headed three convents for women) and continued his writings, but remained involved in many controversies. In one case, he even attacked St. Augustine who questioned Jerome's exegesis of the second chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Romans.
Greatest achievements
St. Jerome's greatest achievements were his translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew and his revision of the Latin version of the New Testament. This version, known as the Vulgate, became the official Latin version, and almost all English translations of the Bible came from it until the middle of the twentieth century, after which scholars began to use the original sources.
From 405 A.D. until his death, St. Jerome produced a series of biblical commentaries notable for the range of linguistic and topographical material he brought to bear on his interpretations.
New conflict and death
In 415 A.D., St. Jerome wrote Dialogi contra Pelagianos, a denunciation of Pelagianism. This caused a new furor, and in 416 A.D., groups of armed Pelagian monks burned the monasteries at Bethlehem. Though Jerome escaped unharmed, this conflict left him and his companions poverty-stricken.
St. Jerome died at Bethlehem after a lingering illness on September 30. He is venerated as a Doctor of the Church. As one of the four original Doctors of the Church (together with St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and St. Gregory the Great), St. Jerome is noted for his contributions to Christian thought, particularly in the area of biblical scholarship.
References of this article
- Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney
- Saints for Our Time, by Ed Ransom
- The Doctors of the Church vol 1, by John F. Fink
- A Year With the Saints, by Don Bosco Press, Inc.
- Saints Who Made History, Chapter X
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