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Also Known As: Eusebius
Hieronymus Sophronius; Girolamo; Hieronymus; Man of the Bible
Profile
Born to a rich pagan family, he led a misspent youth. Studied in Rome.
Lawyer. Converted in theory, and baptized in 365, he began his study of
theology, and had a true conversion. Monk. Lived for years as a hermit in
the Syrian deserts. Reported to have drawn a thorn from a lion's paw; the
animal stayed loyally at his side for years. Priest. Student of Saint
Gregory of Nazianzen. Secretary to Pope Damasus who commissioned him to
revise the Latin text of the Bible. The result of his 30 years of work was
the Vulgate translation, which is still in use. Friend and teacher of
Saint Paula, Saint Marcella, and Saint Eustochium, an association that led
to so much gossip, Jerome left Rome to return to the desert solitude.
Lived his last 34 years in the Holy Land as a semi-recluse. Wrote
translations of Origen, histories, biographies, and much more. Doctor of
the Church, Father of the Church. Since his own time, he has been
associated in the popular mind with scrolls, writing, cataloging,
translating, etc. This led to those who work in such fields taking him as
their patron - a man who knew their lives and problems.
Born: 347 at Strido, Dalmatia
Died: 419; relics at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome
Patronage: archeologists, archivists, Bible scholars, librarians,
libraries, schoolchildren, students, translators
Representation: cardinal's hat; lion; aged monk in desert; aged monk
with Bible
Readings
What Jerome is ignorant of, no man has ever known.
Saint Augustine
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In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat of
the scorching sun so that it frightens even the monks that inhabit it, I
seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome. In
exile and prison to which for the fear of hell I had voluntarily condemned
myself, I many times imagined myself witnessing the dancing of the Roman
maidens as if I had been in the midst of them: in my cold body and in my
parched-up flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion able to
live. Alone with this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of
Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole
weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am
not now what I then was.
Saint Jerome's letter to Saint Eustochium
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The measure of our advancement in the spiritual life should be taken from
the progress we make in the virtue of mortification; for it should be held
as certain that the greater violence we shall do ourselves in
mortification, the greater advance we shall make in perfection.
Saint Jerome
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You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each
other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for
another can be heard.... But if the apostles and martyrs while still in
the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be
solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their
crowns, victories, and triumphs?
Jerome from Against Vigilantius, 406AD
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I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: "Search the
Scriptures," and "Seek and you shall find." For if, as Paul says, Christ
is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not
know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance
of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
No one should think that I mean to explain the entire subject matter of
this great book of the prophet Isaiah in one brief sermon, since it
contains all the mysteries of the lord. It prophesies that Emmanuel is to
be born of a virgin and accomplish marvelous works and signs. It predicts
his death, burial and resurrection from the dead as the Savior of all men.
Whatever is proper to holy Scripture, whatever can be expressed in human
language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of
Isaiah.
-Jerome: from a commentary on Isaiah
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When the Latin Fathers are represented in a group, Saint Jerome is
sometimes in a cardinal's dress and hat, although cardinals were not known
until three centuries later than his time, but as the other Fathers held
exalted positions in the Church, and were represented in ecclesiastical
costumes, and as Saint Jerome held a dignified office in the court of Pope
Dalmasius, it seemed fitting to picture him as a cardinal. The Venetian
painters frequently represented him in a full scarlet robe, with a hood
thrown over the head. When thus habited, his symbol was a church in his
hand, emblematic of his importance to the universal Church. Saint Jerome
is also seen as a penitent, or again, with a book and pen, attended by a
lion. As a penitent, he is a wretched old man, scantily clothed, with a
bald head and neglected beard, a most unattractive figure. When he is
represented as translating the Scriptures, he is in a cell or a cave,
clothed in a somber colored robe, and is writing, or gazing upward for
inspiration. In a few instances, an angel is dictating to him.
- from Saints in Art, by Clara Irskine Clement
Source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintj06.htm
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