You may know little about Saint Jerome, a fourth to fifth century translator, scholar and Doctor of the Church, but if you’ve encountered the Bible in your own language, you owe a debt of gratitude to Saint Jerome.
Saint Jerome was born in 342 A.D. to a well-to-do Christian family but did not really embrace Christianity in his youth. At age 12, he ventured to Rome to study grammar, philosophy and rhetoric. He sought scholarship before sanctity and was known to pursue youthful dalliances, which made him feel guilty but not necessarily repentant. To address his guilt, he would spend time among the graves in the catacombs, imagining himself in Hell, but he did not yet change his ways. Translating the inscriptions on the tombs helped incline him toward a future as a translator.
A Christian friend, Bonosus, was one of the mentors who influenced him to mend his ways and take Christianity seriously. Around 366, Saint Jerome was baptized by Pope Liberius. For the next several years, he traveled to various places seeking ecclesial training—most significantly in a monastery in Aquileia, Italy, in 370, where he became acquainted with Rufinus, a monk noted for his translations of Greek works into Latin. Saint Jerome was quite the student of Roman writers—particularly Cicero—but after a time began to fear that he was more a disciple of Cicero than Christ. He traveled to Gaul, modern-day France, for a time but returned to Aquileia before journeying to Antioch via Athens, reaching Antioch in 373. During this period, he embraced asceticism. Eventually, he moved to the desert southwest of Antioch to live as a hermit.
Upon returning to Antioch, Saint Jerome became caught up in ecclesial conflicts there. Though he resisted the encouragement to become a priest, he eventually agreed to be ordained but expressed a desire to keep his ministerial duties to a minimum to continue his scholarly and monastic pursuits. Accordingly, he ventured to Constantinople, studying under the theologian Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, who, like Saint Jerome himself, is recognized as a Father of the Church.
In 382, he returned to Rome to take part in the Council of Rome, which was involved in creating an early authoritative list of books that would eventually be recognized as the canon of Scripture. There, he met Pope Saint Damascus and eventually became his secretary. During this period, he began translating Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic sources of Scripture to Latin, which was the vernacular of the time.
Saint Jerome was one of the earliest—or possibly the earliest—to translate various scriptural texts from Hebrew. Though over the past century scholars have revised some of his translations, Saint Jerome laid the foundation for Catholic scriptural scholarship.
While in Rome, he also encouraged local women who wanted to live saintly lives through the practice of asceticism. After Pope Damascus died in 384, Saint Jerome faced backlash from prominent pagans who resented his affirmation of Christianity and some clergy who resented his criticism of impropriety among them. The backlash included spreading accusations of alleged improprieties with Paula, one of his closest followers. Paula, a widow with four children, received counseling and instruction from Saint Jerome. She eventually became a lifelong friend who later assisted him in his scholarly and administrative work in the Holy Land.
When Saint Jerome fled the calumny of Rome, he returned to the Holy Land, eventually reaching Antioch in 386. He was joined by Paula, her daughter and several other followers. Eventually, they settled in Bethlehem and built a monastery with sections for both men and women.
For the rest of his life, Saint Jerome continued translating Scripture, as well as writing commentaries on Scripture and other theological issues. In his scholarly pursuits, he engaged in sometimes-contentious exchanges—notably with his old colleague Rufinus and Saint Augustine. In time, the contentious exchanges gave way to a degree of respect and affection.
Paula continued her mission by establishing a monastery for men and a convent for women, as well a hostel for pilgrims. Saint Jerome lived and wrote in one of the monastery cells while Paula was the abbess of the nuns. World events brought Saint Jerome personal turmoil for much of his later years. He was greatly distressed after the sacking of Rome by Alaric the Barbarian in 410. Later, his work was disrupted when the violence broke out in Bethlehem.
Saint Jerome died September 30, 420. Paula preceded him in death, dying on January 26, 404. Today, she is also remembered in the Catholic Church as a saint. Saint Jerome is the patron saint of archaeologists, biblical scholars, librarians, students and translators.
Today, the Bible is available in more than 700 languages—thanks in large measure to Saint Jerome.
Saint Jerome’s feast day is September 30.
