Saint Jerome was born in Strido, where Croatia is
now, into a family that highly valued education.
Although they were Christian, Jerome’s parents
sent their young son to a prominent pagan school
in Rome, where he studied classical literature and
became fluent in Latin and Greek.
Concerned that secular studies had corrupted
his love of God, Jerome left Rome and spent many
years traveling. He befriended monks and other
young Christian scholars who had renounced material
concerns to dedicate themselves to their
faith. This spiritual quest led him to the Syrian
desert, where he lived as a hermit for several years.
Taunted and tempted by memories of Roman
decadence, Jerome gained mastery over his desires
with acts of penance, contemplation, and the discipline
of learning Hebrew. He then journeyed to
Turkey and became engaged in the theological debates
of the day. Sharp-tongued and hot-tempered,
Jerome strongly criticized the clergy’s worldly pursuits,
earning himself many foes.While addressing
these controversies at a council in Rome, Jerome
found favor with Pope Damasus, who made him
his private secretary. At Damasus’s behest, Jerome
translated the New Testament into contemporary
Latin. He also translated the Old Testament from
Hebrew to Latin. For centuries, Jerome’s Vulgate
(“of the common people”) was the only version of
the Bible sanctioned by the Catholic Church.
When his champion Damasus died, Jerome left
Rome and established a monastery at Bethlehem.
There, he reportedly extracted a thorn from the
paw of a lion, who remained his loyal companion.
While the Vulgate was his crowning triumph,
Jerome was also a prolific writer of letters, commentaries,
biographies, and translations of historical
works. In the MIDDLE AGES, Jerome was
designated “Doctor of the Church” for his outstanding
piety, contributions to Christianity, and
learnedness.
Jerome is the patron saint of translators. “One
need only utter the name of Jerome and the most
humble of us immediately feels taller, and reminded
of the duties and the honor of his calling,”
wrote 20th-century translator Valery Larbaud.
An English Version of Works by
Saint Jerome
Select Letters of St. Jerome. Translated by Frederick
Adam Wright. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1999.
Works about Saint Jerome
Hodges, Margaret. St. Jerome and the Lion. London:
Orchard Books, 1991.
Larbaud,Valery, An Homage to Jerome: Patron Saint of
Translators. Translated by Jean-Paul De Chezet.
Marlboro, Vt.:Marlboro Press, 1984.