Jerome was the foremost Biblical scholar of his day, best known for his translation of Scripture into Latin, the “Vulgate Version”.

He was born to well-to-do Christian parents. As a student in Rome he became a Christian and received baptism. Secular life in Rome was corrupt and depraved. The simple ascetic life-style of a monk, in contrast, seemed right for the committed disciple.

In Trier with a friend, he began theological studies that would continue his entire life. From there he went to Aquileia, where he stayed for some time and made many Christian friends. About 373, some went with him to Thrace and Asia Minor into northern Syria. At Antioch, where he stayed the longest, 2 of his friends died. He was seriously ill more than once and (about the winter of 373–374), while sick, he had a vision that led him to lay aside more secular studies and plunge deeply into the Bible.

The desire for a life of ascetic penance, lead Jerome to the desert south-east of Antioch where a great number of Christian hermits lived. Here he met a converted “Jew” who taught him Hebrew. His real task began, as he translated parts of the Hebrew Gospel into Greek. On his return to Antioch he was ordained. He then travelled to Constantinople to study Scripture under Gregory Nazianzen.

He returned to Rome from 379 to 382 and became private secretary to Pope Damasus, who commissioned him to produce a Latin translation of the Bible. He vigorously promoted monasticism and the ascetic way, finding a sympathetic hearing among some noble Roman matrons, but his lack of tact gained him enemies, and when Damasus died Jerome found it a good idea, to leave Rome.

August 385, Jerome went to Antioch, with his brother Paulinian and friends, followed later by Paula and Eustochium (2 of the Roman matrons), who had resolved to die in the Holy Land. Jerome became their guide and spiriitual advisor, they toured Egypt and the Holy Land. Then he settled in the cave near Bethlehem, believed to be where Jesus was born. His friends formed a monastry/convent nearby.

Jerome devoted great energy to his work on the Scriptures, not only producing the requested translation, but many commentaries and other works, demonstrating a breadth of reading and scholarship that was quite outstanding. He was less at home in the theological field, but that never prevented him from fighting on behalf of what he deemed to be correct. His vitriolic debates led him into a number of quarrels. But, he was an ardent champion of orthodoxy, a master of Latin style, and never sought high position or personal honours of any kind. The “Vulgate” translation, so called because it was the “common” or “well known” version (editio vulgata) of the Bible, included much of Jerome’s work. It became standard in the Latin church for centuries.

BORN: c. 342, Stridon (possibly Strido Dalmatiae, on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia)

DIED: 30 September 420, Bethlehem, Palaestina Prima