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"Not to know the Holy Scriptures is to not know Christ."

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Also known as:
• Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius
• Girolamo, Hieronymus, Jerome
• The Man of the Bible
Another commemoration:
May 9th (transfer of the relics)
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Biography:
Jerome was born into a wealthy pagan family and spent his youth in a turbulent and aimless manner. He studied in Rome and became a lawyer. Although he formally embraced Christianity and was baptised in 365, it was not until he began studying theology that he experienced a true conversion and that his faith became an integral part of his life.
He became a monk and later, as he needed solitude to study the Holy Scriptures, lived for many years as a hermit in the Syrian deserts. Tradition has it that it was there that he removed a thorn from a lion’s paw; the animal then remained faithfully by his side for years.
Priest. A pupil of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. Secretary to Pope Damasus I, who entrusted him with revising the Latin text of the Bible. The result was a thirty-year labour known as the Vulgate – a Latin translation which served as the standard for more than a millennium and is still in use today.
A friend and teacher of Saint Paula, Saint Marcellina and Saint Eustochia; however, this friendship gave rise to so much gossip that Jerome left Rome and returned to a life of solitude in the desert. He spent the last 34 years of his life in seclusion in the Holy Land, writing and translating historical and biographical works, as well as many other texts. Teacher and Father of the Church. Ever since his time, he has been associated in the public consciousness with scrolls, writing, cataloguing and translation, which is why those working in these fields chose him as their patron – they saw in him a man who understood their lives and their struggles.
Born: 347 in Stridon (Dalmatia)
Died: 419 (of natural causes)
• buried in Bethlehem
• his relics are enshrined in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome (Italy)

Patronage:
• archaeologists
• archivists
• biblical scholars
• librarians and libraries
• schoolchildren and students
• translators
• the town of Saint-Jérôme (Quebec)
• the Diocese of Saint-Jérôme (Quebec)
• the Taos Pueblo
Depiction:
• a cardinal’s hat (often placed on the ground or behind him), symbolising his renunciation of the luxuries of ecclesiastical life
• a lion (a reminder of the animal with which he befriended after removing a thorn from its paw)
• a man striking his chest with a stone
• an old monk in the desert
• an old monk with a Bible
• an old monk writing
• an old man with a lion
• a skull
• an hourglass
Readings:

“What Jerome does not know, no man has known.” – Saint Augustine of Hippo

In the most remote part of the wild and stony desert, parched by the heat of the scorching sun to such an extent that it terrifies even the monks who inhabit it, it seemed to me as though I were in the midst of Roman revelry and crowds. In exile and imprisonment, to which I had voluntarily condemned myself out of fear of hell, I often imagined the dancing of Roman maidens, as though I were right there amongst them; within my cold and parched body, which seemed dead even before death, passion still managed to live. Alone face to face with this enemy, I fell in spirit at Jesus’ feet, drenched them with tears, and subdued my body with a fast lasting for weeks on end. I am not ashamed to admit my temptations, but it grieves me that I am no longer the man I once was. – A letter from Saint Jerome to Saint Eustochia

The extent of our progress in the spiritual life must be judged by the progress we make in the virtue of mortification; for it must be held as certain that the greater the effort we exert in mortifying ourselves, the greater the progress we shall make towards perfection. – Saint Jerome

In your book, you state that whilst we are alive, we can pray for one another, but after death, one person’s prayer for another can no longer be heard. But if the apostles and martyrs can intercede for others whilst they are still in the flesh – that is, at a time when they ought to be concerned first and foremost with themselves – how much more will they do so after they have received their crowns, victories and triumphs? – Saint Jerome, from *Against Vigilantius* (406)

I interpret as best I can, obeying Christ’s command: ‘Search the Scriptures’ and ‘Seek, and you shall find’. For if Christ – as Paul says – is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if a person who does not know the Scriptures does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of the Scriptures means ignorance of Christ. No one should think that I intend to explain the entire content of this great book of the prophet Isaiah in a single short sermon, since it contains all the Lord’s mysteries. It prophesies that Immanuel will be born of a virgin and will perform miraculous deeds and signs. He foretells his death, burial and resurrection as the Saviour of all people. Everything that pertains to Holy Scripture, everything that can be expressed in human language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of the prophet Isaiah. – Jerome: from the commentary on Isaiah

When the Latin Church Fathers are depicted as a group, Saint Jerome is sometimes shown wearing a cardinal’s robe and a cardinal’s hat – even though cardinals did not yet exist in his time. However, as the other Fathers held prominent positions within the Church and were depicted in ecclesiastical vestments, and since Saint Jerome held a distinguished office at the court of Pope Damasus, it seemed appropriate to depict him as a cardinal. Venetian painters often depicted him in a long scarlet robe with a hood thrown over his head. Dressed in this manner, he held a church in his hand, symbolising his importance to the universal Church. Saint Jerome is also often depicted as a penitent, sometimes with a book and a quill in the company of a lion. As a penitent, he is depicted as a wretched old man, modestly dressed, with a bald head and an unkempt beard – a figure who does not exactly appear attractive. When depicted whilst translating the Holy Scriptures, he is found in a cell or a cave, dressed in a dark-coloured robe; he is either writing or gazing upwards, awaiting inspiration. In a few instances, an angel is dictating to him. – from the book *Saints in Art* by Clara Erskine Clement