Jerome was the son of one Eusebius, and was born at
Sorigni, (a small town upon the confines) of Dalmatia, in the reign of
the Emperor Constantius. He was baptised at Rome when a lad, and studied
there, under the instruction of Donatus and other very learned
personages. He travelled in Gaul for the sake of improving his mind, and
there sought the friendship of divers godly men learned in the
Scriptures, and made with his own hand many copies of the holy books. He
afterwards betook himself to Greece, where he attained eminence as a
philosopher and orator, in the following of the most famous theologians.
At Constantinople, in especial, he sat at the feet of Gregory of
Nazianzus, from whom he professeth himself to have learnt his theology.
Then, for godliness' sake, he went to see the home of the Lord Christ,
and so throughout all Palestine. He witnesseth that this pilgrimage,
wherein he got the help of the most learned of the Jews for the
understanding of the Holy Scriptures, did him much good.
He withdrew himself into the wild deserts of Syria,
where he passed four years in studying the Holy Scriptures and in
considering the blessedness of heaven, afflicting his body by alway
denying himself, by bitter tears, and by chastisement of the flesh. He
was ordained Priest by Paulinus, Patriarch of Antioch. He went to Rome
on account of the quarrelling of certain Bishops with Paulinus and
Epiphanius, and there helped Pope Damasus in the writing of his letters
upon Church affairs. But the longing for his old solitude came upon him,
and he went back to Palestine, where, in the monastery at Bethlehem,
built beside the cradle of the Lord Christ by the Lady Paula of Rome, he
set himself to enter on earth upon the life of heaven, serving God in
reading and writing without ceasing, regardless of the sufferings of a
body tormented by divers diseases and pains.
Hard questions upon the interpretation of the Holy
Scripture were sent to him from all parts of the earth, as to an oracle.
He was oftentimes consulted by Pope Damasus and by the holy Augustine
upon the meaning of the most obscure passages of the Scripture, because
of his extraordinary learning, and that he knew not the Latin and Greek
tongues only, but also the Hebrew and Chaldee, and, as the same
Augustine testifieth, had read nearly all writers. He attacked heretics
with keen publications, and ever undertook the defence of the godly and
Catholic. He translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin, and,
at the command of Damasus, reformed, according to the original Greek,
the existing version of the New. Upon great part of the Scriptures he
wrote commentaries. He translated likewise into Latin the works of many
learned men, and himself contributed to the Christian life many
monuments of his own wit. He lived to an extreme old age, and passed
away to heaven, famous for learning and holiness, in the reign of the
Emperor Honorius,upon the 30th day of September in the year of Our Lord 420. His body was buried at Bethlehem, but hath since been brought to Rome, where it lieth in the Church of St Mary-atthe- Manger.
V. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.
R. Thanks be to God.
R. Thanks be to God.
Well done, good and faithful servant, * because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things, saith the Lord.
V. The Lord guided the righteous in right paths.
R. And showed him the kingdom of God.
O Lord, O God of truth, thy Word is a lantern to our feet and a light upon our path: We give thee thanks for thy servant Jerome, and those who, following in his steps, have labored to render the Holy Scriptures in the language of the people; and we pray that thy Holy Spirit will overshadow us as we read the written Word, and that Christ, the living Word, will transform us according to thy righteous will; through Jesus Christ our Lord who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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