St. Jerome

St. Jerome was born in 427 to a wealthy family in Dalmatia. He was schooled in  Rome where he was baptized by Pope Liberius and converted to Christianity.   He studied theology and traveled widely to the important intellectual and theological centers across the newly-established Christian Empire. He was ordained a priest at Antioch and lived for many years as a hermit in the desert. He became an extraordinary scholar, considered to be the most learned of the Latin Church Fathers.

St. Jerome spent 30 years translating the Bible to Latin, (the Latin Vulgate).   He is considered one of the most influential and orthodox theologians in the life of the early Church.

In his final years, Saint Jerome lived in a monastery that he founded in the Holy Land near Bethlehem, where he worked on writing histories and biographies in addition to drawing deeper into a life of prayer.

St. Jerome died in Bethlehem in 420. He has been proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.

To overcome his strong temptations, St. Jerome worked and studied hard. He also read the Bible. We can imitate Jerome’s wonderful habits of hard work, serious study, and frequent reading of the Bible. God’s Holy Word has the power to change us for the better.