Memoria of St Jerome

Saint Jerome, [in Latin, Eusebius Hieronymus] (347?-419 or 420), was Father of the Church, Doctor of the Church, and biblical scholar, and whose most important work was a translation of the Bible into Latin (see Vulgate). Jerome was born in Stridon, on the border of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about 347. After a period of literary study in Rome, he withdrew to the desert, where he lived as an ascetic and pursued the study of Scripture. In 379 he was ordained a priest. He then spent three years in Constantinople (present-day Ýstanbul) with the Eastern church father, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus. In 382 he returned to Rome, where he was made secretary to Pope Damasus I and became an influential figure. Many people placed themselves under his spiritual direction, including a noble Roman widow named Paula and her daughter, both of whom followed him to the Holy Land in 385 after the death of Damasus. Jerome fixed his residence at Bethlehem in 386, after Paula (later Saint Paula) founded four convents there, three for nuns and one for monks; the latter was governed by Jerome himself. There he pursued his literary labors and engaged in controversy not only with heretics Jovinian and Vigilantius and the adherents of Pelagianism, but also with monk and theologian Tyrannius Rufinus and with Saint Augustine. Because of his conflict with the bishop of Jerusalem, by about 395 Jerome found himself threatened with expulsion by the Roman civil authorities. Although this threat was averted, Jerome's later years were overshadowed by the sack of Rome in 410, the death of Paula and her daughter, and his own increasing isolation.
In addition to his work on the Bible, Jerome's literary activity was extensive and varied. He continued the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea, which covered sacred and profane history from the birth of Abraham to AD303, bringing the narrative to the year 378. For his De Viris Illustribus (On Famous Men), Jerome drew upon the Ecclesiastical History of the same Eusebius. He also wrote a number of commentaries on various books of the Bible, as well as polemical treatises against various theological opponents. Jerome was a brilliant and prolific correspondent; more than 150 of his letters survive. His feast day is September 30.
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