Today the Church celebrates Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church, one of the greatest Scripture scholars in the history of Christianity.

Born around 347 in Stridon, in the region of Dalmatia, Jerome was educated in Rome and became an outstanding scholar of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. His extraordinary ability with languages would shape the work for which he is best remembered.

Jerome devoted much of his life to the study and translation of Sacred Scripture. At the request of Pope Damasus I, he began revising the existing Latin translations of the Bible. He later translated much of the Old Testament directly from Hebrew. His work became the basis of the Latin Bible known as the Vulgate, which profoundly influenced the life, worship and theology of the Western Church for centuries.

He was also a prolific writer, producing biblical commentaries, theological works and hundreds of letters. Jerome could be forceful and sometimes fiercely argumentative in defending what he believed to be the truth, but beneath this intensity was a deep love for Christ and for the Word of God.

After travelling widely, Jerome eventually settled in Bethlehem, close to the place of Christ’s birth. There he continued his life of prayer, study and writing, while also guiding religious communities.

Saint Jerome died in Bethlehem around the year 420. He is traditionally counted among the four great Doctors of the Western Church, alongside Saints Ambrose, Augustine and Gregory the Great.

His life reminds us that Sacred Scripture is not simply something to study, but something through which we encounter Christ himself.

One of the sayings most closely associated with Jerome expresses this conviction clearly: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”

🙏 Saint Jerome, pray for us.