JEROME

JEROME, hieromonk, biblical scholar, St. (ca. 347–419). Eusebius Hieronymous is one of the most distinguished of the Latin Church Fathers of the 4th-5th c. He early devoted himself to ascesis (q.v.) in Aquileia. An accomplished Latinist, he became thoroughly conversant as well with both Greek and Hebrew. The latter accomplishment owed much to his long stay in the Near East (from ca. 374 to 381, 385 to 419), at first in an attempt at the eremetic life in Syria, and later ensconced in Bethlehem where, surrounded by a community of upper-caste Roman women, he spent the remainder of his life. While deservedly renowned as a commentator on Scripture (q.v.) and for his exceedingly lively correspondence, his signal achievement was and remains the translation of the holy books from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. This enormous labor done in different renditions, the Vulgate Bible, earned him lasting fame and eventual canonization-and cleared up problems with different Latin versions circulating previously. Up until the Second Vatican Council, the Vulgate remained the offical version of Scripture for the Roman Catholic Church (q.v.). Jerome also bequeathed to Latin-speakers an acquaintance with Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea (qq.v.) through his translations of several of their works, notably a number of Origen’s scriptural commentaries and Eusebius’s Chronicle (which he continued as well) together with certain topical works by Theophilus of Alexandria and Epiphanius of Salamis (q.v.). He was a fierce opponent of Arianism (q.v.), Pelagianism, and Origenism.