Born in Dalmatia, Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus—later known simply as Jerome—received an excellent education in Rome under the famous rhetorician Donatus. He was baptized only after completing his studies. A tireless traveler, Jerome encountered monastic life at Trier, a decisive experience for his future vocation.
In Aquileia he joined a group of ascetics, among them Rufinus, and set out for the Holy Land. Illness detained him in Antioch, where he studied under the renowned exegete Apollinaris of Laodicea and perfected his Greek. For three years he lived as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis, where he began learning Hebrew—a discipline that would mark his entire life. Afterward, he was ordained priest in Antioch and studied further in Constantinople, where he met Saint Gregory Nazianzen and absorbed the Origenist tradition of biblical interpretation.
At the invitation of Pope Damasus, Jerome returned to Rome. There he received the task that would define his life: revising the Latin translations of Scripture. This monumental work, later known as the Vulgate, became the official Bible of the Western Church. He also produced commentaries and treatises on biblical questions, and in Rome became the spiritual guide of a notable circle of ascetic women.
Outspoken and sharp in controversy, Jerome made enemies among the Roman clergy. After the death of Damasus—at one point some even considered him for the papacy—he left Rome and settled in Bethlehem. There he founded monasteries for men and women, combining a life of scholarship and asceticism with preaching, spiritual direction, and theological debate.
His temperament, fiery and polemical, brought him into many disputes. Yet his learning and his immense literary legacy made him the model Christian scholar. He died at Bethlehem in 419 or 420, leaving behind a treasury of biblical commentaries, letters, and treatises.
Saint Jerome is considered the most learned of the Latin Fathers. In the Middle Ages he was venerated as patron of schools and theology faculties; today he is invoked especially by those who dedicate themselves to Scripture.
