Jerome, St, originally Eusebius Hieronymus c.342-420AD
Christian ascetic and scholar, one of the four Latin Doctors of the Church

Born in Stridon, near Aquileia, Dalmatia, he studied Greek and Latin rhetoric, and philosophy at Rome, where he was also baptized. In AD370 he settled in Aquileia with his friend the theologian Rufinus (c345-410), but then became a hermit (374-78) in the desert of Chalcis. Ordained priest at Antioch by St Paulinus of Nola in 379, he went on a mission connected with the Meletian schism at Antioch to Rome in 382, where he became secretary to Pope Damasus (reigned 366-84), and where he enjoyed great influence. In 385 he led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and settled in Bethlehem in 386, where he wrote the first Latin translation of the Bible from the Hebrew (which became known as the Vulgate). He also wrote biblical commentaries, and vehement criticisms of Jovinian, Vigilantius and the Pelagians, and even of Rufinus and St Augustine. St Jerome was the most learned and eloquent of the four Latin Doctors. His feast day is 30 September.

Bibliography: Charles C Mierow, Saint Jerome: The Sage of Bethlehem (1959)