Biblical scholar, translator of the Vulgate
Jerome
c. AD 347–420 · Also called Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus
A brilliant, irascible scholar who produced the Vulgate, the Latin Bible translation that would dominate Western Christianity for over a thousand years.
Life and work
Jerome was born in Stridon (in modern Croatia/Slovenia) and received a classical education in Rome, where he was also baptized. A restless, ascetic temperament drove him to the Syrian desert for a period of hermit life, where he learned Hebrew from a converted Jew, an unusual and demanding pursuit for a Latin Christian scholar of his time.
Jerome served briefly as secretary to Pope Damasus I in Rome, who commissioned him to revise the existing Latin translations of the Gospels against the Greek text — the beginning of what became the Vulgate.
After Damasus's death, Jerome settled in Bethlehem, where he spent the rest of his life running a monastery and completing his translation of the entire Old Testament directly from the Hebrew (rather than the Greek Septuagint, a controversial choice at the time) alongside the New Testament from Greek.
Jerome was also a combative controversialist, engaging in bitter polemical exchanges with figures including Rufinus and, at times, Augustine, over questions of translation, Origenism, and asceticism. His extensive correspondence and biblical commentaries remain valuable windows into late antique Christian scholarship.
- Occupation
- Priest, translator, scholar
- Places
- Stridon, Rome, Antioch, the Syrian desert, Constantinople, Bethlehem
- Dates
- c. AD 347–420 Traditional dating
In their own words
"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."Commentary on Isaiah, Prologue
Further reading
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