St. Jerome.

"A clerk at Rome,/ A cardinall, that highte Seint Jerome, That made a book agayn Jovinian"--Chaucer, "Wife of Bath." Jerome (Hieronymus) was born at Stridon (Dalmatia) probably c. 348. After a Christian upbringing and classical education, he embarked on ascetic journeys in both West and East, learning Hebrew in Syria and hearing the heretic Apollinaris preach at Antioch where he was ordained.

A visit to Constantinople in 381 acquainted him with Gregory Nazianzenus. Back at Rome, he was secretary to Pope Damasus (366-384) and spiritual adviser to upper-class Christian ladies. When Damasus died, he resumed travelling, ending his days at Bethlehem ("I saw there with eyes of faith the many wonderful things of which I had only heard") where he founded and ruled a monastery and devoted himself to scholarship, dying on September 30 (his Feast Day), 420.

His works occupy volumes 22-30 of Migne's Latin Patrology. Most celebrated (of course) is the Vulgate, his Latin Bible, begun in 382 at Damasus' request. Finishing the Gospels in two years, he spent the next 15-20 on the Old Testament, working chiefly from the Hebrew. Like most innovations, it encountered some contemporary resistance; Augustine for instance regretted his neglect of the Septuagint. By the eighth century, it was firmly established. First printed in 1453 (the "Gutenberg Bible"), it was pronounced authoritative by the Council of Trent (1546), with Erasmus in the interim (1516) publishing Jerome's first modern biography along with editing his other writings. A modern critical revision was begun by Pius XI at the Abbey of St Girolamo. Jerome, while emphasizing (Epistle 49.4) his sacrifice of elegance to textual fidelity, through his classical training "raised the vulgar Latin of Christianity to the heights of great literature" (J.N.D. Kelly). His cognate voluminous biblical commentaries are likewise enriched by the secular learning he brought to bear on sacred texts.

Equally important in his day were his On Illustrious Men, a repertoire of 135 Christian luminaries, Latin and Greek, from St. Peter to himself, comprising a potted but broad-minded history of Christian literature, and his Latin paraphrase and expansion (to 378) of Eusebius' Chronicle, a world history from Abraham to 325, with emphasis on chronology and synchronisation of disparate events.

His many Letters reflect the intellectual and social climates of the age. Jerome was also a self-described (Epistles 22.32. 40.2, 50.5, 117.1) satirist in the classical manner (albeit in prose) of Horace, Juvenal, and company, halfway in the Christian context between Tertullian ("une ame de colere et de passion"--P. de Labriolle) and Augustine (e.g. his delicious demolition of pagan gods at City of God 4.8-12). Apart from personal enemies, e.g. Jovinian and Rufinus, attacked in pamphlets, he deployed his attacks on hypocritical clergy and monks, loose-living women, and (in the regrettable Zeitgeist) Jews across his biblical commentaries, homilies, and letters. To judge from his stated (Life of Malchus 1) intention to run "from the Apostles to the excrement of our own day," his un-realised Church History would have been equally lively.

Jerome's famous dream, in which God invited him to choose between Cicero and Christianity, continues the debate already begun by (e.g.) Tertullian and Basil on how to reconcile the old Roman culture with the new Christian one. After Jerome, sensible eclecticism prevailed.

"Jerome is a major bridge to the Middle Ages. Although his reputation grew above all from the Vulgate, his scriptural commentaries and translation and expansion of Eusebius would also prove a substantial influence. His views on monasticism, celibacy, Mary, and the cult of saints ('While the Devil and demons wander, shall martyrs remain hidden in coffins?' Against Vigilius 6--added by myself) prevailed in medieval Catholic piety"--M.P. McHugh, Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.

The popular Renaissance paintings of Jerome in his study show him with the red hat and robes of a cardinal; despite Chaucer, this is an obvious anachronism. The lion often shown at his feet reflects a story that Jerome had removed a thorn from his paw, one that owes something to Androcles and the lion. "When I was young, I was carried away by a wondrous ardour for learning"--Epistle 84.2.

FURTHER READING: There are various translations of most of his works. Outstanding studies include J.N.D. Kelly, Jerome: his Life, Writings and Controversies (London, 1975); F.X. Murphy (ed.), A Monument to St. Jerome: Some Aspects of his Life, Work, and Influence (New York, 1952); D. Wiesen, St. Jerome as a Satirist (Ithaca, 1964). Some half a million websites include his Catholic Encyclopedia notice.

From the commentary on Ecclesiastes (5:9-6:8, The Vanity of Riches) by Saint Jerome, priest

Seek the things that are above

Every man to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot, and to take pleasure in his labour--that man has received a gift from God. For he will not notice the days of his life as they pass because God has filled his heart with joy. Compare him with the man who is anxious about his wealth and is full of vexation as he hoards up possessions that perish. Our text says that it is better to take delight in what you have. The first man at least has some pleasure in what he has, while the second suffers from excess anxiety. And the reason is that the ability to enjoy riches is a gift from God; he does not count the days of his life, for God allows him to enjoy life; without sadness or anxiety, he is filled with the delight of the moment. However, it is better to understand the text with the Apostle as referring to God's gift of spiritual food and drink; man is to contemplate goodness in his works, for it takes great work and study for us to contemplate true good. And this is our lot: to rejoice in study and work. This is a good goal, but not completely good until Christ is revealed in our lives.

All the work of a man is to satisfy his mouth, yet his spirit will be hungry. For what has a wise man more than a fool, except the knowledge of how to live? All that men work for in this world is consumed by their mouths, chewed up by their teeth, and passed into the stomach for digestion. And even when something delights the taste, the pleasure lasts only as long as he can taste it.

But after all this, the mind of the eater gets no satisfaction, for he will want to eat again, and neither wise man nor fool can live without food, and even a poor man seeks nothing more than to keep his body alive and not die of starvation. Or again, it may be because the spirit gains nothing useful from feeding the body. Food is common to the wise and the foolish alike, and for the poor man food is wealth.

However, it is better to understand the text as retorting to the man in Ecclesiastes, who learned in the sacred Scripture, and knows that neither mouth nor spirit is satisfied so long as he still desires learning. In this the wise man has the advantage over the fool. For if he knows himself to be poor (and the poor are called blessed in the Gospel), he strives to understand the important things in life, and he walks the straight and narrow way which leads to life. He is poor in wickedness, and he knows where Christ, who is our life, is to be found.

Barry Baldwin is Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Calgary.