Jerome Essay ⋆ History Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Jerome was a scripture scholar, translator, ascetic, spiritual adviser, church father, and Doctor of the Church. Jerome was born Eusebius Hieronymus into a prosperous Christian family at Stridon in Dalmatia. At age 12 he was sent to Rome to study the liberal arts under the famed grammarian Aelius Donatus. After about six years of education, around 366 c.e., Jerome was baptized at age 19. In his 20th year Jerome continued his studies at Treves (Trier, Germany), where he was introduced to monasticism. From here he journeyed around 370 to Aquileia, where he joined a group of ascetics, including Rufinus and Chromatius, under Bishop Valerian. Several years later Jerome set out for the East, staying first at Antioch, where he mastered Greek and began his lifelong study of the Bible. He lived for several years (c. 375–377) as a hermit in the desert region of Chalcis in Syria, where he also began studying Hebrew. Back at Antioch, Jerome was ordained a priest (with no pastoral jurisdiction) by Bishop Paulinus in 379 and was introduced to biblical interpretation through the lectures of Apollinaris of Laodicea.

Jerome traveled with Bishop Paulinus to the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381, where he met the Cappadocian theologians Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa. He then accompanied Paulinus to Rome, where from 382 to 385 he served as secretary to Pope Damasus and became the spiritual counselor of a group of Roman noblewomen, including Paula and her daughter Eustochium. During this period Jerome translated Greek patristic texts, particularly those of Origen, and began work on a new Latin translation of the Bible. After the death of Damasus in December 384 and the election of Siricius as bishop of Rome, Jerome departed for the East with Paula and others. They eventually settled in Bethlehem in 386, where they founded a double monastery of men and women. Jerome spent the remainder of his life here, devoting himself to scripture study, translating, and writing.

Jerome’s voluminous writings fall into four broad categories, namely, translations and studies of the Bible, polemical treatises, historical works, and letters. Translations and studies of the Bible represent Jerome’s most significant and influential writings. He is known primarily for his new Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate, which became the accepted text in the Latin West during the Middle Ages. Jerome’s work on the Vulgate began, at the request of Pope Damasus, with a revised version of the Gospels based on Old Latin and Greek texts. He began working on the Old Testament by revising the Old Latin based on the Septuagint (that is, the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced by Jewish scholars and used in the early church).

His increasing familiarity with the original Hebrew, however, led him to doubt the accuracy of the Septuagint and convinced him of the necessity of basing his new translation entirely on what he called veritas Hebraica, or “Hebrew truth.” Although Jerome himself was not able to produce a fresh translation of every biblical book, his associates and other scholars after him completed this massive project. In addition to translation, Jerome was also interested in biblical interpretation. In this vein he wrote commentaries on many biblical books (including all of the minor and major prophets), and composed and delivered a series of homilies for the religious community at Bethlehem (based mainly on the Psalms and Gospels).

Polemical treatises constitute the second major category of Jerome’s writings. These works, often teeming with bitter and abusive invective, were intended either to combat various heresies or to defend himself against the charge of heresy. Jerome’s work in this area grew out of his profound faith in the Catholic Church and its apostolic authority, on the one hand, and his firm conviction that heresy is destructive to Christian unity, on the other. In treatises against Helvidius, Jovinian, Vigilantius, and the Pelagians, Jerome defended the perpetual virginity of Mary, the virgin birth of Jesus (Christ) of Nazareth, the superiority of celibacy over marriage, prayer to the saints, devotion to the relics of martyrs and saints, original sin, and the necessity of infant baptism.

The third category of Jerome’s writings is historical works. Jerome either translated or composed several historical treatises related to his study of the biblical text. First, around 380 he translated the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea, adding to its contents and carrying it forward to his own day. About a decade later Jerome translated and revised Eusebius’s Onomasticon, an inventory of biblical places, and produced a dictionary of biblical proper names. Around 392 Jerome published his work On Famous Men, a historical survey of the lives and writings of 135 authors (mostly Christian) from St. Peter to himself. Jerome also wrote a Book of Hebrew Questions (a linguistic, historical, and geographical discussion of Genesis) and several “lives” of ascetics.

Finally, Jerome wrote more than 150 letters that we know of relating to biblical interpretation, monasticism, the clergy, virgins, widows, and his own translation practices. In an important correspondence with Augustine of Hippo between 394 and 419, the two churchmen vigorously discussed the authority of the Septuagint and Jerome’s translation from the Hebrew.

Jerome’s Vulgate, his scriptural commentaries, and his translation of Eusebius’s Chronicle made him a major bridge figure in the transition to the European Middle Ages. His views on the monastic life, celibacy, Mary, and the cult of the saints became central to medieval Catholic piety. On account of his elegant Latin, his strong invective, and his vast knowledge, Jerome became a favorite of Renaissance scholars. In 1516 Erasmus published the first successful critical biography of Jerome along with his edition of Jerome’s works. He has been considered a Doctor of the Church since the eighth century, and the Council of Trent (16th century) described Jerome as “the greatest Doctor in explicating Sacred Scripture.” His feast day is celebrated on September 30.

References:

Kamesar, Adam. Jerome, Greek Scholarship, and the Hebrew Bible: A Study of the Quaestiones Hebraicae in Genesim. Oxford: Clarendon, 1993;
Kelly, J. N. D. Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies. San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1975;
Murphy, F. X., ed. A Monument to Saint Jerome: Essays on Some Aspects of His Life, Works and Influence. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1952;
Rebenich, Stefan. Jerome. London: Routledge, 2002;
White, Carolinne. The Correspondence, 394–419, between Jerome and Augustine of Hippo. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1990.

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