Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor – Readings

Commentary on 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Matthew 13:47-52

The Gospel reading is taken from Matthew. It is the end of chapter 13 which consists of a set of parables told by Jesus and all relating to the Kingdom of God (or Kingdom of Heaven, as Matthew prefers to say). It is the third of the five discourses given by Jesus that we find in Matthew’s Gospel.

The last parable speaks of the end of the world, the time of judgement. Jesus compares it to a net which fishermen cast into the sea. When they pull it in, they find there are fish they want to keep and others which they will throw away.

Jesus says that at the end of the world it will be like that. Those who are good will be set apart for eternal happiness while others will be rejected into a life of eternal suffering. It is important for us to realise that this choice is not really made by God, but by us.

During our life, we have the choice to be on the side of God, to walk the Way of life that Jesus has shown us—a life of love and service and mutual caring—the choice to say ‘Yes’ to Jesus. On the other hand, we have the freedom to say ‘No’, to live a life of total self-centredness, doing whatever we feel like with total disregard for the needs of those around us. If we persevere like that to the end, God will say to us: “Your will be done” and we will go into an eternity of total isolation.

Finally, Jesus concludes the parables by saying:

Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.

‘Scribe’ here seems to refer to those who have teaching authority in the Church, especially the Twelve taught by Jesus and chosen by him to continue his mission. They know both the teaching of Jesus (the new) and the Law and the Prophets (the old) and will incorporate both in their teaching, as understood in the light of the new. In many ways, this is a description of Matthew’s Gospel, in which he often shows that the Old Testament is being realised and fulfilled in the New.

Jerome, we know, was deeply learned in the whole of the Scriptures and wrote much to help us in our understanding of it. Every Christian needs to be as familiar as possible with the Word of God if they wish to be truly faithful to the call of Jesus.

In the First Reading from the Second Letter to Timothy, the author (presumed to be Paul) speaks about the value and importance of Scripture:

…from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

It is not just knowledge and information we get from the Scriptures, but true wisdom, true insight into the meaning and direction of our lives. Its foundation is our faith, our total trust that the truth is in the Way of Jesus.

Paul says:

All scripture is inspired by God…

As such, we call it the “Word of God”. And so it is our guide in evaluating our thinking and our values and the goodness of our words and actions. And, Paul says, it:

…is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Jerome’s whole life, of course, was based on these ideas. He was himself steeped in the Scriptures. They were the guide of his life and he helped others to take it as their guide too. What role do the Scriptures play in my Christian living—central or peripheral? It is never too late to start.

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Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor

Jerome was born about 341 AD at Strido in Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia). He was first educated by his father and then was taught by the grammarian Donatus in Rome. His study of rhetoric is apparent in the quality of his later writing. Prior to his baptism just before 366 AD, he liked to visit the churches and catacombs of Rome. He also travelled in Gaul, his native Dalmatia, and Italy.

It was at Trier in Aquileia that he decided, with some good friends, to become a monk. But after a quarrel, arising from some real or supposed scandal, Jerome left for Palestine. In 374 AD, he was in Antioch in Syria where two of his companions died and Jerome himself became seriously ill. It was during his sickness that he had a dream in which he saw God condemning him for being a Ciceronian rather than a Christian, and this experience affected him for a number of years.

He became a hermit in the Syrian desert for five years, gave up his beloved classics and began learning Hebrew in order to study the Old Testament in its original language. With his knowledge of Greek and his training in style and rhetoric, he was now ready for his future work as a writer and translator. Unfortunately, Jerome also had the reputation of being cantankerous and sarcastic, which led to his making a number of enemies all during his life.

He was raised to the priesthood in Antioch, even though he did not want to be ordained and in fact never celebrated the Eucharist. He then went to study in Constantinople under Gregory of Nazianzus, where he felt more at home than with monks in the deserts of Syria.

He translated Eusebius’ Chronicon (Chronicle) from Greek into Latin, as well as some of Origen’s homilies. He also wrote his first scriptural work on the Vision of Isaiah, which in a later form was dedicated to Pope Damasus I. Subsequently, he returned to Rome as interpreter to Paulinus, a claimant to the See of Antioch, and was retained as ‘secretary’ by Damasus, then a very old man.

He produced a number of small pieces, mainly involving translations of Scripture. It was at this point that he began the enormous task of making a standard Latin text of the whole Bible. It was not really a completely new translation, but more a revision of existing texts made from the original Hebrew and Greek. He began with the four Gospels and the Psalms. He eventually completed almost the whole text of the Bible which became known as the Vulgate (literally, ‘popularised version’). He also wrote much appreciated commentaries on the Prophets and the Letters of the New Testament. His commentary on Matthew’s Gospel became a standard work.

During his three years in Rome, he also became the spiritual director of a group of semi-monastic women. This relationship gave rise to some gossip, generally regarded as unjustified, but it was not helped by his sarcasm and arrogance. He left Rome in 385 AD—as he had left Syria and Constantinople before—under something of a cloud. He was determined to make a new start, this time in Bethlehem, where Paula, one of his Roman directees, established a convent and Jerome a monastery. It was here that he would spend the rest of his life teaching, writing and studying.

During his life he aimed to produce the most accurate version of the Bible and to explain the meaning of the text through sound interpretation. He also believed that monastic life should be based on Scripture-centred prayer, what we now call lectio divina. Such a life should be based on the teachings of the Gospels and Paul, and its finest example was Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Although marred by his difficult temperament, his learning had no equal at that period except for Augustine. His Letters are regarded as the finest of the time. And his deep spirituality and austerity of life were unquestioned.

Jerome died in Bethlehem on 30 September, 420, and was buried under the church of the Nativity there, close to the graves of his spiritual companions, Paula and Eustochium, and close to the traditional site of the birth of Christ. Later his body was transferred to the basilica of St Mary Major in Rome.

In art, it has been common to represent Jerome as a cardinal, although there was no such thing at the time. Even when shown as a scantilly clad anchorite, with cross, skull and Bible as the only furniture of his cell, the red hat or some other indication of his rank is usually introduced somewhere.

He is also often shown with a lion, due to a medieval story in which he removed a thorn from a lion’s paw, and, less often, an owl, the symbol of wisdom and scholarship. Writing materials and the trumpet of final judgment are also part of his iconography. One Renaissance pope commented that it was well Jerome was shown holding a stone, representing his penitential life, because otherwise it would be difficult to regard him a saint! He is also one of the four Latin Doctors.

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