Blessed (Western Father)

Blessed Jerome

c. 347–420 · 5th c. · 10 works

Blessed Jerome (c. 347–420), also called Hieronymus of Stridon, was a priest, monk, and biblical scholar of the late fourth and early fifth centuries, ranked among the most learned of the Latin Church Fathers. Born at Stridon on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia, he is venerated in the Orthodox Church as “Blessed Jerome.”

Educated in the classical disciplines at Rome and baptized around the age of twenty, he devoted himself to the ascetic life, living for several years as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis near Antioch, where he learned Hebrew and Greek. Ordained a priest, he later served at Rome as secretary to Pope Damasus. After leaving the city he settled about 386 in a monastery at Bethlehem near the site of the Nativity.

His principal work is the Latin translation of the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek, later known as the Vulgate, which became the standard text of the Western Church. He also composed numerous biblical commentaries, the catalogue of Christian writers De viris illustribus, and a large body of letters and polemical treatises.

He continued his ascetic labors and scholarship at Bethlehem, where he died about 420. He is venerated as Blessed and as a saint, and the Orthodox Church commemorates him on 15 June.

Sources: Orthodox Church in America — Blessed Jerome of Stridon · Encyclopædia Britannica — St. Jerome