![[painting of Saint Jerome]](stj06044.jpg "31kb jpg detail from 'Sts Christopher, Jerome and Ludwig of Toulouse' by Giovanni Bellini, 1513, S. Giovanni Crisostomo, Venice; please do not write to ask about the image")
Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius Girolamo Hieronymus Man of the Bible
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cardinal's hat lion aged monk in desert aged monk with Bible old man with a lionlion skull
New Catholic Dictionary Spiritus Paraclitus, Pope Benedict XV Catholic Encyclopedia Catholic Online Christian Biographies, by James E Keifer Columbia Encyclopedia Ecole Glossary, by Karen Rae Keck Ecole Glossary, by Ivor J Davidson Encyclopedia Brittanica Google Directory Lives of the Saints, by John J Crawley Perils of a Bible Translator, by Leslie J Hoppe, OFM Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society The Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate Our Sunday Visitor's Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Brunson
Letter to Pammachius Against John of Jerusalem Letter to Eustochium Life of Saint Hilarion Lives of Illustrious Men (online pages) Lives of Illustrious Men (download compiled offline version) Google Directory: Vulgate Google Directory: Other WritingsSaint Augustine
In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat of the scorching sun so that it frightens even the monks that inhabit it, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome. In exile and prison to which for the fear of hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, I many times imagined myself witnessing the dancing of the Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them: in my cold body and in my parched-up flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion able to live. Alone with this enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and I tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, but I grieve that I am not now what I then was.
Saint Jerome's letter to Saint Eustochium
The measure of our advancement in the spiritual life should be taken from the progress we make in the virtue of mortification; for it should be held as certain that the greater violence we shall do ourselves in mortification, the greater advance we shall make in perfection.
Saint Jerome
You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard.... But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs?
Jerome from Against Vigilantius, 406AD
I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: "Search the Scriptures," and "Seek and you shall find." For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.
No one should think that I mean to explain the entire subject matter of this great book of the prophet Isaiah in one brief sermon, since it contains all the mysteries of the lord. It prophesies that Emmanuel is to be born of a virgin and accomplish marvelous works and signs. It predicts his death, burial and resurrection from the dead as the Savior of all men. Whatever is proper to holy Scripture, whatever can be expressed in human language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of Isaiah.
-Jerome: from a commentary on Isaiah
When the Latin Fathers are represented in a group, Saint Jerome is sometimes in a cardinal's dress and hat, although cardinals were not known until three centuries later than his time, but as the other Fathers held exalted positions in the Church, and were represented in ecclesiastical costumes, and as Saint Jerome held a dignified office in the court of Pope Dalmasius, it seemed fitting to picture him as a cardinal. The Venetian painters frequently represented him in a full scarlet robe, with a hood thrown over the head. When thus habited, his symbol was a church in his hand, emblematic of his importance to the universal Church. Saint Jerome is also seen as a penitent, or again, with a book and pen, attended by a lion. As a penitent, he is a wretched old man, scantily clothed, with a bald head and neglected beard, a most unattractive figure. When he is represented as translating the Scriptures, he is in a cell or a cave, clothed in a sombre coloured robe, and is writing, or gazing upward for inspiration. In a few instances, an angel is dictating to him.
- from Saints in Art, by Clara Irskine Clement