Saint Jerome

Jerome was born around 347 in Stridon, on the border of Dalmatia, and studied in Rome, where he was baptized. After years of study and travel he lived as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis in Syria, where he learned Hebrew. Ordained a priest in Antioch, he went to Rome in 382 as secretary to Pope Damasus, who asked him to revise the Latin translation of the Gospels. In Rome he also guided a circle of devout women, among them Saints Paula and Marcella.

In 386 he settled in Bethlehem, where Paula built monasteries for men and women. There he spent more than thirty years translating most of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. His Latin Bible, later called the Vulgate, became the Church's standard text for centuries. Known for his sharp temper and his deep love of Scripture, he died in Bethlehem on September 30, 420.

Because of Jerome, September is celebrated as the Month of the Bible in many Latin American countries, with Bible courses, processions of the Word and campaigns to bring a Bible into every home. September 30 is also International Translation Day.

Artists often show him in his study with a lion, from a legend that he removed a thorn from a lion's paw, and with a skull, recalling his life of penance.