St Jerome was born in the small town of Stridon, near Acvileia, in 347. He received his first lessons in his parents’ home. Then, going to Rome, he learned Greek and Latin, the art of speech and philosophy. He was baptized at the age of 20 by Pope Liberos. At Treveri, in Gaul, he discovered monastic life.
Blessed St Jerome, the patron of librarians, was the first to translate the Holy Scriptures into Latin and initiated the literary genre of Christian history. Blessed Jerome was born in the small town of Stridon, near Aquileia, in 347.
In Rome, he joined a brotherhood of friends, where he learned the Scriptures and became acquainted with the Roman catacombs. Following a disagreement with his relatives and disgusted by the vanities of Rome, he made his first journey to the East, exploring the monasteries of Greece, Thrace, Asia Minor, and Cilicia, and settled in Antioch.
Who is St. Jerome?
According to historical accounts, Pope Damasus took him on as his deacon, with the charge of revising the Latin text of the Bible, later called the Vulgate. On the death of Pope Damasus, Blessed Jerome withdrew again to Palestine and settled in Bethlehem, where he founded three monasteries. He then began a period of scholarly endeavor which lasted 30 years.
Jerome is the first and only person who wrote the Vulgate version of the Bible. He also studied the sciences of the time. Jerome is the one who made a trip to Constantinople, attracted by the fame of the words of St. Gregory of Nazianz, and stayed there for two years, listening to his words.
St Jerome wrote many letters urging the faithful to live a pure life and keep the Lord’s commandments. He taught the monks the art of copying manuscripts. Weighed by old age and unceasing need, Abbot Jerome died in Bethlehem in 420.
Biography of Saint Jerome
| Full name: | Saint Jerome |
| Date of birth: | 0342 AD |
| Year of death: | 0420 AD |
| The thread of life: | 78 years old |
| Place of birth: | Stridon, Dalmatia |
| Spouse: | - |
| Children: | 0 |
| Brother's name: | Paul of Antioch |
| Nationality: | Dalmatian |
| Life accomplishments: | He wrote the first version of the Vulgate Bible. |
| Death cause: | Natural causes. |
Read also: What is John Chrysostom known for?
Where did Jerome receive his first teachings?
He received his first teachings in his parents’ home. It seems that he belonged to a reasonably wealthy family, as his parents could provide him with the necessary expenses for his studies in Rome at the school of the famous Aelius Donatus. Here he learned Greek and Latin, the art of speech and philosophy. He was baptized at the age of 20 by Pope Liberos.
Jerome received his first teachings in his parents’ home. It seems that he belonged to a reasonably wealthy family, as his parents could provide him with the necessary expenses for his studies in Rome at the school of the famous Aelius Donatus. Here he learned Greek and Latin, the art of speech and philosophy. He was baptized at the age of 20 by Pope Liberos.
He then withdrew to the wilderness of Cialis in Syria, where he spent four years in ascetic need, fighting against his passions. During this period, he learned Hebrew. Returning to Antioch, he received the gift of the priesthood, then traveled to Constantinople, attracted by the fame of the words of St Gregory of Nazianz, and stayed there for two years, listening to his words.
What is the doctrine of Jerome?
St Jerome was a great defender of the idea of the Church. Until 394, Jerome taught the salvation of all men. St. Mary was and is and will always remain a virgin. The veneration of the relics of the martyrs is an act of adoration of God.
Jerome’s teaching is generally orthodox and based on Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. Our author admits a real, not verbal, inspiration from Holy Scripture. He admits that our salvation is the work of human will and grace.
God’s presence does not affect the free will of men.
What is the Vulgate?
We are left with numerous other translations, homilies, commentaries on the books of Holy Scripture, works of ecclesiastical history, and letters of spiritual guidance from Saint Jerome Vulgate.
According to historians, the Vulgate is a revision of the Holy Scriptures’ text, the old Latin version, called the Italica. The New Testament, thus revised, is the one of today.
At about 390, Jerome began translating the Old Testament Scriptures from the Hebrew text, except for a few books that the translator was not sure were authentic. Jerome’s translation, starting around 405, met with resistance initially but gradually gained ground.
Where did the word Vulgate come from?
Following the death of Pope Damasus, Jerome retired to the East, where he spent the last 34 years of his Bible study and writing of his Mandarin, as well as a life of prayer and asceticism.
The word Vulgate in the Bible translation comes from a common Latin expression: versio vulgata, which means “common translation.”
References to early Latin texts of the Vulgate can be found in the writings of St. Cyprian and Tertullian of Carthage. However, these early Latin translations were considered too “rough” and “provincial” to be authentic.
Did Jerome write the Vulgate Bible?
We know about Jerome that he was born in 340 in Stridonius in northern Italy. He was baptized at age 20, and his father gave him an outstanding education.
According to biblical scholars and historians, Saint Jerome wrote the Vulgate version of the Bible. This version is of Latin origin, generally based on Jewish translations.
Jerome’s translation was not immediately accepted, but from the mid-6th century, a complete Bible with all the separate books bound in a single cover was commonly used.
Key Verse related to The Vulgate
“The medieval period based its scriptural exegesis upon the Vulgate translation of the Bible. There was no authorized version of this text, despite the clear need for a standardized test that had been carefully checked against its Hebrew and Greek originals.
It was not until 1592 that the church authorities produced an ‘official’ version of the text, sensitive to the challenges to the power of the Vulgate by Renaissance humanist scholars and Protestant theologians.”
The Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation
Who commissioned Jerome to write Vulgate?
The Latin version of the Bible is called the Vulgate, adopted at the Council of Trent and still used today in the Roman Catholic Church; the book contains this version.
In 0382 AD, Pope Damasus commissioned Jerome, the leading biblical scholar of his day, to produce an acceptable Latin version of the Bible, the Vulgate, from the various translations in use.
His revised Latin translation of the Gospels appeared around 383. Using the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament, he produced new Latin translations of the Psalms (the so-called Gallican Psalter), the Book of Job, and several other books. He later decided that the Septuagint was not satisfactory and began translating the entire Old Testament from the original Hebrew versions, a process he completed around 405.
Jerome’s four philosophical translations
Jerome is considered the first great Latin scholar at a time when Greek was culturally and ecclesiastically dominant throughout most of the Roman Empire. He interpreted four translations of various philosophers
1. Translations from Origen:
– 14 Homilies on Jeremiah
– 14 Homilies to Ezekiel
– 9 Homilies to Isaiah
– Commentary on the Song of Songs
– 30 Homilies on Luke
– De principiis
2. Translations from Eusebius:
– Chronicle – which continues to 378
– Onomasticon
3. Translations from Didymus:
– On the Holy Spirit
4. Translations from Pahomius:
– Monastic Rules
– Letters from Epiphanius and Theophilus Alexandrinus.
When was the Vulgate revised?
Through the Vulgate, Jerome preached all about the Gospel values: a simple life, prayer, freedom from sin, selflessness, and life’s dedication to the Church and God.
In 1965, the Second Vatican Council set up a commission to revise the Vulgate, and in 1979 the Nova Vulgata was published. It was promulgated by Pope John Paul II as the official Latin text of the Roman Catholic Church, as was the second edition released in 1986.
Based on the Septuagint and the Greek Bible, he provided a Latin translation of the Old and New Testaments.
Did Martin Luther quote Vulgate?
Martin Luther is one of the great men of our world. Of the German-born figures, only Einstein, Bach, and Beethoven are more famous than Martin Luther. He is more prominent than Karl Marx, the father of communism, the literary genius Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the artist Albrecht Dürer And the inventor of the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg.
According to numerous academic researchers, even Martin Luther quoted the Vulgate throughout his lifetime. Luther was a man who could fascinate anyone.
At the same time, he developed his theology in an environment of intense debate, as he was a theologian with an extraordinary gift for rhetoric.
Primary Takeaways
- At a time when Greece was considered to be learning the language, Jerome was known as a Latin scholar.
- Jerome is mentioned as the Latin translator of the Bible. This translation, the Vulgate, became the official biblical text of the Roman Catholic Church.
- All Western churches did not immediately embrace Vulgate, but by the 5th century, it had become a universal book. It has been handed down in many variants and copied by monks.
Conclusion
The Christian scholar St Jerome taught the monks the art of copying manuscripts. Pope Damasus took him as his deacon, with the task of revising the Latin text of the Bible, later called the Vulgate. On the death of Pope Damasus, Blessed Jerome withdrew back to Palestine and settled in Bethlehem, where he founded three monasteries.
His Vulgate, numerous other translations, homilies, commentaries on the books of Holy Scripture, works of ecclesiastical history, and letters of spiritual guidance have survived. Weighed by old age and ongoing need, the Curious Jerome died in Bethlehem in 420.
We hope you enjoyed our article and that you will want to Access the following Bible quizlet to test your assimilated knowledge of this topic.
Quizlet about Jerome and The Vulgate Version
Bibliography
- Brown, D. (2003). Jerome and the Vulgate. History of biblical interpretation, 1, 355-379.
- Cameron, J. (2016). The Rabbinic Vulgate?. In Jerome of Stridon (pp. 131-144). Routledge.
- Cannon, W. W. (1927). Jerome and Symmaehus. Some points in the Vulgate translation of Koheleth. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 45(Jahresband), 191-199.
- Rebenich, S. (2013). Jerome. Routledge.
- Scourfield, J. H. D. (2016). Vulgate. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics.
