A legendary translator, part-time hermit, and sharp-witted debater. Saint Jerome was one of the most important scholars of the early Catholic Church. Born around 343 AD in Stridon, located in modern Croatia, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus had his education begin early, traveling to Rome to further his studies before he was a teenager. In Rome, Eusebius studied grammar, philosophy and rhetoric, before becoming a Christian in the year 366.

The next portion of his life was spent traveling far and wide, studying theology in Trier, learning about the self-discipline of ascetism near Aquileia, and taking a pilgrimage to the East. Throughout all his travels, Jerome was developing his skills as a translator, which he first started to take interest in while in the Roman catacombs, where he would attempt to translate the inscriptions above the tombs.

Around 375, Jerome traveled into the desert of Chalcis to live as a hermit. He spent four years in the desert, desiring a life of ascetic penance - fasting, simple living, meditation, and abstaining from any sensual pleasures. While this time of hermitage did not go smoothly for Jerome, he worked hard to study and pray, learning Hebrew from a Jewish convert and continuing to improve in his translation skills.

By the year 378, Jerome was well-known for his work as a scholar and monasticism. He returned to Antioch, where he met Bishop Paulinus, who wanted to ordain Jerome a priest. Jerome had no desire to do so, but with many Church officials in Antioch (including Pope Damasus) encouraging him to be ordained, Jerome relented on two conditions: he wouldn’t have any priestly functions forced on him, and he would still be allowed to pursue a monastic life. He was subsequently made a priest, immediately traveling to Constantinople to begin a three-year period of intensive study of scripture.

Jerome would cross paths with many noted theologians and scholars, learning greatly from them and helping him improve his knowledge of Greek. This knowledge would allow him to begin translating the homilies of Origen, a famous Greek biblical scholar, into Latin, as well as Eusebius’ Chronicon (Chronicles).

These translations would take up much of Jerome’s time until the year 382, when he was made secretary to Pope Damasus. Back in Rome, Jerome served dutifully while also pursuing further scholarly work and translations. He promoted the ideal of asceticism to those around him and used the best Greek manuscripts he could find to attempt to revise the Old Latin versions of the Gospels.

Jerome’s pen would not be deterred by dissent though, crafting writings that defended Mary as a perpetual virgin, attacked the idea that marriage was as equally virtuous as virginity, and called out many Roman clergy who Jerome saw as corrupt or lax. He left Rome following the death of Pope Damasus in 384, returning to Antioch in 386.

Jerome led a religious and archaeological pilgrimage across the Holy Land – traveling through Jerusalem, Alexandria, and eventually settled in Bethlehem. It was here that his followers would build a monastery for men, three cloisters for women, and a hostel for pilgrims by 389. Jerome would spend most of his remaining years at this monastery, writing extensively and engaging in debates against heretics or fellow teachers of the Church, including a heated exchange with St. Augustine himself. They eventually repaired their relationship and saw each other as equals, with Augustine once saying “What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known.”

Jerome would spend the remaining 34 years of his life writing the bulk of his literary works. Jerome would never finish a complete translation of the Bible into Latin, but his work would form the core foundation of the eventual accepted Latin translation, known as The Vulgate.

Jerome died peacefully on September 30th, 420, and his remains were buried under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, before being later transferred to Rome. He was beatified in 1747 by Pope Benedict XIV, and officially canonized a saint in 1767 by Pope Clement XIII. He is the patron saint of translators, Biblical scholars, librarians, students, and archaeologists, and he is recognized as a Doctor of the Church. Jerome’s translation of the Bible provided the source material for essentially all future translations of the Bible for more than a thousand years. He was a passionate writer, dedicated to prayer, and unwilling to allow the weakness of the flesh to deprive him of the glory found in full unity with God.

St. Jerome is a Doctor of the Church which are certain men and women who are revered by the Church for the special value of their writings and preaching and the sanctity of their lives. They each made important and lasting contributions to the faith and are to be recognized for their great merits.

To be declared a Doctor of the Church, you have to meet three basic requirements.

1. First, you must have lived a life of exemplary holiness, or insignis vitae sanctitas (outstanding sanctity). In short, you have to be a saint.
   

2. Second, to be a Doctor of the Church you must have deepened the whole Church’s understanding of the Catholic Faith with emins doctrina (eminent teaching). Which is to say, sanctity isn’t enough. There are thousands of saints, but only 37 Doctors of the Church. To be a Doctor one must do more than just live the Faith. Rather, one must significantly and profoundly contribute to our understanding of Divine Revelation, helping us to know more deeply some truth about God and His actions in the World.
   

3. And third, a pope must officially declare you a Doctor. That being said, as the Church understands it, when a pope declares someone a Doctor of the Church, he’s not so much making someone a Doctor as he is recognizing what the Holy Spirit has already done - that He has conferred the charism of Doctor upon them.