St. Jerome Proved that Even the Church Fathers Could Be Grumpy
Part Two of the Church Fathers series
When we hear the word “saint,” most of us immediately picture some extremely holy figure of centuries past who lived a perfect life that we can’t even begin to match. After all, as Larry Darrell said in the film The Razor’s Edge, “it’s easy to be a holy man on the top of a mountain.” It’s harder for us who live in the world.
However, in today’s second installment of my series on the Church Fathers, I want to introduce a man who proved that whether living in the world or in seclusion, being holy is no simple task. He also, thankfully, proved that even the most cantankerous of us can become saints, which gives me just the slightest glimmer of hope. Let’s meet St. Jerome.
Of the Four Great Latin Fathers who will make up the first four articles in this series, St. Jerome may be the best known after St. Augustine, for two specific things. He was the first to translate the Bible into Latin, the common language of his time, and he gave us one of the most famous quotes of the early Church: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” He is rightly remembered for both of these things, but deserves to be known for even more.
Jerome was born around 342 A.D. in Stridon, Dalmatia, a Roman province encompassing parts of what is now Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Though the exact location of Stridon is unknown, it is believed to have been located near the modern Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. When he was around 12 years old, his father sent him to Rome to study philosophy, rhetoric, and grammar. He excelled in his studies (particularly in Latin and Greek) and like his contemporary St. Augustine spent much of the time when he wasn’t studying in the vigorous pursuit of wine, women, and song.
Also like Augustine, he was conflicted over his behavior and through the influence of a Christian friend ultimately became a Christian himself when he was 24 years old; he was baptized by Pope Liberius in 366. At this point he turned his attention to studying theology and at 30 became a monk and went to live in the Syrian desert as a hermit.
Jerome spent four years in the desert and would have been content to spend the rest of his…
