Jerome, priest and doctor of the Church

Biography

Each saint has his particular charisma. Each saint brings us his message. That of Saint Jerome is the endearing love of the Word of God. Saint Jerome, the greatest Doctor in the exposition of Scripture, the trilingual man (Latin, Greek and Hebrew), was born in Strydon, Dalmatia, around the year 333. At the age of 15 he arrived in Rome. He was attracted to pagan Rome and immersed himself in the study of classical writers. But he was especially fascinated by Christian Rome. The visit to the catacombs ignites his admiration for Christian Heroes. In the year 363 he was baptized by Pope Liberius. Jerome felt a very powerful desire to achieve the perfect life like the Desert Fathers, so he went to Syria and settled in the desert of Chalcis, filled with Stylite monks, recluses and Acemetes. After having known the monastic life, he decided to consecrate himself to it, far from the distractions of the world, in those places where the Son of God had suffered and died for us. In Chalcis he spent five years, devoted to prayer, fasting, the study of Hebrew and rigorous penance, in a perennial struggle with the flesh. In Antioch he is ordained a priest and perfects himself in Greek. Pope Saint Damasus calls him to Rome to assist him in a Synod. He also commissioned him to carry out the crowning work of his life: THE LATIN VERSION OF THE BIBLE, which under the name "VULGATE" would be the official text of the Church. He also writes books full of anointing and erudition, such as "THE LIFE OF PAUL THE HERMIT" and the "LETTER ON VIRGINITY..." He writes letters full of fire to Saint Augustine, Nepotianus and many others. He directed the Aventine Cenacle, where the ladies of the Roman aristocracy met. The holiness and doctrine of this great spiritual director guided them along the paths of perfection. He was much maligned and left Rome forever. He went to the Holy Land where he founded and directed many monasteries. It was established next to the Birth Grotto in Bethlehem. From there he continued to fight for the truth and illuminate consciences with his writings and with his letters to the monasteries founded by him. There where Jesus was born, Jerome wanted to die. Next to the Grotto of Jesus, the Jerónimo grotto is still visited with emotion today, where he continued praying and working until he was almost 90 years old. His remains were later transferred to Rome, to Santa María la Mayor. Saint Jerome was a fighter, with a strong and incorruptible genius, and with a temper of steel forged in the fight against demons and against the enemies of the faith. In the toughest moments of his life, this man of cyclopean greatness thanked God "for having judged him worthy of the world hating him."