Saint Jerome

Jerome was not a gentle soul. He was brilliant, argumentative, and famously hard to get along with. He picked fights with other theologians, wrote letters dripping with sarcasm, and had a temper that got him into real trouble more than once. He was also one of the most important figures in the history of Christianity.

Born in Stridon (near modern-day Croatia) around 347, Jerome received a top-tier classical education in Rome. He was baptized as a young adult and eventually made his way to the desert of Chalcis in Syria, where he spent a few years as a hermit, learning Hebrew from a Jewish convert and wrestling with his faith. He later studied in Antioch, then Constantinople under Gregory Nazianzus, and eventually ended up back in Rome as secretary to Pope Damasus I.

Damasus gave Jerome the project that would define his life: producing a reliable Latin translation of the Bible. Jerome threw himself into it. He went back to the original Hebrew and Greek texts, not just earlier Latin versions, and the result was the Vulgate, the translation the Church used for over a thousand years. It's still a foundational text today.

After Damasus died, Jerome left Rome under a cloud of controversy (partly his own fault) and settled in Bethlehem, where he ran a monastery and kept writing until his death in 420. He produced commentaries, letters, and theological works at a staggering pace.

He wasn't easy to love. But he loved Scripture with everything he had, and that changed the world.