St. Jerome, Patron Saint of Scripture Scholars

This Friday, 30th September, is the Memorial of St. Jerome (347-420 AD). Born in Dalmatia and educated in Rome, he became a classical scholar and out of his intense devotion to Christ and His life, he eventually settled in a cave in Bethlehem. There he studied Hebrew and wrote many commentaries on the books of Scriptures. Pope Damasus (d. 384) commissioned him to make a definitive Latin translation of the Bible (the ‘Vulgate’) for use in the Western Church and its Liturgy. In the last century, the Vulgate was updated in the light of modern textual analysis (the “neo-Vulgate’) and promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1979 after many decades of pain-staking work. The Vulgate contains the 46-book Old Testament and 27-book New Testament that is the standard version of the Bible for Catholics. St. Jerome is honoured as one of the four great Latin Fathers of the Church. Let us ask his prayers that he will obtain for us a deeper love, knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures in which we encounter the Person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.