Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius was born about the year 340 to a wealthy Christian family. He grew up in the part of Asia called Dalmatia (now called Slovenia.)

When Jerome was a young man, his father sent him to Rome to study. Jerome was baptized there in 366 by Pope Liberius.

For three years Jerome and some friends lived in a monastery. He became ordained a priest, but wanted to spend his life in studying. Jerome spoke his native Ilyrian dialect, and became fluent in Latin and Greek, and later, Hebrew.

He lived for four years as a hermit in the Syrian desert, where he had great temptations.

Then Jerome returned to Rome, having been summoned by Pope Damasus to be his advisor. The pope asked Jerome to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, the common language. This translation of the Bible was called the Vulgate.

Jerome later served as a spiritual director for some noble ladies. When he went to live in a cave, these women followed and set up a monastery and three communities for women.

In the Holy Land, Jerome spent thirty years writing commentaries on books of Holy Scripture. His body of work includes histories, homilies, many letters, and of course, the Latin Bible. Jerome died of natural causes in the year 420.

In the 16th century, the Council of Trent pronounced Jerome’s Vulgate the authentic and authoritative Latin text of the Catholic Church. The Bible we now use is a translation of the Vulgate.

St. Jerome is the patron saint of librarians, scholars, and students.