Saint Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus, as he was called) was born of Christian parents at Stridon, on the borders of Dalmatia and Pan nonia, now Szalad in Hungary, probably be tween 340 and 346 A.D. His father, Eusebius, a man of education and means, perceived the ability of the boy and sent him to Rome, at an early age, to complete his studies. There he awoke to the love of literature and, despite some aberrations, was strengthened in the love of religion— the two impulses which dominated his life and have left their impress op western Europe. Unconsciously, he was all along preparing himself for his great task, the translation of the Bible. He acquired. a firm grasp of the Latin idiom, through his deep study of its literature, and laid the foundations of his subsequent thorough knowledge of Greek; at the same time, he was fostering that religious spirit which later caused him to devote himself to sacred rather than secular studies. He was baptized in Rome about 366. Not long after, he removed to Trier, in Gaul, and later (370) to Aquileia in North Italy where in the company of other young men of talent and piety, he vigorously pursued the study of theology. The company brealcing up in 373, Jerome traveled in the East, visiting Greece, Asia Minor and Syria. At Antioch, in Syria, a dream decided the work of his life: Christ, in an apparition, reproached him with being a Ciceronian and no Christian. Henceforth he gave himself to sacred studies and religious practices; in his old age, how evert he was able to reconcile with them the reading and teaching of pagan literature. In the summer of 374, he retired to the desert of Chalcis, east of Antioch, where he spent five years in study and prayer. During this period, under the instruction of a Jewish rabbi, he made a diligent study of Hebrew; at this time, too, began his correspondence with Pope Damasus, which led later to such happy re sults. Jerotne was ordained priest at Antioch, in 379, though he appears never to have ex ercised the functions of his office. In 380, we find him in Constantinople, the capital of the empire, where he fell under the spell of the winning and cultivated Saint Gregory Nazian zen. At length, in 381 or 382, he returned to Rome. He was soon admitted into the closest intimacy with Damasus, which lasted till the Pope's death, in December 384. It was during this period {in 383) that Jerome, at the request of the Pope, revised the Old Latin Version of the gospels and shortly after, of the remaining books of the New Testament. His Roman Psalter was also published about this time. Jerome had great popularity and influence at Rome under Damasus, and, nat urally, had made some enemies; their opposition increased after his patron's death and caused him to leave Rome forever, in August 385. He returned again to the East; his eager, inquisi tive mind and his spirit of piety both impelled him to visit all the holy places of Palestine and to study its topography, cities and tradi tions. Finally, in the autumn of 386, he settled at Bethlehem, near the cave of the Nativity, and built a monastery, over which he hence forth presided. In this retreat, during the last 34 years of his life, he Iscorned delights and lived laborious days)) of study, writing and meditation: their fruit was given to the world in his famous epistles, his commentaries and controversial writings, but above all in his translations of the Sacred Books. In his work on the Hebrew text, he was almost constantly assisted by learned rabbis. He died in 420.
Revisions of Old Latin Version.— New Testament — Jerome's work as a reviser and translator began with the gospels (383). These books were the most important and familiar, and also, because of their wide circulation, the most corrupt in text. The task which Damasus
committed th him was not a new translaticm, but merely a revision of the familiar text. For this, Jerome collected and consulted the best Greek manuscripts he could find, and with their guidance, corrected the Latin wherever the sense required it. Shortly after the rest of the New Testament was corrected in the same way, though more slightly, it appears. All this work became part of the Vulgate: Jerome never made a fresh translation of the New as he did of the Old Testament.
Old Testsunent— The Psalter, the prayer book of the Church in daily worship, was the first book retouched by Saint Jerome. In the course of his life he published three editions of the Psalter; it will be convenient here, for clearness sake, to speak of all three,. The first or Roman Psalter, published at Rome in 383, was adopted there for public services and continued in use till the time of Pius V (1566). For this revision, Jerome had recourse only to the Greek text. It never became part of the Vulg.ate and has gone out of use, except that the invitatory psalm (94) in the Breviary (q.v.) and the quotations from the Psalter in the Missal are talcen from it. This revision itself becoming corrupt, through the errors of copyists, a second revision was called for. This, published at Bethlehem in 387, is the Gallican Psalter., so called, because it was adopted for public vkirship in the churches of Gaul. It was based likewise upon the Greek text, but is a more critical recension than its predecessor. It is now used through out the Latin Church and has been incorpo rated in the Vulgate; yet it is not Jerome's best edition of the Psalter. This is conceded to be his third or Hebrew Psalter, a new translation made directly from the Hebrew (probably 392).
Other books of the Old Testament were revised by Jerome according to the Septuagint (q.v.) : he himself mentions Job, Proverbs, Canticle of Canticles and Chronicles by name, but it is believed, from his words, that he re vised all the books of the Septuagint which are contained in the Hebrew Canon. All, how ever, have perisheil except Psalms, mentioned above, and Job.
Translations from the Hebrew.— Jerome's work as a reviser made him thoroughly ac quainted with the great variations of the Sep tuagint text and threw him back, more and more, upon the Hebrew as the one standard. There, thanks to the watchfulness of the rabbis, he found instead of the confusing variety of the Septuagint an almost perfect agreement in the manuscripts. The controversy with the Jews, who taunted Christians with using. a corrupt text,' had great weight in determining Jerome to translate the Hebrew Bible. His friends, too, were repeatedly urging the task upon him, so hc finally set about it, not following any set plan (he began with Samuel and ended with Esther), but translating such books as his friends re guested. This translation, therefore, it appears, contrary to the impression of many, was not undertaken as an official work, destined for pub lic services. He intended it primarily for the eyes of his friends and desired them, out of a fear of controversy, to keep it private. For about 15 years, from 390 to 405, he labored at this great task and succeeded in translating all the books of the Hebrew Canon (same as the Protestant Canon). Of the remaining books of the Old Testament, which are accepted as inspired by the Roman Catholic Church, he translated Tobias and Judith from the Ararnaic, and from the Greek the passages of Daniel and Esther, which are not found in the Hebrew (Dan. iii, 24-90, xiii-xiv; Esther x, 4-xvi, 24). There is ground for believing that he translated or revised the books of Maccabees. Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus he left untouched, and passed over Baruch.