Saint Jerome, Priest, Confessor & Doctor (1962 Roman Calendar)

Q: When is the feast of Saint Jerome?

His feast is kept on 30 September in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. The modern calendar likewise observes him on 30 September, as a memorial.

Saint Jerome was born about the year 340 at Stridon, in the region of Dalmatia, and was educated at Rome in the learning of his age, becoming a master of the Latin and Greek tongues, and afterward of Hebrew. Baptised as a young man, he was drawn to the things of God, and after years of study and travel he embraced a life of penance, withdrawing for a time into the desert of Syria, where he gave himself to prayer, mortification, and the study of the Scriptures, and where he learned the Hebrew language that he might drink at the very sources of God’s word.

Scholar and translator of Scripture

The great work of Saint Jerome’s life was the study and the translation of the Sacred Scriptures. Summoned to Rome, he served as secretary to the Pope and was charged with the revision of the Latin text of the Bible. Later, settling at Bethlehem near the place of our Lord’s birth, he laboured for many years in a monastery there, translating the books of Holy Scripture into Latin from the original Hebrew and Greek. This translation, gathered with his other labours into what came to be called the Vulgate, became the Bible of the Western Church for many centuries, and was honoured by the Church as her authentic Latin text.

Beyond his great translation, Saint Jerome wrote many commentaries on the books of Scripture, treatises in defence of the faith and of Christian truth, and a host of letters. His learning was vast and his pen vigorous; he defended the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mother of God, the honour due to holy virginity and to the relics of the saints, and the apostolic faith against the errors of his day. So great was his devotion to the sacred text that he is remembered for the saying that ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.

The penitent of Bethlehem

For all his learning, Saint Jerome was above all a man of penance and prayer. He is commonly portrayed in the dress of a penitent, beating his breast before the crucifix, with the lion of legend at his side and the cardinal’s hat that later ages gave him in token of his service to the Roman Church. He guided many souls, especially holy women of Rome who had embraced the consecrated life, and he ended his long life in his monastery at Bethlehem, in study, austerity, and the service of God.

He died at Bethlehem on the thirtieth of September, about the year 420. The collect of his feast praises God who gave to his Church blessed Jerome to expound the Sacred Scriptures, and asks that by his merits we may be helped to do what he taught both by word and work. In Saint Jerome the Church honours the prince of her scholars, who joined to immense learning a deep spirit of penance, and who gave his life to the understanding and the love of the word of God.

The Collect

O God, who didst vouchsafe to give unto thy Church blessed Jerome, thy Confessor, to be a great teacher in expounding the Holy Scriptures: grant, we beseech thee; that, aided by his merits, we may be enabled, by thy help, to practise both in word and in work what he hath taught.

Deus, qui Ecclésiæ tuæ in exponéndis sacris Scriptúris beátum Hierónymum, Confessórem tuum, Doctórem máximum providére dignatus es: præsta, quæsumus; ut, eius suffragántibus méritis, quod ore simul et ópere dócuit, te adiuvánte, exercére valeámus.

Patronage

He is venerated as a Doctor of the Church and is honoured as a patron of scholars, translators, librarians, and students of the Sacred Scriptures.

In the Modern Calendar

In the modern calendar he is observed on the same day, 30 September, as a memorial.

Common Questions

When is the feast of Saint Jerome?

His feast is kept on 30 September in the calendar of the 1962 Roman Missal, as a Third Class feast. The modern calendar likewise observes him on 30 September, as a memorial.

Who was Saint Jerome?

He was a priest and scholar of the fourth and fifth centuries, master of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues, who translated the Sacred Scriptures into Latin in the version known as the Vulgate. A man of great learning and deep penance, he is honoured as one of the great Doctors of the Church. He died at Bethlehem about the year 420.

What is the Vulgate?

The Vulgate is the Latin translation of the Bible that grew out of Saint Jerome’s labours in revising and translating the sacred text from the original Hebrew and Greek. It became the Bible of the Western Church for many centuries and was honoured as her authentic Latin version. Saint Jerome is remembered for teaching that ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.

See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.

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