Jerome

Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus (* 347 in Stridon, province of Dalmatia, † September 30 420 in Bethlehem ) was a church father, saint, scholar and theologian of the early Church. He belongs to the Catholic Church along with Ambrose of Milan, Augustine and Pope Gregory I to the four late antique church teachers of the West. Feast day is September 30. This applies to the Protestant, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian Church.

Life

His wealthy parents sent Hieronymus an early age to Rome at the famous grammarian Aelius Donatus, so he studied grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy. Among the fellow students was the Christ Pammachius, which remained lifelong allegiance Jerome. During this time, Jerome was baptized. After living in Trier and Aquileia Jerome traveled to 373 by land to the East of the Empire, lived as a hermit in Syria. He learned then in Antioch Greek and Hebrew, which Jerome is an exception among the scholars of his time.

To 379 he was ordained a priest in Antioch. Subsequently, he studied at Constantinople Opel under the Doctors of the Church, Gregory of Nazianzus. From 382-384, he was secretary to Pope Damasus I and pastor noble Roman women, including the Marcella, which was also canonized, and Lea, Fabiola, Paula and her daughter, the Virgin Eustochium.

Jerome was considered a zealous worker and literary very educated man who also read pagan works and used. But he was also regarded as a very spirited man who took very seriously his theology and interpretation. A difference of opinion he interpreted sometimes as a personal insult and often responded with polemic. He used to say: Parce mihi, Domine, quia Dalmata sum ( Have mercy on me, Lord, because I am dalmatian).

According to tradition, Jerome is said to have pulled a thorn out of a lion 's paw. This was it, tame and a truly devoted companion. The attributes of St.. Jerome therefore often heard alongside the Bible and the scarlet cardinal's hat and the lion.

Also because of criticism of his work, he traveled to the death of his patron Damasus off to Bethlehem, where he along with Paula, who had followed him with her daughter Eustochium, founded four monasteries - he three for consecrated virgins and one for monks, whose line took over and where he worked until his death.

Works

The Latin translation of the Old Testament

Hieronymus is the author of the Vulgate, the long time significant Bible translation of the Catholic Church. He translated into Latin, which he cautiously approached the speaker Latin of his time. For the New Testament he revised the older translation Vetus Latina ( formerly called Itala ).

Jerome mastered classic and contemporary Latin and Greek, and called in his writings on Jewish scholar who had taught him Hebrew. While until recently his knowledge of Hebrew were considered to be very modest, the modern research confesses to him again a higher language competence.

From 385 translated Jerome in Bethlehem many books of the Old Testament according to the Septuagint, that is from ancient Greek, namely the Book of Psalms, the Book of Job, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, the book and the (first and second) Book of Chronicles. From 393 Jerome published a translation of the entire Old Testament, by his own admission, " according to the Hebrew "; because recent research is also assumed that this translation was made by the Septuagint, but perhaps one that also contained the readings of other Greek translations.

Other works

Jerome was a prolific writer. In addition to his translation of the Bible, he wrote commentaries on several biblical scriptures, a geography of Palestine, other translations ( Jerome is the patron saint of translators ) and writings on theological controversies, and biblical interpretation. He also wrote numerous letters, which are a major source for the events of that time, and a writer catalog ( De viris illustribus ).

Jerome translated and revised the Chronicle of Eusebius of Caesarea and continued this continued until 378; as sources he used, inter alia, Suetonius and the so-called Enmannsche imperial history. This Latin Christendom was a presentation of the history " of Abraham " to the present are available for the first time. According to the information in the Preface to the Chronicle he was also planning a more comprehensive historical work about the time of the Emperor Gratian and Theodosius I, but which he (along with other planned works ) no longer wrote.

Titular church of St. Jerome

The titular church of San Girolamo dei Croati ( St. Jerome of the Croats ) as a cardinal associated church has existed since 1566 and was created by Pope Pius V.. Since then, many cardinals Croatian origin or with Croatian kinship wore this item. In recent times, always carries the Archbishop of Zagreb (currently Cardinal Josip Bosanić ) this cardinal title.

Art history

The type of Saint Jerome as a contemplative monk took his place in art history as " Jerome in " inter alia, in paintings at

• St. Jerome in the housing ( Antonello da Messina), 1470
• St. Jerome in the housing ( Ghirlandaio ), 1480 Domenico Ghirlandaio
• The sacred Hieronymus (Leonardo da Vinci), around 1480, see List of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci
• Saint Jerome in his Study, 1514 Albrecht Dürer
• St. Jerome in the housing ( Cranach) 1526 Lucas Cranach the Elder

Expenditure

The works of Hieronymus have been edited, among others, as part of the Patrologia Latina, Corpus Christianorum (Series Latina ) and the Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. For details, see the overview in Rebenich. Selection translations have appeared in the series Library of the Fathers of the Church.