Birthplace: Dalmatia (modern day Croatia)
Date of Birth and Death: 345-420
Feast Day: September 30th

Notable: Patron of Librarians and Scholars

Life:
Jerome was born around 345 in Dalmatia. He was an avid student studying Latin and Greek in Rome where he was baptized at the age of 18. From Rome he travelled to Gaul, back to Italy and then onto Antioch in Syria. There he studied theology and enjoyed classical literature.

In Antioch, Jerome experienced a life changing event. Struck with a high fever and delirious, he had a vision of himself standing before Christ Who challenged him saying that he , Jerome was not a true Christian because he studied Roman classics rather than the word of God. Jerome promised to be true to Jesus and gave up his preoccupation with classical literature and devoted himself solely to the study of the Bible.

Still preoccupied with his vision, Jerome went into the wilderness, fasting and wrestling with his earthly desires. At the same time, he studied Hebrew and was able to translate the Bible into Latin, known today as the Vulgate.

He went on to join a monastery in Bethlehem and became a fervent Biblical scholar. His monastery became a refuge for Christians fleeing Roman troubles writing “I can not help them all but I grieve and weep with them … today, we must translate the words of the Scriptures into deeds and instead of speaking saintly words we must act them.”

Prayer:

Show me, O Lord, your mercy and delight my heart with it.
Let me find you whom I so longingly seek. See! here is the man whom
the robbers seized, mishandled, and left half dead on the road to Jericho, O kind hearted Samaritan, come to my aid!

I am the sheep who wandered into the wilderness - seek after me
and bring me home again to your fold. Do with me what you will
that I may stay by you all the days of my life, and praise you
with all those who are with you in heaven for all eternity.