Jerome

Jerome (c. 347–420) was the pre-eminent biblical scholar of the early Latin church, whose Vulgate translation of the Bible into Latin remained the standard Western text for over a millennium. Born in Stridon on the Dalmatian frontier, he received a classical education in Rome, encountered Western monasticism at Trier, and joined an ascetic community at Aquileia before traveling east to Antioch, where he spent time as a hermit in the Syrian desert and was ordained a priest. He studied Greek theology under Gregory of Nazianzus in Constantinople, then returned to Rome as secretary and biblical adviser to Pope Damasus I. He spent the last 34 years of his life in Bethlehem, where he directed a monastic community and produced his vast output of biblical translations, commentaries, and polemical writings.