In fact, it is only the voice of the brethren which enables me to master the commentaries of Greek writers My eyes are growing dim with age and to some extent I share the suffering of the saintly Isaac: I am quite unable to go through the Hebrew books with such light as I have at night, for even in the full light of day they are hidden from my eyes owing to the smallness of the letters. The candle and spectacles refer a remark in one of Jerome's commentaries: The image at right also typifies the objects commonly included in Jerome's study: a crucifix, red garments and hat, a book, writing implements, a candle, and (beginning in the 15th century) eyeglasses. Other examples of this subtype place the words cogita mori ("think of your death") somewhere in the image. The second image at right exemplifies one subtype, where the saint's eyes engage the viewers as he points to a skull. This part of the saint's life is represented in the many images that show him in his study with his books. Jerome's long sojourn in Bethlehem, where he studied scripture and completed his translation of the Bible into Latin. Some 16th-century portraits will make some part of his garb red as a reminder of his supposed status as a cardinal His clothing will be ragged and/or skimpy. In an extension of this type of image, he can also be shown standing at the Crucifixion itself, with bare breast and stone in hand In paintings of this type Jerome is often shown contemplating a crucifix while beating his breast The "scorpions and wild beasts" the Legend says were his company are represented at least once, in Shows him in a ruined apse with a crudely mounted miniature church bell. 2 This part of his life is popular in the art, where he is commonly shown holding a stone used for beating his bare breast Jerome spent in the desert, where he prayed and fasted to still his sexual desires. The next episode in the Legend tells of the four years St. In fact, the title of Cardinal did not exist until some decades after Jerome's death the cardinal's garb refers rather to the saint's service as an advisor to Pope Damasus I. Though these are sometimes set aside as a token of humility and of his having left Rome and its temptations behind, as in the third image at right. Because of this report, he is often dressed portrayed as a cardinal with a red cape and a red flat-top cardinal's hat Jerome was "ordained a cardinal-priest in Rome" ( Ryan II, 212). In the next episode the Legend reports, incorrectly, that St. Later portraits made the leap to showing the angels trumpeting to the saint ( Worcester Art Museum, 5-6). Some 15th-century portraits had Jerome holding a book with parts of this quotation presented as if it was Jerome who was being admonished. The ultimate textual source for this iconographic type is an admonition in the Regula Monachorum published in 1429 but ascribed to Jerome: Semper tuba illa terribilis vestris perstrepat auribus: Surgite mortui, venite ad judicium ( Migne XXX, 387: "Always the terrible trumpet sounds in your ears, saying 'Arise, ye dead, and come to your judgment!'"). In another vision, not included in the Golden Legend but frequently represented in 17th-century images, Jerome hears the angel on a cloud trumpeting the Last Judgment Upon awakening, he saw the marks of the scourge on his shoulders. Jerome recounts a vision of his in which he was scourged in Heaven for retaining his books of classical literature. The first episode in the Legend's life of St. Later medieval and Renaissance images will derive their iconography from the Golden Legend or its sources. Jerome pictures his voyage to Jerusalem and his activities there. He also produced a vast collection of commentaries, treatises, and polemics that had a great influence on Christian theology ( Butler III, 686-693). Together, these translations became known as the Vulgate, the official Bible of the Roman church. In Rome he had already prepared a translation of the New Testament from Greek into Latin he continued this work in Bethlehem, translating most of the Old Testament into Latin from Hebrew. Paula he established monasteries there for men and women, but he lived alone in a cell in Bethlehem, where he pursued his work on the scriptures. When the pope died Jerome relocated to Palestine, living again as an ascetic and a scholar. He eventually became an adviser to Pope Damasus I. Jerome was born in Dalmatia but in his teen years moved to Rome, where he was baptized a Christian and embarked on a lifetime of studying the scriptures and pursuing an ascetic lifestyle. His body was taken to Rome and placed in the basilica of St. He lived into a feeble old age, died quietly, and was buried near the Lord's birthplace. He was expert in all literary studies, led a life in imitation of the most renowned monks, and demonstrated the error of many monstrous heresies. Jerome, Priest, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church.
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