St. Jerome and the Latin Vulgate
“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” - St. Jerome
We may take reading the Bible in our native language for granted and make the assumption all people were able to do so since the time of Jesus, which is simply not true. We can thank Saint Jerome, whose feast we celebrate on Sept. 30, that we have the Old and New Testaments to read in the language of our choice.
The Old Testament books, including the Pentateuch (the first five books) as well as the Writings and the Prophets, were all written in Hebrew by multiple authors. These books are also referred to as the Hebrew Scriptures and comprised the only Bible Jesus had as He learned to read and write. (We have stories of Him reading from these texts in Luke 4 and writing in the dirt in John 8:6.) The Hebrew Scriptures were written for God’s chosen people living in Palestine, a very small region in the Middle East.
The New Testament, known as the Christian Scriptures, was also written by multiple authors: the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), as well as Paul, John, Peter, James and Jude. These books were all written in Greek.
Jesus Himself never read the New Testament because it was all about His life and His teachings, His crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead. The books of the New Testament were written for specific audiences throughout Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, northern Africa and the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea where early Christianity initially flourished.
Christianity in the Roman Empire
As the Christian faith grew and spread, the Roman Empire was simultaneously flourishing. It stretched from what is now England to the region of what is now Iraq. The official language of the Roman Empire was Latin and everyone was expected to communicate with Rome and its officials in Latin. Each region of the Empire had its own native language as well.
To address the growth of Christianity in the Empire, the Church called the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. As part of the Council, the Church recognized the need for people to have access to both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures in Latin. That is, for those who were fortunate enough to know how to read, which was only between 10 and 15 percent of the population!
St. Jerome was the perfect person to fulfill the daunting task of translating the Hebrew and Greek writings into Latin. Born in 347 A.D. in what is now Croatia, he was educated by his father. He traveled to Rome and also to Gaul (what is now mostly France) and then to the Middle East to the area where Jesus lived.
As a scholar, he used his keen abilities to first learn both Hebrew and Greek and then translate the texts of the Bible into Latin for the people of the Roman Empire. More than 1,500 years ago, St. Jerome created the Vulgate – a text written in the vernacular, or the language of the people.
The Vulgate remained the official Bible of the Roman Empire territory until Martin Luther translated both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures into German during the Reformation. Without St. Jerome’s dedication to scholarship and knowledge, the people of the Roman Empire would likely not have had access to the sacred Scriptures to read and find guidance for their lives in their own native tongue.
Don’t Be Afraid To Learn
How often are you expected – or required – to learn something new or challenging in your profession? It can be daunting to begin with no knowledge and, through tutoring and self-study, find your way to completing your objective. In many fields today, technology develops so quickly that what you currently know can be obsolete within a month, requiring the swift acquisition of new knowledge.
When we think of this, we gain a greater appreciation for the enormous task achieved by St. Jerome. Next time you open your Bible or set out to learn something new, say a prayer of gratitude to St. Jerome for following the inspiration he received from the Holy Spirit to accomplish this difficult mission. The selfless acts of so many Catholic Christians throughout the first two millennia of our faith preserved its teachings of holiness and righteousness to help us live our lives today.
Dr. Kate Walsh-Soucheray taught high school religion in St. Paul, Minnesota and then became a licensed marriage and family therapist. She has master’s degrees in theology and marriage and family therapy, and a doctorate in educational leadership. Dr. Kate and her husband John have been married for 42 years and they have three, adult married children and six, soon to be seven, grandchildren. Dr. Kate is retired and writes and speaks for Catholics.