Memorial of Saint Jerome, priest and Doctor of the Church
(Job 1:6-22; Luke 9:46-50)
St. Jerome has been named one of the four great Fathers of
the Western Church. Having mastered both
Hebrew and Greek, he gave to the Church the authoritative Vulgate translation
of the Bible. Jerome also defended Catholic
orthodoxy, especially against the popular Pelagian heresy. He possessed enormous knowledge and ability,
but also had a dark side. His irascible
temperament often exploded in offensive, sarcastic criticism.
Artists frequently portrayed Jerome with a lion at his side
and holding a stone. The lion symbolized
Jerome’s ferocious personality and the stone, his need for doing penance. One Renaissance pope remarked that without having
done penance, Jerome could scarcely have been considered a saint.
Jerome may be contrasted with Job in today’s first
reading. He would never have suffered
all the setbacks that appear in the passage but would have raged against
them. Job, on the other, had no quarrel
with the Lord for his suffering. He
models Christian patience as he proclaims, “The LORD gave and the LORD has
taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”
