The Church and the Bible go hand in hand, there cannot be one without the other, and if we allow the word of God into our lives, beautiful and fruitful things can happen, as the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster explains

St Jerome is one of the greatest figures in the story of the Catholic Church and the Bible, and next year marks 1600 years since his death. So who was this man, and why does he matter? 

One of the best ways to meet him is through a fifteenth-century painting in the Sainsbury wing of the National Gallery in London: Masaccio’s Saints Jerome and John the Baptist, painted around 1428-9 for Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome.
Jerome was born in the fourth century, in Stridon in Dalmatia, and as a teenager he moved to Rome where he became a Christian and prepared a translation of the New Testament from Greek into Latin. He continued his work in Bethlehem, translating most of the Old Testament into Latin from Hebrew. Together, these translations became known as the Vulgate and they have shaped the Catholic understanding of the Bible ever since.

Jerome believed his work was a direct result of the Holy Spirit, and he’s often pictured surrounded by angels who seem to be almost dictating the words he’s writing down. For four years he lived alone in Bethlehem in a cave, which you can visit to this day.