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Jerome of Antioch, 347-420.
Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, better known as St. Jerome of Antioch (or Stridonium) is regarded as one of the four "Great Doctors" of the Christian Church.
Originally a Latin-speaking Roman of Illyrian origin, raised as a pagan, Jerome converted to Christianity c.366 while a student in Rome. Around 374, Jerome moved east, and pursued a monastic vocation as a hermit in the desert of Chalcis (Qinnasrin, Syria). He gave up after three years, and moved to Antioch, where he was ordained a priest in 378. Having learned Hebrew and Greek, Jerome dedicated himself to scriptural studies, and quickly made a name for himself as a scholar. He translated Origen's homilies and Eusebius's history from Greek to Latin. During this period, Jerome came under the influence of the Cappadocian fathers (esp. Gregory of Nazianzus, but also Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom). Jerome was in Constantinople at the time of the Second Ecumenical Council (381) that restored Nicene (Orthodox Catholic) Christianity in the Roman Empire
In 382, Jerome attended the Council of Rome convened by Pope Damasus and Archbishop Ambrose of Milan. It was this council that first set down the canonical books of the Christian Bible ("Gelasian Decree"). St. Jerome was commissioned by the Council to provide a new Latin translation of the New Testament - what became known as the "Latin Vulgate" version. Jerome's prefaces and commentaries on the books of the Bible contain some of his most accessible theological ideas. Jerome's reflections on usury can be found in his commentaries on Ezekiel 18.
After Pope Damasus's death, Jerome left Rome in 385, and wandered in the east for a while. He eventually settled down as a monk in Bethlehem, Palestine, where he deepened his knowledge of Hebrew to undertake the translation of Old Testament. It was also there that Jerome engaged in polemics against the free-will theologian Pelagius and his followers (whom had fled to Palestine after being hounded out of Carthage in 412). Jerome struck up an important correspondence with Augustine over the Pelagian controversy.
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