September 1981 Print

Excerpts from the Encyclical Spiritus Paraclitus, on the Fifteenth Centenary of the Death of St. Jerome, promulgated by Pope Benedict XV, 15 September 1920

SINCE THE HOLY SPIRIT, the Comforter, had bestowed the Scriptures on the human race for their instruction in divine things, He also raised up in successive ages saintly and learned men whose task it should be to develop that treasure and so provide for the faithful plenteous "consolation from the Scriptures." Foremost among these teachers stands St. Jerome. Him the Catholic Church acclaims and reveres as her "greatest Doctor," divinely given her for the understanding of the Bible. And now that the fifteenth centenary of his death is approaching we would not willingly let pass so favorable an opportunity of addressing you on the debt we owe him. For the responsibility of our Apostolic office impels us to set before you his wonderful example and so promote the study of Holy Scripture in accordance with the teachings of our predecessors, Leo XIII and Pius X, which we desire to apply more precisely still to the present needs of the Church. For St. Jerome—"strenuous Catholic, learned in the Scriptures," "teacher of Catholics," "model of virtue, world's teacher,—has by his earnest and illuminative defense of Catholic doctrine on Holy Scripture left us most precious instructions. These we propose to set before you and so promote among the children of the Church, and especially among the clergy, assiduous and reverent study of the Bible.

Life and Labors of St. Jerome

No need to remind you, venerable brethren, that Jerome was born in Stridonia, in a town "on the borders of Dalmatia and Pannonia"; that from his infancy he was brought up a Catholic; that after his baptism here in Rome he lived to an advanced age and devoted all his powers to studying, expounding, and defending the Bible. At Rome he had learned Latin and Greek, and hardly had he left the school of rhetoric than he ventured on a commentary of Abdias the prophet. This "youthful piece of work" kindled in him such love of the Bible that he decided—like the man in the Gospel who found a treasure—to spurn "any emoluments the world could provide," and devote himself wholly to such studies. Nothing could deter him from his stern resolve. He left home—parents, sister, and relatives; he denied himself the more delicate food he had been accustomed to, and went to the East so that he might gather from studious reading of the Bible the fuller riches of Christ and true knowledge of his Savior.

From Antioch he betook himself to the desert of Chalcis, in Syria, to perfect himself in his knowledge of the Bible, and at the same time to curb "youthful desires" by means of hard study. Here he engaged a convert Jew to teach him Hebrew and Chaldaic.

Lest, however, he should grow idle in this desert where there were no heretics to vex him, Jerome betook himself to Constantinople, where for nearly three years he studied Holy Scripture under St. Gregory the Theologian, then Bishop of that See and in the height of his fame as a teacher. While there he translated into Latin Origen's Homilies on the Prophets and Eusebius's Chronicle; he also wrote on Isaias's vision of the seraphim. He then returned to Rome on ecclesiastical business, and Pope Damasus admitted him into his court. However he let nothing distract him from continual occupation with the Bible, and the task of copying various manuscripts, as well as answering the many questions put to him by students of both sexes.

Pope Damasus had entrusted to him a most laborious task, the correction of the Latin text of the Bible. So well did Jerome carry this out that even today men versed in such studies appreciate its value more and more. But he ever yearned for Palestine, and when the Pope died he retired to Bethlehem to a monastery near to the cave where Christ was born. Every moment he could spare from prayer he gave to biblical studies.

Nor was Jerome content merely to gather up this or that teacher's words; he gathered from all quarters whatever might prove of use to him in his task. From the outset he had accumulated the best possible copies of the Bible and the best commentators on it, but now he worked on copies from the synagogues and from the library formed at Caesarea by Origen and Eusebius; he hoped by assiduous comparison of texts to arrive at a greater certainty touching the actual text and its meaning. With this same purpose he went all through Palestine.

He nourished his soul unceasingly on this most pleasant food: he explained St. Paul's epistles; he corrected the Latin version of the Old Testament by the Greek; he translated afresh nearly all the books of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin; day by day he discussed biblical questions with the brethren who came to him, and answered letters on biblical questions which poured in upon him from all sides; besides all this, he was contantly refuting men who assailed Catholic doctrine and unity. Indeed, such was his love for Holy Scripture that he ceased not from writing or dictating till his hand stiffened in death and his voice was silent forever. So it was that, sparing himself neither labor nor watching nor expense, he continued to extreme old age meditating day and night beside the crib on the law of the Lord; or greater profit to the Catholic cause by his life and example in his solitude than if he had passed his life at Rome, the capital of the world.

 

On the Love of the Bible

Now, if we make use of the "greatest of Doctors" as our guide and teacher we shall derive from so doing not only the gains signalized above, but others too, which cannot be regarded as trifling or few. What these gains are, venerable brethren, we will set out briefly. At the outset, then, we are deeply impressed by the intense love of the Bible which St. Jerome exhibits in his whole life and teaching: both are steeped in the Spirit of God. This intense love of the Bible he was ever striving to kindle in the hearts of the faithful, and his words on this subject to the maiden Demetrias are really addressed to all: "Love the Bible and wisdom will love you; love it and it will preserve you; honor it and it will embrace you; these are the jewels which you should wear on your breast and in your ears."

His unceasing reading of the Bible and his painstaking study of each book—nay, of every phrase and word—gave him a knowledge of the text such as no other ecclesiastical writer of old possessed. It is due to this familiarity with the text and to his own acute judgment that the Vulgate version Jerome made is, in the judgment of all capable men, preferable to any other ancient version, since it appears to give us the sense of the original more accurately and with greater elegance than they. The said Vulgate, "approved by so many centuries of use in the Church" was pronounced by the Council of Trent "authentic," and the same Council insisted that it was to be used in teaching and in the liturgy.

But to return to St. Jerome's love of the Bible: this is so conspicuous in his letters that they almost seem woven out of Scripture texts; and, as St. Bernard found no taste in things which did not echo the most sweet name of Jesus, so no literature made any appeal to Jerome unless it derived its light from Holy Scripture.

 

Need of Lively Catholic Faith

As he trusted to God's grace, so too did he rely upon the authority of his predecessors: "What I have learned I did not teach myself—a wretchedly presumptuous teacher!—but I learned it from illustrious men in the Church." Again: "In studying Scripture I never trusted in myself." To Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, he imparted the rule he had laid down for his own student life: "It has always been my custom to fight for the prerogatives of a Christian, not to overpass the limits set by the Fathers, always to bear in mind that Roman faith praised by the Apostles."

He ever paid submissive homage to the Church, our supreme teacher through the Roman Pontiffs. Thus, with a view to putting an end to the controversy raging in the East concerning the mystery of the Holy Trinity, he submitted the question to the Roman See for settlement, and wrote from the Syrian Desert to Pope Damasus as follows:

I decided, therefore, to consult the Chair of Peter and that Roman faith which the Apostle praised; I ask for my soul's food from that city wherein I first put on the garment of Christ ... I, who follow no other leader save Christ, associate myself with Your Blessedness, in communion, that is, with the Chair of Peter. For I know the Church was built upon that Rock ... I beg you to settle this dispute. If you desire it I shall not be afraid to say there are Three Hypostases. If it is your wish to let them draw up a symbol of faith subsequent to that of Nicaea, and let us orthodox praise God in the same form of words as the Arians employ.

And in his next letter: "Meanwhile I keep crying out, 'Any man who is joined to Peter's Chair, he is my man.' " Since he had learned this "rule of faith" from his study of the Bible, he was able to refute a false interpretation of a biblical text with the simple remark: "Yes, but the Church of God does not admit that." When, again, Vigilantius quoted an apocryphal book, Jerome was content to reply: "A book I have never so much as read! For what is the good of soiling one's hands with a book the Church does not receive?" With his strong insistence on adhering to the integrity of the faith, it is not to be wondered that he attacked vehemently those who left the Church; he promptly regarded them as his own personal enemies. "To put it briefly," he says, "I have never spared heretics, and have always striven to regard the Church's enemies as my own." To Rufinus he writes: "There is one point in which I cannot agree with you: you ask me to spare heretics—or, in other words—not to prove myself a Catholic." Yet at the same time Jerome deplored the lamentable state of heretics and adjured them to return to their sorrowing Mother, the one source of salvation; he prayed, too, with all earnestness for the conversion of those "who had quitted the Church and put away the Holy Spirit's teaching to follow their own notions."

Was there ever a time, venerable brethren, when there was greater call than now for us all, lay and cleric alike, to imbibe the spirit of this "greatest of Doctors"? For there are many contumacious folk now who sneer at the authority and government of God, who has revealed Himself, and of the Church who teaches. You know—for Leo XIII warned us—"how insistently men fight against us; you know the arms and arts they rely upon." It is your duty, then, to train as many really fit defenders of this holiest of causes as you can. They must be ready to combat not only those who deny the existence of the supernatural order altogether, and are thus led to deny the existence of any divine revelation or inspiration, but those, too, who—through an itching desire for novelty—venture to interpret the sacred books as though they were of purely human origin; those, too, who scoff at opinions held of old in the Church, or who, through contempt of its teaching office, either reck little of, or silently disregard, or at least obstinately endeavor to adapt to their own views, the Constitutions of the Apostolic See or the decisions of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Would that all Catholics would cling to St. Jerome's golden rule and obediently listen to their Mother's words, so as modestly to keep within the bounds marked out by the Fathers and ratified by the Church.