This weekend we celebrate the Feast of our parish patron, Saint Jerome, Doctor of the Church and we wish all parishioners a joyful and fruitful celebration. The 10am Mass will be followed by a community lunch in the parish hall. Please come along and join in to celebrate this occasion.
THE STORY OF ST JEROME, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Jerome, born at Stridon in Dalmatia, was baptised at Rome as a young man and studied the liberal arts with Donatus and other very learned men. In the service of religion, he travelled all over Palestine.
Then he retired to the vast Syrian Desert, where he spent four years in reading sacred Scripture and in the contemplation of the blessedness of heaven. Ordained a priest by Paulinus, Bishop of Antioch, he went back to Palestine. There, near the crib of the Lord Christ in Bethlehem, he led a life patterned after that of heaven itself.
He conquered the wiles of the devil with works of devotion and continual reading and writing. Questions on Holy Scripture were referred for explanation to him as to an oracle, being sent to him from all over the world.
Pope Damasus and St. Augustine often consulted him on difficult passages in Scripture because of his singular learning and his knowledge not only of Latin and Greek but also of Hebrew and Chaldaic.
He translated the Old Testament from Hebrew; and by command of Pope Damasus, he revised the translation of the New Testament to make it faithful to the Greek text and explained a great part of it. In extreme old age, he made the journey to heaven.
His body was buried at Bethlehem and later taken to Rome and buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major.