Paula and Jerome with two members of the monasteries they founded in Bethlehem. (Fresco in a cave beneath the Church of St Joseph in Bethlehem.)

A memorial stone to Jerome and and his companions

 

St Jerome St Jerome was the greatest biblical translator and interpreter of the  early Church.  His most important work was the translation of most of the Old Testament and the Gospels, from their original languages into Latin.  This resulted eventually in the production of the Vulgate version which became the most widely used version in the Catholic Church for more than a thousand years. He was born in 347CE. For a time he studied and lived in Rome where, as a priest, he shared his passion for scripture study with Paula and others. At 39 years of age he went to Bethlehem, founded a monastery and spent the rest of his life translating and interpreting the Bible. He died in 419 or 420CE. In his work we can see the beginnings of modern textual criticism and the historical critical approach to interpretation. When Rome was attacked by the Goths in 410AD and many needy refugees came to Bethlehem begging for help he wrote: "I have put aside my commentary on Ezekiel and almost all study. For today we must translate the precepts of the Scriptures into deeds; instead of speaking saintly words, we must act them" His feast day is 30 September.   St Paula Paula, born in the same year as Jerome was a wealthy Roman widow. She became a friend of Jerome, and with her two daughters Eustochium and Blesilla, and with other women of noble rank, formed a home bible study group with him. They undertook the study of Hebrew so that they could pray the Psalms in that language. After the death of Blesilla in 384CE Paula and Eustochium went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On their travels they took note of of Hebrew place names and discussed their theological meaning. They saw all creation as God's word. They then settled in Bethlehem and Paula assisted Jerome financially. She built a number of churches and three monasteries for women. She was the fluent in Greek and Hebrew and worked with Jerome on translating the Bible.  She was very sensitive to issues of social justice, and her generosity to the poor was unlimited. She died in Bethlehem in 404AD. Her feast day is 26 January.