Join us at the end of the month for a members-only social event. The evening will provide a good opportunity to hear updates on SoG news, and virtually meet SoG members and friends in online breakout rooms. In keeping with our Society’s interests, we will also be celebrating the late September festivals of Harvest, Michaelmas and the Feast Day of St. Jerome. Our connection to St. Jerome is that he is feted as the patron saint of librarians and libraries, translators, Biblical scholars, archaeologists, encyclopaedists, archivists, and – by extension – genealogists.
St. Jerome was born in 347 CE in Stridon in the Roman province of Dalmatia (now in Slovenia) to Christian parents. He was well educated in rhetoric, Latin, Greek and the liberal arts. In his youth travelled to Rome, Germany and Aquileia. He became a Catholic priest in 379 and later a Doctor of the Church.
He had a great talent for languages. As a devout priest, he used his gifts in the service of the Church, culminating in his translation of the Bible into the Latin Vulgate. He explained his dedication to the task, claiming, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”.
He was able to reach such scholarly achievements thanks to the wealth of a number of women. Prominent among these was his close friend, Paula (later Saint Paula of Rome). After being widowed by the age of 32, Paula became more religious, joining a semi-monastic group of women in Rome. She met Jerome in 382 and later travelled with him on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Egypt. They both settled in Bethlehem, where Paula established a monastery for men (where Jerome wrote) and a convent for women (where she was abbess).
Jerome is particularly associated with libraries as he began building his personal library when young and later established a remarkable collection in the monastery in Bethlehem. This was considered the most important private collection of the time. There he dedicated his life to being a Biblical scholar. Even during his years living in a rock cave, he managed to keep his collection of pagan and Christian works. He also helped set up a papal library in Rome.
Pope Damasus I commissioned St Jerome to complete a translation of the Bible into Latin. This became the Vulgate with which most medieval Bible readers in Europe would have been familiar. Jerome spent twenty years in his library working on a revised version of Psalms and the New Testament. The beginning of the 5th century was a difficult time for Jerome as Paula died in the year 404 and Rome was sacked by Alarc the Barbarian in 410. Jerome completed his work on the Vulgate Bible in 404 CE. Sadly, his library was destroyed in 416 when Bethlehem was sacked by bandits.
Nevertheless, his significant personal library, his remarkable scholarliness and prodigious memory, as well as his seminal Bible translation and commentaries, appear to be among the many reasons why Jerome became recognised as a patron saint of libraries.
If, like St Jerome, you want to spend more time in libraries, do remember that you can book a computer (to access Findmypast, Ancestry, and the vast FamilySearch resource, along with our digital collections) or space to view our Library materials in our current temporary north London base. Just request the documents you would like to view at least one week in advance by emailing librarian@sog.org.uk or calling us on (020) 7251 8799.
See https://www.sog.org.uk/visit-us for further details.
Sources
- Jane Kemp, Librarian Emerita, Luther College
- Kelly, J.N.D. Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies. (Harper, 1975)
- Jerome. Selected Letters of St. Jerome (Harvard University Press, 1991)
- Thompson, James W. The Medieval Library (University of Chicago Press, 1939)
Please contact us for more information