“If Jerome doesn’t know it, no one knows it.” – St. Augustine
Recognized as a Doctor of the Church for his extraordinary spiritual scholarship, St. Jerome is best known for creating the translation of the Bible called the Vulgate. Using vernacular Latin, the translation made the Bible more accessible to common people, and became the standard used by the Church for centuries.
As we celebrate St. Jerome’s Memorial on September 30, we invite you to read some of his most insightful quotes on truth, the nature of God, Christian living, and more!
On the Nature of Wisdom
“He who is educated and eloquent must not measure his saintliness merely by his fluency. Of two imperfect things, holy rusticity is better than sinful eloquence.”
“Love the knowledge of the Scriptures and you will not love the errors of the flesh.”
“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.”
On Christian Living
“Do not let your deeds belie your words, lest when you speak in church someone may say to himself, ‘Why do you not practice what you preach?’”
“What a man desires, if he worships it, is to him a god. A vice in the heart is an idol on the altar.”
“Begin now to be what you will be hereafter.”
On the Significance and Power of Truth
“Everything must have in it a sharp seasoning of truth.”
“When you are really instructed in the Divine Scriptures, and have realized that its laws and testimonies are the bonds of truth, then you can contend with adversaries; then you will fetter them and lead them bound into captivity; then of the foes you have made captive you will make freemen of God.”
On Our Relationship to God
“Surely if we remembered that God sees us when we sin, we would never do what displeases Him.”
“It is not enough for me that God has given me grace once, but He must give it always. I ask, that I may receive; and when I have received, I ask again. I am covetous of receiving God’s bounty. He is never slow in giving, nor am I ever weary of receiving.”
Sources:
“10 Witty Quotes from St. Jerome,” Aleteia.
A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, Dr. Paul Thigpen.
“On St. Jerome,” Pope Benedict XV, EWTN.
“St. Jerome, Confessor, Doctor of the Church,” EWTN
The Principal Works of St. Jerome, accessed via Google Books.