FD of St. Jerome (d 420) who translated the entire Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek into Latin--much of the work completed in a cave in Bethlehem, where he studied with local rabbis. His two passions were scholarship and controversy--the latter earning him many foes.
Conversation
In this pursuit he brought vast rhetorical skills, a capacity for intellectual overkill, and a taste for personal sarcasm. Of one of his enemies he wrote: "If he will only conceal his nose and keep his tongue still he may be taken to be both handsome and learned."
2
1
5
He wrote proudly: "I have always done my utmost that the enemies of the Church should be also my enemies." Some have questioned his warrants for assuming that those who differed from him were necessarily the church's enemies. (*Butler's Lives*).
1
1
6
A later pope, observing a painting of Jerome striking his breast with a rock, remarked: "It is a good thing for that stone, or you would not be counted as a saint today." A fitting patron not only for Catholic scholars but for #CatholicTwitter.
2
9
My understanding is he could be surly and was not well liked. Is that accurate?
1
His reliance on some texts that have questionable accuracy is a very significant topic in textual criticism today
