De sancto Hieronymo
The Meaning of a Holy Life
The name Hieronymus is explored through its etymological roots, reflecting a life dedicated to sacred law and divine beauty.
The name Hieronymus comes from 'gerar,' meaning 'holy,' and 'nemus,' meaning 'a holy grove,' or from 'noma,' which means 'law.' That is why his legend says that Hieronymus is interpreted as 'sacred law.' For he was 'holy'—that is, firm, or pure, or stained with blood, or dedicated to sacred use, just as the vessels of the temple were called holy because they were dedicated to sacred use. He was indeed 'holy': firm in good works through the long-suffering of perseverance, pure in mind through purity, stained with blood through meditation on the Lord's passion, and dedicated to sacred use through his exposition and interpretation of sacred Scripture. He is also called 'nemus' from the grove where he once lived, and 'lex' because of the regular discipline he taught his monks, or because he explained and interpreted the sacred law. Hieronymus is also interpreted as 'vision of beauty' or 'one who judges words.' Beauty, however, is manifold: the first is spiritual, which is in the soul; the second is moral, which consists in the honesty of one's character; the third is intellectual, which is angelic beauty; the fourth is supersubstantial, which is divine; the fifth is heavenly, which is the beauty of the saints in their homeland. Hieronymus saw and possessed this fivefold beauty in himself; he had spiritual beauty in the variety of his virtues, moral beauty in the honesty of his life, intellectual beauty in his excellent purity, supersubstantial beauty in his ardent charity, and heavenly beauty in his eternal or excellent charity. He also evaluated speech and words, both his own and those of others; he spoke his own with care, while confirming the truth in others, refuting what was false, and clarifying what was doubtful. . .
Conversion and the Call to Penance
Jerome's early life, his intellectual formation, and his dramatic conversion from secular studies to the service of God are recounted.
Jerome was born to a noble father, Eusebius, in the town of Stridon, located on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia. As a young man, he went to Rome and gained a complete education in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew literature. He had Donatus as his teacher in grammar and the orator Victorinus in rhetoric, but he studied the divine scriptures day and night, drinking them in eagerly and later pouring them out in abundance. As he relates in a letter to Eustochium, he once read Cicero by day and Plato by night because he found the unpolished language of the prophetic books unappealing. Around the middle of Lent, he was seized by such a sudden, burning fever that his whole body grew cold, and only his heart still fluttered with the heat of life. While his funeral was being prepared, he was suddenly dragged before the Judge's tribunal; when asked his status, he freely confessed that he was a Christian. The Judge replied, 'You are lying; you are a Ciceronian, not a Christian, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' Jerome fell silent, and the Judge immediately ordered him to be beaten severely. Then he cried out, 'Have mercy on me, Lord, have mercy on me.' Those standing by then begged the Judge to show mercy to the young man. He began to swear, saying, 'Lord, if I ever possess secular books, or if I read them, I will deny you.' And so, these were the terms of his oath. Released from these words, he suddenly came back to life; he found himself bathed in tears, and he discovered his shoulders terribly bruised from the lashes he had received before the tribunal. He read the divine books with as much passion as he had once read the books of the pagans. But while... He was twenty-nine years old and a cardinal in the Roman Church. He was ordained a priest. After Pope Liberius died, Hieronymus... worthy of the highest...
Asceticism and the Desert Struggle
Jerome faces persecution, retreats to the desert, and undergoes rigorous discipline to purify his soul and mind.
Everyone acclaimed him for the priesthood. But when he began to rebuke the immorality of certain clerics and monks, they were deeply offended and set traps for him; as Johannes Beleth notes, they even humiliated him by dressing him in women's clothing. For when Jerome got up for Matins as usual, he found the woman's garment that his rivals had placed by his bed, and thinking it was his own, he put it on and walked into the church that way. His rivals did this so people would believe he was keeping a woman in his room. Which— Seeing the extent of their madness, he gave them space and went to Gregory Nazianzen, the bishop of Constantinople. After he learned the sacred scriptures from him, he hurried into the desert, where he himself describes to Eustochium what he endured for Christ, saying: 'How often, while living in the desert and in that vast wilderness which, scorched by the sun's heat, provides a grim dwelling for monks, did I imagine I was back among the luxuries of Rome.' His limbs, deformed by sackcloth, shuddered; his skin had taken on the dark, squalid hue of an Ethiopian's; there were daily tears and daily groans, and if sleep ever overcame him as he resisted, his bones, barely held together, would rattle against the bare ground. I won't even mention the food and drink, since even the sick there use cold water, and eating anything cooked is considered a luxury; and while I was a companion only to scorpions and wild beasts, I often found myself in the middle of girls' dances, and in my cold body and deadened flesh, the fires of lust would still flare up. So I would weep constantly and subdue my rebellious flesh with weeks of fasting. I often joined days to nights, and I wouldn't stop beating my chest until the Lord restored my peace. I even feared my own cell as if it were the conscience of my thoughts, and angry and harsh with myself, I would head into the desert alone; and as the Lord is my witness, after many tears, I sometimes seemed to be among the ranks of the angels. After four years of such penance spent there, he returned to the town of Bethlehem, where he offered himself like a domestic animal at the Lord's manger to remain forever; he kept his library, which he had built up with such great effort, closed, and while reading through other books again, he would carry his day on with fasts until evening, gathering many disciples there in a holy purpose, and he labored for fifty-five years and six months on the translation of the Scriptures, and he remained a virgin until the end of his life. Although it is said in this legend that he was always a virgin, he himself writes to Pammachius about it this way: 'I prefer virginity in heaven, not because I possess it.' Finally, he was so exhausted by such weariness that, while lying on his bed, he would use a rope suspended from a beam to pull himself up. He would lift himself with his hands so that he could, as far as he was able, perform the duties of the monastery.
The Miracle of the Lion
A wounded lion is healed by Jerome and becomes a faithful servant, illustrating the harmony between nature and grace.
One day, as evening approached and Jerome was sitting with the brothers for a sacred reading, a lion suddenly limped into the monastery. When they saw it, the other brothers fled. Jerome, however, went to meet it as if it were a guest. The lion then showed him its injured foot. Jerome called the brothers and asked them to examine its feet. He ordered them to wash the wound and examine it carefully. Once this was done, they found that the lion's paw had been wounded by thorns; after they applied diligent care, therefore, the lion recovered. Having shed all its wildness, it lived among them like a domestic animal. Jerome realized the Lord hadn't sent the lion just to heal its foot, but for their own benefit. With the brothers' advice, he decided to give the lion a job: it would lead the monastery's donkey—which hauled wood from the forest—out to pasture and guard it while it grazed. And so it was done. For once the care of the donkey was entrusted to the lion, it acted like a diligent shepherd, serving as an constant companion on the road and a steadfast defender while the donkey grazed in the fields; yet, so that it could feed itself and the donkey could finish its usual work, it always returned home with it at the customary hour. One day, however, while the donkey was grazing and the lion was fast asleep, some merchants passing by with their camels saw the donkey alone and snatched it away as quickly as they could. When the lion woke up and couldn't find its companion, it paced back and forth, roaring. When it still couldn't find the donkey, it went sadly to the monastery gates, but out of shame, it didn't dare to go inside as it usually did. The brothers noticed it had returned later than usual and without the donkey, so they assumed it had gotten hungry and eaten it. Unwilling to give it its usual food, they said, "Go on, eat the rest of the donkey you've left and fill your belly." Still, doubting whether it had actually done such a thing, they went out to the pasture to look for clues. Finding nothing, they reported this to Jerome. Then, following his instructions, they assigned the donkey's job to the lion and loaded the wood onto it instead. As the lion bore this patiently, one day after finishing his work, he went out into the field and ran here and there, wanting to know what had happened to his companion; and look, he saw merchants coming from a distance with loaded camels, and the donkey walking in front. It is the custom in that region that when they travel a long distance with camels, the camels follow a donkey that walks in front and wears a rope around its neck, so that they walk more directly. Once the lion recognized the donkey, he rushed at them with a huge roar, sending all the men running away in panic. The lion, roaring terribly, struck the ground hard with his tail and forced the terrified camels—still loaded just as they were—to walk before him to the monastery. When the brothers saw this and told Jerome, he said, "My dear brothers, wash our guests' feet, provide them with food, and wait for the Lord's will regarding this." Then the lion began to run around the monastery happily, as he used to do, prostrating himself at the feet of each of the brothers. He wagged his tail, asking for forgiveness for a fault he hadn't committed, as if he had done something wrong. But Jerome, knowing what was to come, said to the brothers, "Go, brothers, and prepare what is necessary for the arriving guests." While he was still speaking, a messenger came to him announcing that guests were at the door who wanted to see the abbot. When he went to them, they immediately threw themselves at his feet, asking for forgiveness for their fault. He raised them up kindly and instructed them to take back what was theirs and not to steal what belonged to others. They asked blessed Jerome, therefore, to accept half of the oil as a blessing. He barely agreed, but finally, under pressure, he ordered it to be accepted. They promised, however, that they would give the same amount of oil to the brothers every year and would instruct their heirs to do the same.
The Scholar of the Church
Jerome is commissioned to organize the church office and the Psalter, cementing his legacy as a foundational scholar.
Back when everyone in the church used to sing whatever they wanted, Emperor Theodosius—as John Beletli says—asked Pope Damasus to entrust the organization of the church office to a learned man. Knowing that Jerome was perfect in the Greek and Hebrew languages and supreme in all wisdom, he therefore entrusted that office to him. Jerome, therefore, divided the Psalter by the days of the week and assigned a proper nocturn to each day, and he instituted that the 'Glory be to the Father' should be said at the end of every psalm, as Sigebertus says. Then he reasonably organized the epistles and gospels to be sung throughout the cycle of the year, along with other things pertaining to the office, and sent it from Bethlehem to the supreme pontiff; it was highly approved by him and his cardinals and permanently authorized. After this, however, he built a tomb for himself at the mouth of the cave where the Lord lay, where he was buried after ninety-eight years and six months had passed.
Testimony and Final Perseverance
The esteem of his contemporaries and his own reflections on suffering and persecution reveal the depth of his devotion until his death.
Augustine’s deep reverence for him is clear from the letters he sent; in one, he wrote: 'To Jerome, my most beloved lord, to be honored and embraced with the most sincere devotion of charity, Augustine...' Elsewhere, he also writes about him like this: 'Saint Jerome, a priest learned in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew eloquence, lived in the holy places and in the sacred scriptures until a decrepit age; the nobility of his eloquence shone forth from the East to the West like a lamp of the sun.' Blessed Prosper writes in his chronicles: 'Jerome, a priest in Bethlehem, already famous throughout the world, lived there, serving the whole Church with his outstanding talent and study.' He himself also writes about himself to the Albigensian: 'From my boyhood, I have tried to avoid nothing so much as a swelling mind and a stiff neck, which provoke God’s anger against oneself.' The same man says: 'I also fear all things that are safe.' The same man says: 'In the monastery, we strive with all our heart for hospitality, and we receive everyone who comes to us, except for heretics, with a joyful face, and we wash the feet of those who come.' Isidore, however, says in his book of Etymologies: 'Jerome was an expert in three languages, and his interpretation is preferred over others, because he is more tenacious of the words and clearer in the perspicuity of his meaning, as one who is more truthful as a Christian interpreter.' In the dialogue of Severus, a disciple of Saint Martin who lived at the same time, it is written about Jerome as follows. Jerome, beyond the merit of his faith and his virtues, is so well-versed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew that no one would dare compare themselves to him in any field, for he is in a constant fight and a perpetual struggle against the wicked. Heretics hated him because he never stopped attacking them, and the clergy hated him because he challenged their lives and their sins; but all good people clearly admired and loved him. For those who thought he was a heretic were simply insane; he was always entirely absorbed in reading and in his books—he didn't rest by day or by night, but was always either reading something or writing. This is what Severus says, and as is clear from these words and as he himself often testified, he endured many persecutors and many detractors. How willingly he endured these persecutions is clear from what he says in a letter to Asella: 'I give thanks to God that I have been judged worthy to be hated by the unclean, and that they gossip that I am a sorcerer; but I know that one reaches the kingdom through both infamy and good report.' He also says: 'If only the whole crowd of the unfaithful would persecute me for the sake of my Lord's name and justice!' If only this world would rise up more firmly against me in reproach! Only that I might deserve to be praised by Christ and hope for the reward of His promise. It is certainly a welcome and desirable trial whose reward is hoped for from Christ in heaven, and no curse is heavy if it is changed by divine praise. He died around the year of our Lord 420.
Read the original Latin
Hieronymus dicitur a gerar, quod est sanctum, et nemus, quasi sanctum nemus, vel noma, quod est lex. Unde dicitur in legenda sua, quod Hieronymus interpretatur sacra lex. Fuit enim sanctus, id est firmus vel mundus vel sanguine tinctus, vel usui sacro deputatus, sicut vasa templi dicebantur sancta, quia sacro usui deputata. Fuit enim sanctus, id est firmus in bono opere propter perseverantiae longanimitatem et mundus in mente pér puritatem et sanguine tinctus per dominicae passionis meditationem,sacro usui deputatus per scripturae sacrae expositionem et interpretationem. Dicitur et nemus à nemore, ubi aliquando conversatus fuit, et lex propter regularem disciplinam, quàm monachos suos docuit vel quia sacram legem exposuit et interpretatus fuit. Hieronymus etiam interpretatur visio pulchritudinis vel dijudicans locutiones. Est autem multiplex pulchritudo: prima est spiritualis, quae est in anima; secunda moralis, quae consistit in honestate morum; tertia intellectualis, quae est pulchritudo angelica; quarta snpersubstantialis, quae est divina; quinta coelestis, qnae est sanctorum in patria. Hanc quintuplicem pulchritudinem Hieronymus in se vidit et habuit, nam habuit spiritualem in virtntum varietate, moralem in vitae honestate, intellectnalem in excellenti puritate, supersubstantialem in ardenti caritate, coelestem iu aeterna vel in excellenti caritate.
Dijudicavit etiam loentiones sive verba, tam sua, quam aliorum; sua examinate proferendo, aliorum vera confirmando, falsa confutando, dubia vero exponendo. . .
Hieronymus Eusebil viri nobilis filius ab oppido Stridonis, quod Dalmatiae et Pannoniae confinia tenet, exstitit oriundus. Hic adhuc juvenis Romam adiit et litteris graecis et latinis et hebraycis plene eruditus est. In arte grammatica Donatum habuit praeceptorem, in rhetoricis autem Victorinum oratorem, in scripturis autem divinis exercitabatur die ac nocte, et inde hausit avide et postmodum effudit abunde. Quodam vero tempore, sicut ipse in epistola ad Eustochium perhibet, cum de die Tullium et de nocte Platonem avide legeret, eo quod sermo incultus sibi in libris propheticis non placeret, circà mediam quadragesimam tam subita et ardenti febre corripitur, ut toto frigescente jam corpore vitalis calor in solo pectore palpitaret, Dum ergo exsequiae funeris pararentur, subito ad tribunal judicis trahitur et interrogatus, cujus conditionis esset, christianum se esse libere profitetur, Ad quem judex: mentiris, inquit, Ciceronianus es, non Christianus, ubi enim est thesaurus tuus, ibi est et cor tuum. At Hieronymus obmutuit et continuo ipsum judex durissime caedi jussit. Tunc exclamavit et dixit: miserere mei, domine, miserere mei. Tunc qui adstabant, precabantar judicem, ut veniam tribueret adolescenti. Ipse enim jurare coepit ac dicere: domine, si unquam habuero codices secnlares, si legero,te negabo.
n haec igitur juramenti. verba dimissus subito reviviscit, tunc lacrymis totum se invenit perfusum et ex verberibus, quae ante tribunal susceperat, scapulas terribiliter reperit livientes. Tanto autem studio libros divinos legit extane, quanto libros gentiles unquam legerat. Dum autem. esset annorum XXIX, in Romana ecclesia cardinalis. presbiter. ordinatus est, mortuo autem Liberio papa Hieronymus. dignus -summo .
sacerdotio ab omnibus acclamatur. Sed dum quorundam clericorum et monachorum lasciviam increparet, illi nimium indignati ei insidias paraverunt, sed et per vestem muliebrem, ut ait Johannes Beleth, ab iis turpiter est derisus. Nam cum Hieronymus ad matutinas solito more surgeret, vestem mulieris, quam aemuli juxta lectum posuerant, reperit suamque esse credens induit et in ecclesiam Sic processit. Hoc autem aemuli faciebant, ut mulierem habere in thalamo crederetur. Quod. ille videns tantae eorum vesaniae locum dedit et-ad Gregorium Nazianzenum Gonstantinopolitanae urbis episcopum pervenit. Postquam autem ab ipso sacras litteras didicit, in eremum properavit, ubi pro Christo quanta sustinuerlt, ipse ad Eustochium narrat dicens: quotiens in eremo constitntus et in illa vasta solitudine, quae exusta solis ardoribus horridum monachis praestat habitaculum, putabam me romanis deliciis interesse. Horrebant sacco membra deformia, squalida cutis situm Aethiopicaé carnis adduxerat, quotidie lacrymae, quotidie gemitus, et si quando repugnantem somnus imminens oppressisset,humo nuda vix ossa haerentia collidebantur.
De cibis et potu taceo, cum etiam languentes aqua frigida utantur et coctum aliquid accepisse luxuria sit, et dum scorpionum tantum essem socius et ferarum, saepe choreis intereram puellarum et in frigido corpore et carne praemortua libidinum incendia pullulabant. Itaqne continuo flebam et repugnantem carnem hebdomadarum inedia subigebam. Dies crebro conjunxi cum noctibus nec prius à pectoris cessabam verberibus, quam a domino tranquillitas redderetur. Ipsam quoque cellulam meam quasi cogitationum conscientiam perltimescebam et mihi iratus et rigidus solus deserta penetrabam et ut mihi testis est dominus, post multas lacrymas et nonnunquam videbar interesse agminibus angelorum. Per quadriennium igitur ibidem poenitentia sic peracta ad Bethlehem oppidum remeavit, ubiquasi domesticum animal ad praesepe domini sese obtulit permansurum, bibliothecam autem snam, quam summo studio sibi condiderat clausam, aliosque libros iterum relegens diem jejuniis ducehatad vesperum, multos ibidem discipulos coadunans in sancto proposito et translatione scripturarum quinquaginta quinque annis et sex mensibus desudavit et nsque ad finem vitae virgo permansit. Licet autem in hac legenda dicatur, quod semper virgo fuerit, ipse tamen de se ita scribit ad Pammachium: virginitatem in coelo praefero, non quia habeo. Tanta denique lassitudine fatigatus est, ut in stratu suo jacens funiculo ad trabem suspenso supinis. manibus se levaret, ut scilicet officium monasterii, prout poterat, exhiberet.
Quadam vero die advesperascente cum Hieronymus cum fratribus ad sacram lectionem audiendnm sederet, subito leo quidam claudicans monasterium ingressus est. Quo viso cum caeteri fratres fugerent,. Hieronymus ei quasi hospiti obviavit. Leo igitur. dum pedem sibi laesum ostenderet, vocatis fratribus pedes. sibi praecepit ablni et diligenter ejus plagam inquiri. Quod onm factum fuisset, invenerunt leonis plantam a sentibus vulneratam; adhibita igitur diligent! cura leo convaluit et omnlferitate deposita inter eos quasi domesticum animal habitavit.
Tunc Hieronymus videns, quod non tam pro sanitate sui pedis, quam pro eorum utilitate dominus leonem misisset, de fratrum consilio eidem hoc injunxit officium, ut asinum, quem habebant, qui ligna de nemore deferebat, ipse leo ad pascua duceret et ductum ibidem custodiret. Quod factum est. Nam injuncta leoni asini cura more pastoris industrii eundo ad pastum socius incessanter itineris rure pascendo undecunque defensor tulissimus erat, verumtamen ut se cibaret et asinus solitum perficeret opus, consuetis semper horis cum eo domum redibat. Quadam igitur vice pascente asino et leone graviter soporato mercatores cum camelis inde transeuntes asinum solum viderunt et eum quantocius rapuerunt. Expergefaetus itaque leo cum socium non inveniret, rugiendo huc illucque ibat, quem tandem non inveniens ad portas monasterii tristis adiit et intus, ut solitus erat, prae verecundia ingredi non praesumsit. Et videntes fratres, quod tardius solito more et sine asino venisset, putaverunt, quod fame compulsus asinum comedisset, nolentesque ei annonam attribuere consuetam dicebant: vade et reliquam partem aselli, quae tibi remansit, mande et tuam ingluviem reple. Haesitantes tamen, utrum hoc malum perpetrasset, exierunt ad pascua, si forte aliquod indicium invenirent, et nihil invenientes hoc Hieronymo retulerunt. Tunc monitis ejus officium asini leoni injungunt et ligna caedentes leoni imponunt.
Quod cum leo patienter ferret, quadam die expleto opere agrum exiit, hac illaque discurrit scire desiderans, quid de suo fuisset socio factum, et ecce vidit a longe negotiatores cum onustis camelis praecedente asino venientes. Mos enim illi regioni est, ut, quando cum camelis longius gradiuntur, cameli, ut directius vadant, praecedentem et collo funiculum gestantem asinum subsequantur. Recognito igitur leo asino cum ingenti rugitu super eos irruit et omnes homines in fagam convertit. Et leo terribiliter rugiens percutiebat canda fortiter terram perterritosque camelos, sicut erant onusti, ante se ad cellam ire coegit. Quod cum fratres vidissent et Hieronymo nuntiassent, ille ait: hospitibus nostris, fratres carissimi , pedes abluite, escas praebete et super hoc voluntatem domini exspectate. Tunc leo per monasterium coepit, ut solebat, laetus discurrere, singulorum fratrum vestigiis se prosternens et. quasi de perpetrata, qnam non fecerat, culpa cauda alludens veniam postulabat. Hieronymus autem futurorum praescius ait fratribus: ite, fratres, et venientibus hospitibus necessaria praeparate, Adhuc eo loquente nuntius ad eum venit annuntians, ante fores hospites adesse, qui abbatem vellent videre, Ad quos emn ille ivisset, protinus illi ejus pedibus provolvuntur, pro culpa veniam postulantes; quos: ille benigne elevans praecepit, ut sua reciperent et aliena non usurparent.
Rogabant igitur illi beatum Hieronymum, ut medietatem olei pro benedictione accipiat. Quibus vix assentiens, tandem coactus suscipi jubet. Promiserunt autem se annuatim eandem olei mensuram fratribus ipsis daturos et a suis dari haeredibus praecepturos. Cum autem olim in ecclesia unusquisque caneret, quod volebat, Theodosius imperator, ut ait Johannes Beletli, Damasum papam rogavit, utalicui viro docto officium ecclesiasticum committeret ordinandum. Ipse igitur sciens Hieronymum in lingua graeca et hebrayca perfectum et in omni sapientia summum, eidem officium praedictum commisit. Hieronymus igitur psalterium per ferias distinxit et unicuique feriae nocturnum proprium assignavit ac gloria patri in fine cujuslibet psalmi dicendum instituit, ut ait Sigebertus. Deinde epistolas et evangelia per anni circulum decantandas caeteraque ad officium pertinentia post cantum rationabiliter ordinavit misitque illum de Bethlehem ad summum pontificem et àb eo ct cardinalibus suis fuit valde approbatum et perpetuo authenticatum. Post hoc autem in ore speluncae, ubi dominus jacuit, monumentum sibi construxit, ubi expletis nonaginta octo annis et sex mensibus sepultus fuit.
In quanta reverentia eum Augustinus habuerit, patet per epistolas, quas sibi misit; in quarum una ei tali modo scripsit: domino dilectissimo et cultu sincerissimo caritatis observando atque amplectendo Hieronymo Augustinus ete. Alibi quoque de eo sic scribit: sanctus Hieronymus presbiter graeco, latino et hebraeo eloquio eruditus in locis sanctis atque in litteris sacris usque ad decrepitam vixit aetatem, cujus nobilitas eloquii ab oriente in occidentem instar solis lampas resplenduit. Beatus autem Prosper in suis chronicis de eo sic ait: Hieronymus presbiter in Bethlehem toto jam mundo clarus habitabat egregio ingenio et studio universae ecclesiae serviens. Ipse quoque de se sic nit ad Albigensem: nihil a pueritia ita vitare conatus sum, ut animum tumentem et erectam cervicem, Dei contra se odinm provocantem. Idem: cgo etiam tuta omnia timeo, Idem: in monasterio hospitalitati ex corde intendimus et omnes ad nos venientes practer haereticos laeta fronte suscipimus ac venientium pedes abluimus. Ysidorns vero in libro etymologiarnm ait: Hieronymus trium linguarum exstitit peritus, cujus interpretatio caeteris antefertur, quoniam et verhorum tenacior est et perspicnitate sententiae clarior, tamquam utpote à christiano )interprete verior. In dyalogo quoque Severi discipuli sancti Martini, qui ejus tempore fuit, sic de Hieronymo scriptum habetur. Hieronymus praeter fidei meritum dotemque virtutum non solum latinis atque graecis, sed eliam hebraeis ita litteris inStructus est, ut se illi in omni scientia nemo audeat comparare, eni jugis adversus malos pugna perpetuumque certamen.
Oderunt enm haeretici, quia cos impugnare non desiit, oderunt clerici, quia vilam corum insectatur et crimina, sed plane boni omnes et mirantur et diligunt, Nam qui cum haereticum esse arbitrantur, insaniunt; totus semper in lectione, totus in libris est, non dic, non nocte requiescit, ant legit aliquid aut semper scribit, Haec Severus, Et sicut ex his verbis patet et sicnt etiam ipse saepe testainr, multos persecntores et multos detractores perpessus est. Quas lamen persecntiones quam libenter sustinuerit, patet ex eo, quod sic dicit in epistola ad Assellam: gratias ago Deo, quia dignus sum habitus, quem oderit immundus, et maleficum me garriunt, sed scio ad regnum pervenire per infamiam et bonam famam, Item: utinam ob domini mei nomen atque justitiam universa me infidelium turba persequatur! utinam in opprobrium meum solidius exsurgat hic mundus! Tantum ut merear a Christo laudari et suae pollicitationis sperare mercedem. Grata utique et desiderata tentatio est, cojus praemium a Christo speratur in coelo, nee maledictio gravis est, quae divina lande mmtatnr. Obiit circa annos domini CGCXCVTIT.
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) companion
Continue through all 240 chapters, one saint a day
Chosen Portion serves the Golden Legend as a daily portion on iOS, free, alongside the full Sub Rosa archive
The Legenda Aurea was organized for day-by-day use across the liturgical year, and Chosen Portion restores that original one-feast-per-day reading rhythm
- A complete saint's life or feast reading most days in 5-10 minutes
- 240 chapters - enough daily readings to cover a full liturgical year and beyond
- Daily reminders so the plan survives busy weeks