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One of the four freat founding fathers of the Church. Born in 340 AD in Stridone, Dalmatia, his Christian parents sent him to Rome for his
education. There, he felt himself drawn more to Cicero and Plato than to the writings of the Bible, until an angel appeared to him in a dream who, taking away his books, took him by the hand
and brought him before the heavenly judge. Hieronymus continued his studies in Trier and Aquileia. In 373 AD he travelled to Palestine. From there he withdrew to the Chalcis desert
near Antioch to live as a hermit. In 379 Pope Damasus called him to Rome, where he remained the former’s advisor and private secretary until the pope’s death in 384 AD. His
consecration as bishop is not mentioned in legends until the fifteenth century, when his consecration is recounted as cardinal’s honours. Because Pope Damasus had assigned him the
translation of the Bible, Hieronymus proceeded again to Palestine and settled in Bethlehem, where he founded a monastery and school. T Because Damasus had assigned him the task of translating
the Bible, Hieronymus proceeded again to Palestine and settled in Bethlehem, where he founded a monastery and a school. It was he who ordered and translated all the individual books of the
Bible from Hebrew, Greek and Latin into Italian and called them the “Vulgata”. Hieronymus spoke seven languages and is represented in the icons accordingly. He
died in 420 AD in Bethlehem. “He read and wrote and his life was consumed in reading and by his books”. Distinguishing marks of the representations (individual figures) are
Cardinal’s robes, lion, books and occasionally stone and skull.
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