Listed below are some of the teachings of Saint Jerome. This is the complementary blog post to Saint Jerome – “Father of Biblical Science.”

Ignorance of Scripture –

“Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” – Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah

No Error Found in the Sacred Books –

“…I am not, I repeat, so ignorant as to suppose that any of the Lord’s words is either in need of correction or is not divinely inspired; but the Latin manuscripts of the Scriptures are proved to be faulty by the variations which all of them exhibit, and my object has been to restore them to the form of the Greek original, from which my detractors do not deny that they have been translated.” – Letters, No. 27

Sacred Tradition is a True Font of Revelation –

“Don’t you know that the laying on of hands after baptism and then the invocation of the Holy Spirit is a custom of the Churches? Do you demand Scripture proof? You may find it in the Acts of the Apostles. And even if it did not rest on the authority of Scripture the consensus of the whole world in this respect would have the force of a command. For many other observances of the Churches, which are due to tradition, have acquired the authority of the written law.” – The Dialogue Against the Luciferians, Chap. 8

The Church is Needed For All to Attain Their Salvation –

[To (Pope) Damascus, a. 374-379] “As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the Church is built! This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten. This is the ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails.” – Letters, No. 15

On the Mary’s Virginity –

“We believe that God was born of the Virgin, because we read it. That Mary was married after she brought forth, we do not believe, because we do not read it. Nor do we say this to condemn marriage…for virginity itself is the fruit of marriage…You say that Mary did not continue a virgin: I claim still more, that Joseph himself on account of Mary was a virgin, so that from a virgin wedlock a virgin son was born.” – The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary, Chap. 21

Episcopacy, Priesthood, and Diaconate Constitute Major Orders  –

“The virgin Christ and the virgin Mary have dedicated in themselves the first fruits of virginity for both sexes. The apostles have either been virgins or, though married, have lived celibate lives. Those persons who are chose to be bishops, priests, and deacons are either virgins or widowers, or at least, when once they have received the priesthood, are vowed to perpetual chastity.” – Letters, 48:21