SAINT JEROME'S TEMPER
by Kristen West McGuire
When you consider the nasty personal insults Jerome wrote during his long years of scholarship, the friends he managed to keep are notable evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. For example, he sent St. Paula a letter rebuking her for her lack of faith in the resurrection while mourning the death of her daughter Blaesilla in 384:
“When you were carried fainting out of the funeral procession, whispers such as these were audible in the crowd. “She weeps for her daughter, killed with fasting. She wanted her to marry again, that she might have grandchildren. How long must we refrain from driving these detestable monks out of Rome...They have misled this unhappy lady; that she is not a nun from choice is clear. No heathen mother ever wept for her children as she does for Blæsilla.” What sorrow...Christ endured when He listened to such words as these!”
Their departure from Rome in 385 was in part due to the blistering caricatures he composed about the immorality he saw in Rome:
“Some, when they find themselves with child through their sin, use drugs to procure abortion, and when (as often happens) they die with their offspring, they enter the lower world laden with the guilt not only of adultery against Christ but also of suicide and child murder. Yet it is these who say: “’Unto the pure all things are pure;’ Titus 1:15 my conscience is sufficient guide for me. ...And when they see another pale or sad they call her “wretch” or “Manichaen;” quite logically, indeed, for on their principles fasting involves heresy. When they go out they do their best to attract notice, and with nods and winks encourage troops of young fellows to follow them. Of each and all of these the prophet’s words are true: “You have a whore’s forehead; you refuse to be ashamed.” (Letter to Eustochium, 384)
Jerome was a first-rate Latin scholar, and his eloquence clearly gave him pleasure. Copies of his letters and treatises circulated widely throughout the Mediterranean region. He was at his most vehement when combatting heretical doctrines, adding parenthetical digs like,
“Jovinianus, condemned by the authority of the Church of Rome, amidst pheasants and swine’s flesh, breathed out, or rather belched out his spirit.” (Treatise Against Vigilantius, 406)
and,
“But if he refuses to write, and fancies that abuse is as effective as criticism, then, in spite of all the lands and seas and peoples which lie between us, he must hear at least the echo of my cry, “I do not condemn marriage.”…I should like every one to take a wife who, because they get frightened in the night, cannot manage to sleep alone.” (Letter to Domnio, 394)
Even St. Augustine received his due measure of Jerome’s pointed pen, although his velvet-smooth responses charmed Jerome sufficiently to stem the tide permanently, as demonstrated in this letter written in 416:
“But I beg your Reverence to allow me for a little to praise your genius. For in any discussion between us, the object aimed at by both of us is advancement in learning. But our rivals, and especially heretics, if they see different opinions maintained by us, will assail us with the calumny that our differences are due to mutual jealousy. For my part, however, I am resolved to love you, to look up to you, to reverence and admire you, and to defend your opinions as my own.”
In his final years, he composed a treatise against the Pelagians with fewer insults and greater respect for the heretics. Ironically, Pelagius’ champions in Palestine torched his monastery. Jerome was quite upset, but in truth, he probably had it coming. You might call it just punishment for prior sins like this, to Onasus in 384, “Hide your big nose, and keep your mouth shut: then you’ll appear handsome and an excellent speaker!”
If Jerome could become a saint...there is hope for all of us!
