SEPTEMBER 30 -- today's saints

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Jmj

Today, September 30, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Jerome (Dalmatian [modern Croatian], convert at 18, hermit priest in Syria and Bethlehem, prolific writer, secretary to pope, translated Bible into Latin [Vulgate] over 30 years, Doctor and Father of the Church, d. 419)
St. Gregory the Illuminator (Armenian, bishop, d. 332)
St. Honoratus of Canterbury (Italian, Benedictine monk, missionary, Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 653)
Sts. Tancred, Torthred, and Tova (Danish, hermits, martyred in 870)

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron saint -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints and want to find out more about him, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John


-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 30, 2001

Answers

St. Jerome, writing in 406 A.D., on one aspect of the Communion of Saints that has often been attacked here by our separated brethren:
"You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard. ... But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs?"
(From "Against Vigilantius")
[Rumor is that St. Jerome was a curmudgeonly polemicist who might have been banned from this forum (;-D)]

-- (_@_._), September 30, 2001.

John,

Perhaps not banned but asked to respectfully dispute any statements he found untrue or ambiguous.

P.S. Thank you for leading me to learn a new word (polemic) today.

God Bless.

-- Glenn (glenn@excite.com), October 01, 2001.


[Here are some September 30 saints to be added to those listed in the opening message:]

St. Enghenedl (Welsh, 7th century)
St. Laurus (Welsh, abbot in France, 7th century)
St. Leopardus (slave, martyred in Rome in 362)
St. Midan (Welsh, missionary, d. 610)
Sts. Ursus and Victor (martyred in Egypt in 286)

JFG

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 30, 2002.


St Jerome was one mean, ornery SOB (and I don't mean a dyslexic Benedictine). Although one would be hard pressed to consider him "perfect", he is also considered a saint. I have a framed color- printed version of a famous El Greco painting of St. Jerome, anachronistically dressed in cardinal's robes, on the wall of my bedroom.

As an amateur student of the Bible I also am interested in the history of interpretation and interpreters. I have been attracted and repulsed by St. Jerome (whose feast day is at the end of this month, September 30th ) who probably lived from 331-420 (there is some uncertainly on the date of his birth). Undoubtedly the best scripture scholar of his time he is considered one of the Doctors of the Church. He is best known for his work on the Latin Vulgate. He also had the famous saying from the prologue of his commentary on Isaiah, included in the Vatican II Constitution on Divine Revelation (DEI VERBUM), that "Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ".

Despite his brilliance and faith, he had a number of troublesome features including being quite cantankerous, vicious, and abusive to those who disagreed with him. Unless you were in his [current] circle of intimate friends and students, you could be subject to some nasty abuse. Even former friends were susceptible.

One of my scripture professors once jokingly(?) commented that Jerome being "canonized" proves that all scripture exegetes must automatically get to heaven, despite anything else. I remembered from reading in the history of the transmission of the biblical text that Jerome had referred to some opponents who criticized some of his work in correcting the Old Latin Gospels into the Vulgate as "two-legged asses".

I took from one of my bookshelves the "standard" English book on Jerome which I had read years ago: J.N.D. Kelly, JEROME: HIS LIFE, WRITINGS AND CONTROVERSIES (New York: Harper+Row, 1975). Just skimming quickly through it I found numerous examples of Jerome's abusive language in addition to the above mentioned "two-legged asses".

A former close friend, Rufinus, with whom Jerome had had a falling-out was called "the Scorpion", "the many-headed sea serpent", and the "Grunting Pig". Pelagius, a British monk, with whom Jerome and Augustine (and many others) had strong disagreements on theological views was called "a dolt weighed down with Scots porridge". I could have found more examples even in Kelly's book but these suffice to show that Jerome could be quite nasty at times.

Although this abusive side of the saint may not be the side to emulate, perhaps St. Jerome could be adopted as one of the patron saints of this list since we, unfortunately, follow his ancient example in our language too often.

-- Edward Pothier (EdwardPothier@aol.com), September 30, 2002.


Edward,

Thank you for that information. I don't feel so bad now for the way I act sometimes. :-)

God bless you

David

-- David (David@excite.com), October 01, 2002.



Jmj

On September 30, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints and blesseds whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Jerome of Strido (Dalmatian [from modern Croatia or Bosnia], convert at 18, hermit priest in Syria and Bethlehem, prolific writer, secretary to pope, translated Bible into Latin [Vulgate] over 30 years, Doctor and Father of the Church, d. 419)

St. Enghenedl (Welsh, 7th century)
Bl. Frederick Albert of Turin [Federico] (Italian, priest, founded Congregation of the Vincentian Sisters of Mary Immaculate [Albertines], died at age 56 in 1876 [beatified 1984])
St. Gregory the Illuminator of Ashtishat (Armenian, bishop, d. 332)
St. Honoratus of Canterbury (Italian, Benedictine monk, missionary, Archbishop of Canterbury, d. 653)
St. Laurus of Brittany (Welsh, abbot in France, 7th century)
St. Leopardus (slave, martyred in Rome in 362)
St. Midan of Anglesey (Welsh, missionary, d. 610)
St. Simon of Crépy (French, nobleman, monk, died in Rome at age 36 in 1082)
Sts. Tancred, Torthred, and Tova, of Thorney (Danish, hermits, martyred in 870)
Sts. Ursus and Victor (soldiers, martyred in Egypt in 286)

[St. Jerome, writing in 406 A.D., on one aspect of the Communion of Saints that has been attacked by some of our separated brethren:]
"You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard. ... But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs?" ----- (From "Against Vigilantius")

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints or blesseds and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 30, 2003.


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