Today’s Readings – Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor

Jerome was born about 341 AD at Strido in Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia). He was first educated by his father and then was taught by the grammarian Donatus in Rome. His study of rhetoric is apparent in the quality of his later writing. Prior to his baptism just before 366 AD, he liked to visit the churches and catacombs of Rome. He also travelled in Gaul, his native Dalmatia, and Italy.

It was at Trier in Aquileia, he decided to become a monk with some good friends. But, after a quarrel, arising from some real or supposed scandal, Jerome left for Palestine. In 374 AD, he was in Antioch in Syria where two of his companions died and Jerome himself became seriously ill. It was during his sickness that he had a dream in which he saw God condemning him for being a Ciceronian rather than a Ch … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels

There are few explicit references to angels in the earlier books of the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament). The word ‘angel’ comes from the Greek angelos and simply means a ‘messenger’.

They begin to appear in the later books, for instance, in the Book of Daniel and seem to date f … Continue