Jerome

Jerome names himself as the son of Eusebius, from the town of Stridon on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia (Jerome, On Illustrious Men 135). He came to Rome with two eastern bishops, helped its bishop Damasus I with his correspondence, and at his request revised the Latin Gospels against the Greek (Jerome, Letter 127.7) (Jerome, Letter 123.10) (Jerome, Preface to the Four Gospels). After Damasus died he left for the East (Jerome, Letter 45.3, 45.6) and settled at Bethlehem with Paula, where he translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew (Jerome, Letter 71.5). See Jerome Translates the Latin Vulgate.

He held that the books absent from the Hebrew canon are read in church but are not canonical (Jerome, Preface to Samuel and Kings) (Jerome, Preface to the books of Solomon), a view that differed from that of the African councils of his day (see African Councils List the Books of Scripture). His letters record how the news of the fall of Rome reached Bethlehem (Jerome, Letter 127.12). Prosper’s chronicle dates his death to 30 September 420 (Prosper, Chronicle 1274 (AD 420)).