In celebration of the Feast Day of the great Saint Jerome, we briefly examine how Jerome defended the Ancient faith passed down to him. In perhaps his most famous quote ever elicited, Jerome notes how the Christian world no longer resembled the one he grew up in. Christianity had been hijacked by the Arians, introducing their novel theology about Christ and sending the Church into disarray.
The incredible Patristic Pillar would note how the Church was in great danger, likening it to a ship on a treacherous course. The Church founded by Jesus Christ was under great attack, and Saint Jerome saw the attack on many levels. He would also note how the essential denial of the Incarnation was an attack on the Resurrection of Christ, noting how the great Saint Paul emphasized these key doctrines in connection with the very Resurrection of the second person of the Trinity.
Saint Jerome was no stranger to controversy in the Early Church, at times clearly going toe to toe with the fiery Saint Augustine, at other times attempting to intellectually best Saint Ambrose. Jerome was one of the brightest and most ardent defenders of the Catholic faith. We find his theology shining the brightest during his powerful defense of the Deity of Christ. Happy Feast Day of this great Doctor of the Church!
-Albrecht