I have a copy of the picture at the left hanging in the Rectory Chapel. It is by the famous painter Caravaggio from 1605-06. Caravaggio is one of my favorite painter with his famous use of chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro comes from the Italian words chiaro, meaning “light” and curo, meaning “dark” It is an artistic technique that uses light and dark contrasts to create the illusion of light from a specific source shining on objects and figures in a painting or drawing. Caravaggio is a master of light and darkness in his many famous paintings.
When I purchased the print, I went to a local shop to have it framed. I was having 2 other famous Caravaggio prints framed at the same time – the Crucifixion of Saint Peter and the Conversion of St Paul framed. I spent a little time with the attendant picking out frames and mats to match the prints for the spaces they were going to be displayed. Towards the end of the working with the attendant, she finally looked at me and said, “I know this is St Paul. I think this is supposed to be St Peter. I’m not Catholic (she knew I was a priest), so who is this somewhat naked guys with the skull?” I smiled. I knew she was a Protestant and greatly devoted to the Scriptures, so the momentary irony was not lost on me as it was on her. The image is of St Jerome (347ad – 420ad), Bishop & Doctor of the Church, whose feast day is September 30th. I note the irony because this image is often cited as depicting St Jerome in the arduous task of translating and compiling the Latin Vulgate. The Vulgate was the first copy of the Scriptures in the (then) native language of the people. This is notworthy because it was 11 centuries before Luther and others started their radical work of translating the Scriptures ‘into the language of the people.’. It is also noteworthy because it was among the first (if not the first) collection of the Scriptures in one volume and in one consistent language (translated faithfully from both Hebrew & Greek). Jerome undertook this work at the direct request of Pope Damasus I, whose secretary and assistant he was for several years. We have so many copies of the Bible around us in this age of plenty, that we can sometimes forget that they were not collected, collated, and canonized as the Word of God for several centuries. I am not saying the Church defined what was the Word of God. Rather, the Church, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit and through the authorative Apostolic & Petrine ministry, recognized and declared for the wellbeing of the faithful what God had definitively given to us as the Word of God. This was first done at the Council of Rome in 382ad which was presided over by none other than Pope Damasus I. This Council promulgated the 73-book Scriptural Canon that we still hold to today. (Most Protestants later dropped 7 Old Testament books, and so sadly, the Protestant & Catholic Old Testaments are not the same. We do agree on the New Testament texts.)
I know that there has been much important and needed emphasis the last several months & years on the Eucharist as the Body & Blood, Soul & Divinity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is truly, really, sacramentally present in the Eucharist. Jesus is the Word-made-Flesh. Yet, it is also essential that we grow in our knowledge, love, and reverence for Jesus the Word-in-the-word of the Scriptures. St Jerome famously stated, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” He spent his last several years in Bethlehem as a monk in prayer of the Mass and meditation upon the Scriptures. And perhaps, those latter days were just as important, if not more so, than all his scholarly works. Even while, we are immensely grateful for his intellect & labor in translating the Scriptures for the people to share.
St Jerome is depicted in the task of translation. He is bringing the Light forth for others from the darkness of ignorance. Chiaroscuro is a painting technique. But Jerome shows by his life, the power of regular, reflecting upon Scriptures to bring light to our lives from the darkness around us. As we move into the fall and things naturally get darker, it’s worth asking ourselves: What do we look for? Where do we see the light? Christ in the Scriptures and Eucharist will be that Light!
Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God.
Holy Family, Focused on the Eucharistic Heart of Christ, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries