One of the early Christian leaders and
scholars known as the Fathers of the Church.
His Latin versions of the Old and New
Testaments form the basis of the Roman
Catholic Vulgate. He is usually depicted with
a lion. Feast day 30 Sept. Born in Strido,
Italy, he was baptized at Rome in 360, and
subsequently travelled in Gaul, Anatolia, and
Syria. Summoned to Rome as adviser to Pope
Damasus, he revised the Latin translation of
the New Testament and the Latin psalter. On
the death of Damasus in 384 he travelled to
the east and settled in Bethlehem, where he
translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into
Latin.