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| statue of St Jerome in the courtyard of St. Catherine Church |
St Jerome (also known as Hieronymus, the Latin version of Jerome) spent
more than 36 years in the Holy Land. He was well-known for his ascetic
lifestyle and his passionate involvement in doctrinal controversies such as
one with Rufinus and another with the Pelagians.
At his feet is a skull, a symbol of the transience of human existence.
In the caves below the Church of the nativity, St. Jerome spent almost 30 years translating the Scriptures into Greek and Greek into Latin. His translation is known as the Vulgate. He started in 386 AD
Jerome died in 420 and was buried in one of the caves. His body was
subsequently moved to Constantinople and then to Rome, where his bones rest
today in the Basilica of
Santa Maria Maggiore.
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| chapel in St. Jerome's Cave |
The Chapel of the Holy Innocents. This is said to be
the burial place of infants killed by King Herod in his attempt to
eliminate the newborn “King of the Jews”.
