Justin McCLAIN, editor. The Quotable Saint Jerome. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2020. pp. 175. $19.95 ISBN 978-0813233215. Also available as an eBook ISBN 9780813233215. Reviewed by James K. HANNA, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

Published in honor of the 1600th anniversary of his life, The Quotable Saint Jerome includes several hundred excerpts from the considerable work of this priest and doctor of the Church who flourished on the cusp of the fifth century. The editor, himself an author of two previously published books, Called to Teach (Ave Maria Press, 2016)and Called to Pray (Ave Maria Press, 2018), has selected the wide-ranging quotes from various commentaries, homilies, apologetic missives, and dialogues; all previously appearing in the publisher’s “The Fathers of the Church” (FOTC) series. Each quote is accompanied by the volume number of the FOTC where originally published; a helpful aid for those who wish to dig deeper.

The second-best strength of this book (The first? Jerome, of course! Need we say more?) is its thematic organization. Jerome is a great leader, and great leaders are great teachers, and great teachers teach on a range of topics. The topical index includes thirty-three themes from Angels to Sin to Saintliness and Virtue.

Reprinting short passages from other texts is often not very satisfying but the 855 excerpts touch every aspect of the Christian way of life and are arranged in a manner that has several advantages. Scanning the thirteen pages that form the Table of Contents one readily sees how the organization of quotes may inspire individual meditation, stimulate group discussion, or lead to a wider reading of Scripture; indeed, readers will want to keep a Bible at hand. Examples abound, but to provide one found under the Mercy and Compassion section where Jerome addresses truth:

427. Indeed, at first, when I was a sinner, I did not dare to approach truth; but when I obtained mercy, then, fearlessly, with a brave heart, I proclaimed it. Homilies son the Psalms: Second Series, Homily 66, Psalm 88 (89) (FOTC 57).

For many, this book may be a first encounter with Jerome, known to them simply as the priest who translated the Bible into Latin; they will not be disappointed; nor will the reader more familiar with Jerome’s life, a life of prayer and pilgrimage peppered with monasteries, hermitages, and crusades against heresies.

At best this collection will stimulate the reader to dig deeper, to go further into Scripture, scour commentaries, or research the life of Jerome and other early witnesses to the faith.
At a minimum the reader will find Jerome as a teacher in the best sense of the word; more didactic than perhaps expected and less acerbic than the reputation that precedes him, though readers seeking this brand of wit will not be disappointed! As Jerome himself says (no. 695): “It is not my desire to reclaim rhetoric, but to penetrate the meaning of Holy Writ.”

In his forward to this collection Scott Hahn writes “If we truly want to pursue sanctity … after the fashion of Jerome, we need to encounter him as a man in full, a man with heroic virtues and achievements, a man in love with Jesus Christ.” Readers will find such an encounter in this book, and owners of the text will find themselves referring to it often; it will not gather dust on a shelf.