Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus was born in Stridon, on the border of Pannonia and Dalmatia. Educated in Rome under the famous grammarian Donatus, he travelled widely, was baptised at about age twenty, and after a sojourn in the desert of Chalcis (where he learned Hebrew from a converted Jew) was ordained at Antioch.
Brought to Rome by Pope Damasus, he served as secretary and was entrusted with the great work of his life: producing a single authoritative Latin translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek. After Damasus's death he settled with a group of Roman noblewomen disciples (including St. Paula and her daughter Eustochium) at Bethlehem, where he lived in a cave next to the Grotto of the Nativity for the rest of his life — over thirty years of relentless labour.
The Vulgate — his translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew (the first major Latin translation directly from the Hebrew, not the Septuagint) and his revision of the Latin New Testament — became, after slow acceptance, the Bible of the Western Church for over a thousand years. It was declared the official Latin Bible by the Council of Trent in 1546. He also wrote vast commentaries on the prophets and Gospels, fierce polemics against heretics, and the foundational Latin work on celibate life — and he was famously irascible, scolding bishops and friends alike.