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St Jerome, Letter to Heliodorus 1 Primary Source 1.3 and 5.1 LETTER TO HELIODORUS FROM ST JEROME1 Saint Jerome (c. 347–420 A.D.) was an extraordinarily learned Christian priest, theologian, and historian in the later years of the Roman Empire. The author of extensive writings, he is best remembered for his translation of the Bible into Latin, the Vulgate, and for his numerous Biblical commentaries. He also corresponded widely on topics ranging from theology to personal matters. Below is a well-known letter by Jerome to his friend Heliodorus of Altino (d. c. 390 A.D.), the bishop of Altinum (a small town in Veneto, Italy, also known as Altino) and a companion during Jerome’s extensive journey to the Holy Land. The letter is intended to console his friend over the death of his nephew, Nepotian. It offers three distinct forms of consolation. In the first part, Jerome tells his friend that as a Christian, he must rise above the misfortunes of this life, and contrasts the despair surrounding death in Paganism with the optimistic afterlife of Christianity. The second part, which has been omitted, consists of kind words in praise of Nepotian. The last section is a description of the deteriorating state of the Roman Empire, from which Jerome considered Nepotian blessed to have been removed. Together, the first and final sections provide insight into Jerome’s time. His contrast between paganism and Christianity reflects how the era still witnessed a struggle between the two worldviews, though clearly a major transition was then occurring toward Christianity. He also describes the decline of the Roman Empire and destruction of Rome by barbarian invaders. For the full text online, as well as other letters by St Jerome, click here. LETTER XL 1. Small wits cannot grapple large themes but venturing beyond their strength fail in the very attempt; and, the greater a subject is, the more completely is he overwhelmed who cannot find words to unfold its grandeur. Nepotian who was mine and yours and ours—or rather who was Christ’s and because Christ’s all the more ours—has forsaken us his elders so that we are smitten with pangs of regret and overcome with a grief which is past bearing. We supposed him our heir, yet now his corpse is all that is ours. For whom shall my intellect now labour? Whom shall my poor letters desire to please? Where is he, the impeller of my work, whose voice was sweeter than a swan’s last song? My mind is dazed, my hand trembles, a mist covers my eyes, stammering seizes my tongue. Whatever my words, they seem as good as unspoken seeing that he no longer hears them. My very pen seems to feel his loss, my very wax tablet looks dull and sad; the one is covered with rust, the other with mould. As often as I try to express myself in words and to scatter the flowers of this encomium2 upon his tomb, my eyes fill with tears, my grief returns, and I can think of nothing but his death. It was a custom in former days for children over the dead bodies of their parents publicly to proclaim their praises and (as when pathetic songs are sung) to draw tears from the eyes and sighs from the breasts of those who heard them. But in our 1 St. Jerome, The Principal Works of St. Jerome, trans. W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis & W.G. Martley, 6 vols. (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1892), 6:306–11, 318–21. 2 A speech or writing in praise of someone or something. 2 case, behold, the order of things is changed: to deal us this blow nature has forfeited her rights. For the respect which the young man should have paid to his elders, we his elders are paying to him. 2. What shall I do then? Shall I join my tears to yours? The apostle forbids me for he speaks of dead Christians as “them which are asleep.”3 So too in the gospel the Lord says, “the damsel is not dead but sleepeth,” and Lazarus4 when he is raised from the dead is said to have been asleep. No, I will be glad and rejoice that “speedily he was taken away lest that wickedness should alter his understanding” for “his soul pleased the Lord.” But though I am loth to give way and combat my feelings, tears flow down my cheeks, and in spite of the teachings of virtue and the hope of the resurrection a passion of regret crushes my too yielding mind. O death that dividest brothers knit together in love, how cruel, how ruthless thou art so to sunder them! “The Lord hath fetched a burning wind that cometh up from the wilderness: which hath dried thy veins and hath made thy well spring desolate.” Thou didst swallow up our Jonah,5 but even in thy belly He still lived. Thou didst carry Him as one dead, that the world’s storm might be stilled and our Nineveh saved by His preaching. He, yes He, conquered thee, He slew thee, that fugitive prophet who left His home, gave up His inheritance and surrendered his dear life into the hands of those who sought it. He it was who of old threatened thee in Hosea: “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction.” By His death thou art dead; by His death we live. Thou hast swallowed up and thou art swallowed up. Whilst thou art smitten with a longing for the body assumed by Him, and whilst thy greedy jaws fancy it a prey, thy inward parts are wounded with hooked fangs. 3. To Thee, O Saviour Christ, do we Thy creatures offer thanks that, when Thou wast slain, Thou didst slay our mighty adversary. Before Thy coming was there any being more miserable than man who cowering at the dread prospect of eternal death did but receive life that he might perish! For “death reigned from Adam6 to Moses7 even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” If Abraham,8 Isaac,9 and Jacob10 be in hell, who can be in the kingdom of heaven? If Thy friends—even those who had not sinned themselves—were yet for the sins of another liable to the punishment of offending Adam, what must we think of those who have said in their hearts “There is no God;” who “are corrupt and abominable” in their self-will, and of whom it is said “they are gone out of the way, they are become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one”? Even if Lazarus is seen in Abraham’s bosom and in a place of refreshment, still the lower regions cannot be compared with the kingdom of heaven. Before Christ’s coming Abraham is in the lower regions: after Christ’s coming the robber is in paradise. And 3 Most of the quotations sprinkled throughout the letter are taken from the Bible. For complete citations, view the scholarly edition here. 4 Lazarus of Bethany rose from the dead after four days thanks to the working of Jesus Christ, according to the Gospel of John. 5 Jonah was a prophet of the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament famous for being swallowed by a whale. 6 The first man, according to the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament in Christianity. 7 Moses is said to have led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promise Land and obtained the Ten Commandments from God. 8 Abraham is a central figure in the religious texts of the Abrahamic religions: Judaism. Christianity, and Islam. 9 Isaac was the only son of Abraham and his wife Sarah, the father of Jacob and Esau, and one of the three patriarchs of the Israel, according to the Hebrew Bible and the Quran. 10 Jacob was the third patriarch of the Israelites and ancestor of the tribes of Israel named for his descendants. 3 therefore at His rising again “many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and were seen in the heavenly Jerusalem.” Then was fulfilled the saying: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” John the Baptist11 cries in the desert: “repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For “from the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force.” The flaming sword that keeps the way of paradise and the cherubim12 that are stationed at its doors are alike quenched and unloosed by the blood of Christ. It is not surprising that this should be promised us in the resurrection: for as many of us as living in the flesh do not live after the flesh, have our citizenship in heaven, and while we are still here on earth we are told that “the kingdom of heaven is within us.” 4. Moreover before the resurrection of Christ God was “known in Judah”13 only and “His name was great in Israel” alone. And they who knew Him were despite their knowledge dragged down to hell. Where in those days were the inhabitants of the globe from India to Britain, from the frozen zone of the North to the burning heat of the Atlantic ocean? Where were the countless peoples of the world? Where the great multitudes? Unlike in tongue, unlike in dress and arms?14 They were crushed like fishes and locusts, like flies and gnats. For apart from knowledge of his Creator every man is but a brute.
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