a man of considerable travel before his settlement for good at
the monastery in Bethlehem. Deeply versed in both sacred
and profane literature, he was himself a fluent writer, a
superb Latin stylist, and he has preserved for us vivid descrip-
tions of personalities and events of his day, of, for example,
monastic life, doctrinal dispute, social custom. The corre-
spondence which has survived is a veritable treasure-trove for
the hagiographer, but also for the theologian, the scriptural
scholar, the historian of the period.

Not all of the letters are of equal interest or importance.
Some are only brief notes, running but a few lines; others
amount to pamphlet-length tracts. This one will be little
more than a few complaining words from Jerome taking a
correspondent to task for not writing; that one will be an
exegetical treatise; another will be a long exhortation to the
ascetic life; another still will amount to a funeral oration on
a departed soul; this one will be an essay on virginity; that
one will impart advice on the rearing of children. Jerome's
addressees will range from contemporary luminaries such as
the Pope in Rome and the illustrious Augustine of Hippo all
the way down to persons unknown to history except for the
fact that Jerome wrote to them.

How extensive St. Jerome's total correspondence may have
been, we can only guess. But we must make our estimate a
high one, judging from what has survived and bearing in
mind the extraordinary reputation he had, the number of
persons who sought his advice and knowledge, the contro-
versies in which he was involved, the caustic criticism he
attracted as well as ardent admiration. We know that he was
an indefatigable writer, and he himself asserts at one point
that he does not know how many letters there had been to
Paula and Eustochium "because they are written every day." ¹

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