A picture of St. Pammachius (c 409), builder of the Church of Saints John and Paul in Rome, is on the right side of the church towards the altar. He was a friend and patron of St. Jerome (342-420) . Jerome had strong connections with this church and influential Christians like Pammachius, Paula and Fabiola who lived on the Celian Hill.
Before the church was built around 400, Celian Christians met in the house of Pammachius, a Roman senator.The house was owned before him by his father, Byzantus. It was one of the 25 original house churches in Rome. .
Jerome and Pammachius (+c 409 ) studied in Rome together. Pammachius likely introduced Jerome to influential people on the Celian Hill, like Paula and Fabiola and Pope Damasus. Paula and her daughter Eutochium later accompanied and supported Jerome in the Holy Land. Pammachius married another of Paula’s daughters, Paulina. They had no children.
Was Pammachius with his friend Jerome on his visits to the catacombs where Christian martyrs made Jerome question the strength of his own faith? Was he instrumental in bringing his friend to be baptized at St. Peter’s on the Vatican? Jerome recalls renewing his baptism at the fount there after Easter.
Certainly Pammachius shared Jerome’s interest in the scriptures and the religious questions of the day. Jerome later dedicated many of his scriptural commentaries to him. Besides corresponding with Jerome, Pammachius corresponded with Augustine and Paulinus of Nola, important church figures then. He was a leader of the fervent group of prominent Roman Christians, many of them women, who promoted Jerome’s new scriptural translations and commentaries.
After his wife Paulina died in 397 Pammachius began leading a religious life, probably in the style described in the Life of Anthony, written by Athanasius. The bishop of Alexandria and other eastern holy men were visitors to Rome and admired by Christians on the Celian Hill as spiritual teachers.
Anthony heard the scriptures as if they were written for him alone. He gave away all that he had to the poor to follow Jesus. Pammachius pursued a similar path. He and Fabiola, a Christian from the Celian Hill, built a hospice for the poor and the sick near the Tiber River. Pammachius worked vigilantly for the interests of the church. He built the Church of Saints John and Paul.
Why did Pammachius build the Church of Saints John and Paul on the western side of the Celian Hill facing the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, center of Roman power? The usual answer it that it honors the relics of the two soldier saints, John and Paul, who were reportedly martyred there.
Certainly that was so, but was his purpose limited to that? Perhaps a monument to his wife Paolina, pictured in the portrait that hangs in the church?
An added suggestion is that Pammachius’ church is an outreach to the hard core of Romans still invested in the traditional Roman religion, whom Augustine also addressed in his work “The City of God”. After Constantine freed Christianity in 312 AD, Christians from the Celian must have been part of an effort to win over to Christianity the powerful Roman majority that remained distant and sometimes resentful of the new faith. The Church of Saints John and Paul must have been part of an effort of Christian evangelization.
Before 312 AD, Christians promoted their faith cautiously; now they presented it boldly, using the Christian scriptures freshly translated by St. Jerome, along with his learned commentaries. The new faith, St. Augustine argued in his City of God, far from causing the empire to fall, offered it a powerful new wisdom it needed. Roman Christians confidently believed they had something to say to their city and made their appeal from splendid new churches, like the Church of Saints John and Paul.
The feast of St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar, is a good time to look at the history of the bible itself. Where does it come from? I happen to be staying today in a place Jerome knew well, the Celian Hill, in Rome.
Our Christian bible comes from two closely related religious traditions: Judaism and Christianity. The first books of any Christian bible come from the Jews, the Jewish scriptures. The rest of the writings found in a Christian bible– gospels, letters– come from Christian writers.
It’s good to remember that before printing was invented in the 15th century, the various writings of the bible were copied on papyri and parchment, materials too limited at first to be bound together in one book. “When you come,” Paul writes to Titus, “bring the cloak I left with Carpus, the papyrus rolls and especially the parchment.” ( Titus 4:13)
Paul does not have a complete bible, but only individual writings. Luke’s Gospel describes Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth taking a scroll of the Prophet Isaiah to read. Unrolling the scroll, he read a passage from Isaiah, probably in Aramaic or Hebrew, then he rolled back the scroll, handed it an attendant, and began to teach. (Like 4:16-30) Something like this:
Ancient scroll Byzantine Museum Wiki Commons
That’s how the scriptures were read in early Christian liturgies, from papyri and parchment copies of individual Christian gospels and letters and various books from the Jewish scriptures.
The first Christians read the books of the Old and New Testament in Greek, the language of the Mediterranean world. Only in the 2nd century did Latin versions of the scriptures begin to appear in Roman North Africa as people began speaking Latin instead of Greek. Versions in other languages, like Syriac, Coptic and Armenian, also appeared as Christianity spread through the world.. Jerome was responsible for the Latin translation.
Codexes or books of the complete Christian Bible appear only towards the 4th century, as printing methods evolved. Only towards the 9th century did complete copies of the Bible become commonplace in the latin Christian world. These complete “books” of scripture were mainly located in a church; some copies might circulate among the wealthy.
Until the 9th century copies of the scriptures were found in mostly in churches, monasteries, and church libraries of western and eastern Christianity . Complete copies of the scriptures were marked for use in the liturgies and feasts of the church. Often the scriptures appeared in lectionaries specifically designed for use in the liturgy. The ordinary Christian heard the Word of God proclaimed and then commented on in a church.
Gospel of Mark. Vulgate
St. Jerome began his important translation of the scriptures from Greek and Hebrew into latin and wrote his commentaries from 382 till his death in 420. His translations, known as the vulgate, were sponsored by friends in Rome, especially Pope Damasus, who looked for a fresh translation of the various latin versions currently in use in the western church.
The Roman church then was experiencing a spiritual revival, and Roman Christians, especially women from the wealthy families on the Caelian and Aventine hills, found Jerome writings and translations from the original Greek and Hebrew inspiring. Like all languages, latin was a developing language and Jerome produced the scriptures in a language they appreciated. Some of his wealthy friends produced copies of his translations and commentaries, which they circulated among themselves.
The Roman senator, Pammachius, whom Jerome called “ my old fellow-learner, companion and friend”, was one of the advocates of the new translations. Like other Roman Christians, he hoped to convert the followers of Rome’s traditional religion through the wisdom of the scriptures. What better resource to win them over than fresh translations of the Christian scriptures from the original Greek and Hebrew and commentaries of a brilliant scholar like Jerome?
Pammachius built an impressive basilica on the Caelian Hill in sight of the Roman Forum, Saints John and Paul. Until then, no Christian church was built in this area in deference to the sensibilities of Rome’s traditional religion firmly established in the temples and monuments of the forum.
Saints John and Paul was the first Christian church to be built in this sensitive area, according to Richard Krautheimer, an expert on Rome’s early Christian churches. The church not only honored two Roman Christian martyrs but it brought the Christian message to the spiritual heart of Rome, the Roman Forum.
Gutenberg Bible. New York Public Library. Wiki commons
Jerome’s latin translations of the scriptures, the vulgate, remained the scriptures western Christians read until the printing press revolutionized communication in the western world in the 15th century. The Gutenberg Bible, an edition of the latin vulgate printed in the 1450s, ushered in the mass production of bibles. No longer for a few, the bible became available for all.
The Protestant Reformation benefitted especially from new versions of the scriptures quickly produced in the languages of western Europe. The Catholic Church reacted defensively, fearing that the faithful, uninstructed in the scriptures, would question the traditional teachings of faith. Instead of a biblically grounded spirituality fostered by the flow of printed bibles, the church turned to a spirituality nourished by devotions.
Thanks to the work of Catholic biblical scholars in the last century following in the footsteps of St. Jerome, the Catholic Church recognized the importance of the scriptures at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965 ). In its Constitution on Divine Revelation the church professed her veneration for the scriptures “just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since, especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body.”
The scriptures are “together with sacred tradition, the supreme rule of faith… Therefore, like the Christian religion itself, all the preaching of the Church must be nourished and regulated by Sacred Scripture.” They are “the food of the soul, the pure and everlasting source of spiritual life.” (DV 21)
“Easy access to Sacred Scripture should be provided for all the Christian faithful. That is why the Church from the very beginning accepted as her own that very ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament which is called the septuagint; and she has always given a place of honor to other Eastern translations and Latin ones especially the Latin translation known as the vulgate. But since the word of God should be accessible at all times, the Church by her authority and with maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages, especially from the original texts of the sacred books. And should the opportunity arise and the Church authorities approve, if these translations are produced in cooperation with the separated brethren as well, all Christians will be able to use them. “ (DV 22)
The council also decreed that a treasure of scripture be available in the liturgy of the church.
St. Jerome and later scripture scholars were recognized at the Second Vatican Council, but the task of creating a biblical spirituality in the Catholic Church remains to be done. For Jerome it was not an easy task. His letters reveal that in his day critics strongly questioned his scholarly efforts. Even prominent teachers like St. Augustine were not altogether in favor of Jerome’s new translations, but favored versions they were used to.
Fostering a biblical spirituality today is not an easy task. St. Jerome, pray for us.
For a history of the Bible, see the Bible: A Global History, by Bruce Gordon, , Basic Books, New York 2024
St. Jerome, whose feast is September 30, was a scripture scholar who helped western Christians understand the Bible better by his translations from the Greek and Hebrew. “Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ,” he said.
Jerome was born in 340 in Stridon, a small town on the eastern Adriatic coast, and received an early education in Rome where he was baptized in 360 by Pope Liberius.
Brilliant and eager for knowledge, Jerome traveled extensively. In Antioch in Syria he had a dream in which he saw himself rebuked by Christ for wasting his time on worldly knowledge. Moved by the dream, Jerome withdrew into the Syrian desert. There he said he was beset by temptations and “threw himself at the feet of Jesus, watering them with prayers and acts of penance.” In the picture above he’s praying to be delivered from temptation.
We usually think of penance as giving up things; Jerome reminds us it can also be taking on things.For penance Jerome threw himself into the study of scripture. He began by learning Hebrew from a Jewish teacher, which later helped him translate and comment on the Bible.
Ordained a priest, Jerome arrived in Constantinople about 380 where he studied the scriptures under St. Gregory of Nazianzen. Two years later, he returned to Rome and was given the monumental task by Pope Damasus of revising the latin translations of the Bible. Jerome’s translation, the Vulgate, along with his learned commentaries and sermons, sparked a flowering of spirituality in the western church. Jerome won a devoted following, especially among Rome’s prominent Christian women eager to understand the bible.
Jerome had a biting tongue and was quick to find enemies. Some in Rome resented his caustic criticism and abrasive style. Because of their opposition, he left Rome in 385 for the Holy Land where he established a community at Bethlehem near the cave where Christ was born to continue studying the scriptures. Besides Jewish scholars, he utilized the great Christian libraries at Jerusalem and nearby Caesarea Maritima. Friends from Rome joined him, among them the noblewoman Paula and her daughter Eustochia, who founded a monastic community of women in Bethlehem.
St. Catharine Church, Bethlehem. Remains of Jerome’s Monastery are under the church
Besides scripture studies, Jerome continued to engage in church controversies, sometimes harshly.
In 410 Alaric and his warriors sacked Rome. Jerome, shocked by the invasion, provided shelter for Roman Christians fleeing to the safety of the Holy Land. “I have put aside my studies to help them,” he wrote. “Now we must translate the words of scripture into deeds, and instead of speaking holy words we must do them.”
He died in Bethlehem in 420. His remains were taken to the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. A doctor and teacher of the church, he recognized in himsel need for God’s mercy. Jerome is an example that saints are not perfect.
Here are excerpts from his writings:
“Lord, show me your mercy and gladden my heart. I am like the man going to Jericho, wounded by robbers. Good Samaritan, come help me. I am like a sheep gone astray. Good Shepherd, come seek me and bring me home safe. May I dwell in your house all my days and praise you forever.”
“I interpret as I should, following the command of Christ: Search the Scriptures, and Seek and you shall find. Christ will not say to me what he said to the Jews: You erred, not knowing the Scriptures and not knowing the power of God. For if, as Paul says, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and if the man who does not know Scripture does not know the power and wisdom of God, then ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
Therefore, I will imitate the head of a household who brings out of his storehouse things both new and old, and says to his spouse in the Song of Songs: I have kept for you things new and old, my beloved. In this way permit me to explain Isaiah, showing that he was not only a prophet, but an evangelist and an apostle as well. For he says about himself and the other evangelists: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news, of those who announce peace.And God speaks to him as if he were an apostle: Whom shall I send, who will go to my people? And he answers: Here I am; send me.”
Let us glorify Christ In whatever sufferings are ours in this life.
O God, you yourself are both our crown and our shield: May we always follow only you and never depart from you!
Do not put your trust in your sword, or in your own strength; but rather, put your trust in the Lord!
Every day Christ stands at the door to our hearts, longing to enter. Let us open wide our hearts to him, then, that he might come in, and dwell with us always.
God can only speak peace to his people when they hope in him with all their hearts.
God protects us as a Father, and as a hen guarding her chicks, lest a hawk snatch them away.
The shield with which God protects us is spherical, for it keeps us safe on all sides.
All Creation serves God as God ordains: all in Heaven obeys, all on earth obeys, but it is only unhappy man who alone who disobeys.
Every day Christ is crucified in us, for we are crucified to the world. And so Christ is crucified in us.
Happy are those in whose hearts Christ rises from the dead daily. And he will rise in us every day, if we who are sinners will but repent.
Happy the soul in whom God is always enthroned!
Let us never trust in ourselves, but rather, let us always trust In the mercy of the Lord.
Greater by far are the wounds Inflicted by the tongue than those by the sword.
When we give to the poor, let us give thanks to Christ. More than the poor man gives thanks to us, for the poor unknowingly do us a great service. Almsgiving atones for sins.
Quotations selected by Brent Cruz, Confraternity of the Passion.
H.V. Morton in his classic “A Traveler in Rome” (NY,1958) called our monastery garden at Saints John and Paul “one of the unknown glories of Rome”. The Temple of Claudius stood here. This was once part of Nero’s gardens. Water was stored here for naval battles in the Colosseum nearby, animals for display in that great arena were kept here. It offers a glimpse of history.
Walking there this morning, it offered a glimpse into the Gospel of John we read today where Jesus tells Nathaniel, “a true child of Israel”,
“ I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things. Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
There are two chairs under the tree in this garden.. We never sit there alone.
We celebrate the feast of three archangels today, September 29th. St. Gregory the Great says of the angels: “There are many spirits in heaven, but only the spirits who deliver a message are called angels.” Archangels like Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, “are those who proclaim messages of supreme importance…And so it was that not merely an angel but the archangel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary. It was only fitting that the highest angel should come to announce the greatest of all messages.”
Their names, Gregory says, tell the service they perform. “Thus, Michael means “Who is like God”; Gabriel is “The Strength of God”; and Raphael is “God’s Remedy.
“Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what God does by his superior power…So too Gabriel, who is called God’s strength, was sent to Mary. He came to announce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers. Thus God’s strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers, mighty in battle. Raphael means, as I have said, God’s remedy, for when he touched Tobit’s eyes in order to cure him, he banished the darkness of his blindness. Thus, since he is to heal, he is rightly called God’s remedy.”
St. Paul of the Cross, the founder of the Passionists, dedicated his first foundation on Monte Argentario in Italy to St. Michael and he said the archangel preserved his community from harm. Paul was a Lombard. Historians say the Lombards believed the Saracens were stopped from invading Lombardy in the 6th century by Michael, which fostered devotion to the archangel afterwards.
In a world so convinced that human power is the only power, it’s comforting to have another level of power to look towards.
Our garden here in Rome was once part of Nero’s extensive gardens that surrounded his Golden Palace. It’s filled with majestic pines, the pines of Rome. They’re trees that beg for a musical tribute, and Respighi did it with his musical masterpiece.
I’ll add a small tribute of my own, from our garden today:
The opening Mass prayer for St. Vincent’s feast day describes succinctly what made him a great saint:
O God, for the relief of the poor
and the formation of the clergy
you endowed the priest St.Vincent De Paul
with apostolic virtues.
grant, that afire with the same spirit
we may love what he loved
and put into practice what he taught.
God gave Vincent de Paul grace to reach out to the poor and form the clergy. Both the poor and the clergy in France needed the grace of God.
Vincent as a young priest, met a Protestant once whom he invited to convert to Catholicism. The Protestant said:
“You told me, Monsieur, that the Church of Rome is led by the Holy Spirit, but I find that hard to believe because, on the one hand, we see Catholics in the countryside abandoned to pastors who are ignorant and given over to vice, with so little instruction in their duties that most of them hardly know what the Christian religion is. On the other, we see towns filled with priests and monks who are doing nothing; there are perhaps ten thousand of them in Paris, yet they leave the poor country people in this appalling state of ignorance in which they are lost. And you want to convince me that all this is being guided by the Holy Spirit! I’ll never believe it.”
That’s a picture of the French church in Vincent’s time. One reason for its sad condition was that the French crown appointed bishops and they, in turn, appointed men from important French families who supported them. Political considerations largely influenced church appointments.
As a result, the priesthood in France was badly off, priests had little education, some could hardly read or write. For financial support, they looked for benefices, usually found in the larger cities among rich families, where they could say Mass and celebrate the sacraments. As a young priest, Vincent himself was chaplain for a wealthy family in Paris.
The decision to become a priest was mostly a family’s decision, which might designate one of its sons as its “offering” to God. The priesthood became a way to get a son some education and some social standing. Vincent’s own family, who were peasants, were influenced by motives like these. For many the priesthood was a job and not a call.
What Vincent did was to appeal to priests, religious, and even bishops, to begin to look at their roles spiritually. They were called by God to a vocation, not a job or career, They had a sacred mission to follow Jesus Christ. Vincent, in fact, called the community he founded the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), because they were to go to those neglected. He encouraged, not only priests, but communities of women to care for the poor, without living the usual cloistered life of that time. Vincent’s network embraced laypeople too, who worked for those Jesus called “the least.”
Through the efforts of this saint communities of Daughters of Charity, Societies of St. Vincent de Paul, are found throughout the world today.
The following reading for Vincent’s feast captures his powerful message:
Although in his passion he almost lost the appearance of a man and was considered a fool by the Gentiles and a stumbling block by the Jews, Jesus showed them that his mission was to preach to the poor: He sent me to preach the good news to the poor. We also ought to have this same spirit and imitate Christ’s actions, that is, we must take care of the poor, console them, help them, support their cause.Even though the poor are often rough and unrefined, we must not judge them from external appearances nor from the mental gifts they seem to have received. On the contrary, if you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor.
Since Christ willed to be born poor, he chose for himself disciples who were poor. He made himself the servant of the poor and shared their poverty. He went so far as to say that he would consider every deed which either helps or harms the poor as done for or against himself. Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor. For when one person holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone who loves or serves the one he loves. That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the poor. So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to understand the poor and weak. We sympathise with them so fully that we can echo Paul’s words: I have become all things to all men. Therefore, we must try to be stirred by our neighbours’ worries and distress. We must beg God to pour into our hearts sentiments of pity and compassion and to fill them again and again with these dispositions.
It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. If a needy person requires medicine or other help during prayer time, do whatever has to be done with peace of mind. Offer the deed to God as your prayer. Do not become upset or feel guilty because you interrupted your prayer to serve the poor. God is not neglected if you leave him for such service. One of God’s works is merely interrupted so that another can be carried out. So when you leave prayer to serve some poor person, remember that this very service is performed for God. Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity. Since she is a noble mistress, we must do whatever she commands. With renewed devotion, then, we must serve the poor, especially outcasts and beggars. They have been given to us as our masters and patrons.”
I wasn’t expecting to see a Mary Garden in Rome, but there it was in our monastery garden of Saints John and Paul on the Celian Hill. The garden, originally belonging to the impious Emperor Nero, faces the Colosseum and the Roman Forum below. Now it’s a monastery garden.
Today, a statue of Mary rests on an ancient Roman capital, surrounded by pines and plants that must have grown here centuries ago. A blanket of Shepherd’s Purses, known for medicinal benefits, covers the earth she stands on. Mary looks out over the centuries, claiming this place for her Son.
Just below here from the edge of the garden, you can see long lines of tourists on guided tours wending their way through the Colosseum. I wish they could find some of the wisdom found in this small quiet place, a wisdom Mary found and offers to us.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
We remember Saints Cosmas and Damian September 26th. Tradition says the two brothers practiced medicine in Syria in the fourth century and were martyred during the reign of Diocletian. They gave their medical services freely to anyone in need, and so followed Jesus’ teaching, “Freely you have been given, freely give. “ (Matthew 10:8) Besides caring for bodily needs they prayed for those they cared for.
The brothers were honored widely from earliest times in the Christian churches of the east and west. In the 7th century mosaic in the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in the Roman Forum they’re shown as good and faithful physicians being presented to Christ holding their medicine boxes in their hands. A reward waits for them.They’re patrons of doctors, pharmacists, nurses, barbers.
Though there is no exact historical information about them, Cosmas and Damian are examples of holiness. Care for the sick and suffering were an important part of the ministry of Jesus, who often cured them and returned them to their families and communities. In his ministry, Jesus had special care for the sick and suffering. He often showed his concern in miraculous cures that restored them to their families and communities. Those who heal and care for the sick and suffering– whether doctors, nurses, people involved in medical research, caregivers of every kind– follow him in what they do.
Cosmas and Damian remind us health care is more than a job you may– or may not – get paid for. It’s sharing in the divine power to heal. “I was sick and you visited me,” Jesus says at judgment time. Health care is vital to every society and culture.
The scant historical evidence about Saints Cosmas and Damian is more than compensated by their early popularity in the churches of the east and west. Why were they and the churches built to honor them, like that in Rome, so popular?
The church of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Rome stands a few hundred yards away from the Roman Senate, replacing a basilica honoring one of the gods of Rome. It was built in the 6th century by Pope Felix II, a relative of Gregory the Great, at a time when Rome’s economy plunged because of barbarian invasions. Hard times often affect the poor and the sick most.
Was the church a reminder to Rome’s leaders nearby that health care is a basic human right to be prioritized and supported. I think so. Health care is still a burning issue today as we expand our military budgets and pull away from our care of the planet and its poor.
The Victor's Place 