ABSTRACT
AMONG the leading representatives of Christian thought in the IVth century St Jerome had a special career.
At a time when high ecclesiastical positions already possessed influence and prestige, he was neither a Bishop as were St Hilary, St Augustine, or St Ambrose, nor an Archbishop, as was St Basil, nor a Patriarch, as was St John Chrysostom. It is truc hc might have been Pope but for the animosities he aroused. He himself tells us that from the date of his sojourn in Rome, from 382 to 385, the close intimacy which united him with Pope Damasus had marked him out in the eyes of almost everyone as his eventual successor. ". . . Tot£us in me Urbis studia consonabant. Omnium paene judicio dignus summo sacerdotio decernebar." 1 A cabal drove him from the Pontificate, and we can believe that he {lonsoled himself for this without difficulty since he was able to retain his prccious liberty. He accepted the priesthood on one express condition namely that of remaining a monk and free from any link with the life of the world.s We can see in him a very clear purpose to eliminate from his life anything that could intrude upon his complete independence and impair its fruitfulness.
