The criticisms that one Italian Dominican theologian made of the Bible commentaries of another, and then on that critic's further reflections on the problems of Biblical exegesis and translation. One episode in the controversy over the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin at Siena was an appeal to Rome against the decisions of Catharinus's provincial superiors. The arbiter in the case was Cajetan, who found against him. No doubt Catharinus was disgruntled by this verdict. There is undoubtedly a connection between this case and the fact that almost immediately afterwards he began writing a critique of the commentaries on the Bible on which Cajetan had been engaged since 1524. Cajetan's general indifference to the authority of the Fathers and Doctors of the church, his respect for the authority of Jerome, most obvious by the inclusion of Jerome's Prefaces to the New Testament in the text of the commentaries, is prima facie somewhat surprising.