Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (13: 47-52) in which Jesus says, ‘the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast out into the sea that drags in a haul of all kinds of fish’. Afterwards Fr Paul shares a little about St Jerome, whose memorial we celebrate today.

Fr Paul says Jerome was born in Strido, in Dalmatia in the year 340. He studied in Rome and was baptized there. He was attracted by the ascetic life and travelled to the East, where he was unwillingly ordained a priest. He was recalled to Rome to act as secretary to Pope Damasus, but on the Pope’s death he returned to the East, to Bethlehem, where with the aid of St Paula and others he founded a monastery, a hospice, and a school, and settled down to the most important work of his life, the translation of the Bible into Latin, a translation which, with some revisions, is still in use today.

He wrote many works of his own, including letters and commentaries on Holy Scripture. He helped refugees and those in need. He died at Bethlehem in 420 aged 80.

So today, Fr Paul says we remember him and ask, ‘St Jerome…Pray for us!’