Bible Maker: Jerome

            The wind blew in from the sea in gusts. It would rain soon in Stridon. It would be good for the grapes. However, Eusebius was concerned about his wife who was about to give birth. He had prayed for a boy to carry on the family name. The family was well-enough off, with fairly large property holdings near the sea-coast town of Aquileia, a ten day trip northeast of Rome. Both parents were Christian and their three slave families took care of the estate. Wine-making was the estate’s chief product, but Eusebius wanted more for his future children than managing their large vineyard.

            As the afternoon rain began to fall, Miranda, the maidservant of the pregnant woman, came running through the courtyard shouting: “Venite, venite!” Eusebius and his servant Aurelius heard the cry, dropped the baskets they were repairing, and came to the bedchamber where Eusebius’s wife was groaning in pain. “Tempus nunc!” Eusebius exclaimed.

            The delivery of the newborn son was quick. The woman had been in labor since dawn. The father named his new son within the hour. Eusebius Hieronymus would be his name. Later, that night, as mother nursed her newborn, Eusebius brought his wife another woolen blanket and lay down on the bed to admire his first-born son by the flickering candlelight.

            Stridon was not far from a much larger town, Aquileia, which was founded as a Roman colony in 181 BC.  It became a great center of trade between northern and southern Europe, earning the name “Second Rome.” It was Aquileia that furnished the family the main distribution center for their wine. Aquileia was frequented often by Eusebius and his servants for supplies . . . the harvest baskets and the wooden barrels were all available in this populous seaport, known for its many varieties of cheeses, wines, and fish.

            Since it was approaching harvest season, Eusebius and Aurelius set out for Aquileia on a cold October morning, in need of extra glassware for what promised  to  be  a  bumper crop of grapes . . . and wine.

“Sir,” Aurelius asked, “What do you wish for your new son?”

            “I’ve been giving that some thought . . . and my wife and I have come to one conclusion  . . . Hieronymus will be given an excellent education. The school in our home town of Stridon is just not enough. I’m not very impressed with our teachers here . . . of course, it’s the same in all the small towns. Rote memorization . . . ‘One and one is two, two and two are four . . .’ and on it goes.”

            “But they learn, don’t they . . . I hear that Quintilius, who teaches the ten to twelve year olds, was schooled in Cicero. But he does like to use the cane!”