In the final battle of the first round(!), we return to Confusion Corner as two giants of the faith, Thomas Aquinas and Jerome, face off. Yes, that would be Tom and Jerry. Who knows what hijinks will ensue as such intellectual firepower is engaged in the Saintly Smackdown?
Yesterday, Juana Inés de la Cruz defeated Gabriel the Archangel 66% to 34% and will face Origen in the Saintly Sixteen.
Now, go finish out the Round of 32!
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas was a thirteenth-century scholar, priest, and philosopher who single-handedly established the way we think about theology and philosophy.
Thomas was born around 1225 to a wealthy family in Roccasecca, governed by Sicily. His father was a knight, and his mother was a wealthy Neapolitan. At the age of 5, Thomas began to study at the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, where his uncle was the abbot, but a local war soon put a stop to that. So, his parents packed him off to a university in Naples instead. There, he began to study Aristotle and encountered his first Dominicans. He found the Dominicans so intriguing that he decided to join them at the age of 19. This displeased his fancy family. So alarmed were they at his new vocation that his brothers kidnapped him and held him captive for a year at the family castle in an attempt to change his mind.
It didn’t work. Thomas spent the time teaching his sisters and writing sad letters to other Dominicans. His brothers even hired a prostitute to seduce him, but he remained devoted to the faith. Finally, his family gave up. Thomas joined the Dominicans in Paris in 1245 and set about studying and writing. When his teacher, Albertus Magnus, departed for Cologne in 1248 to set up a new university, Thomas tagged along. Thomas taught classes on the Bible and theology while writing what we now recognize as the foundations of Western philosophical thought. His work sought to bring the philosophy of Aristotle into conversation with the Christian faith, proving that there is no
contradiction between the natural world we can observe through reason and the God-breathed world we know through faith.
After a wide-ranging career of writing, preaching, and teaching, in 1273, Thomas suddenly stopped. In the middle of writing his influential tome, the Summa Theologica, Thomas had some sort of profound mystical ecstasy while celebrating mass. Whatever he experienced drove him to stop his writing entirely, and he died several months later.
He was canonized quickly and is the patron saint of teachers, academics, theologians, and those who make pencils and books.
Collect for Thomas Aquinas
Almighty God, who has enriched your Church with the singular learning and holiness of your servant Thomas Aquinas: Enlighten us more and more, we pray, by the disciplined thinking and teaching of Christian scholars, and deepen our devotion by the example of saintly lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Jerome
The life of Jerome (born circa 342 CE) straddled a time of great transition and growth in the Christian church. And Jerome found himself in the middle of it.
Jerome spent years of his life in Rome, where he encountered the new official religion of the empire—Christianity. He experienced a conversion and was baptized by the bishop of Rome. Energized by this new faith, young Jerome set out for the city of Antioch. He continued his academic studies in the city and ascetic prayer and reflection in the desert. This time of education and formation brought him to Constantinople, where he studied at the feet of the great Eastern theologian Gregory of Nazianzus.
Shaped by his years of study and prayer, Jerome returned to Rome to participate in the 382 Council of Rome. His quick intellect caught the eye of Pope Damasus I, who invited Jerome to serve as his personal secretary. Under the eye of Damasus, Jerome was encouraged in his intellectual work, including beginning work on biblical translations. In Rome, Jerome made fast friends with many of the noble women of the church. Their association with Jerome was used to cast suspicion on the morals of this increasingly influential scholar and priest. While his enemies accused Jerome of inappropriate relationships, especially with Paula of Rome, modern scholars argue that these women were patrons of and possibly collaborators with Jerome.
Jerome eventually made his way to Bethlehem, where he divided his time between a cave next to the grotto of the Nativity and a monastery that he established with Paula. Jerome spent 30 years working on his translation of scripture, weighing in on the theological controversies of the day, and pastoring pilgrims to the Holy Land.
Jerome translated the Bible from Latin into “common language” (vulgar/Vulgate). The Vulgate quickly became the primary Bible of the Christian church in the West. More than a thousand years later, the Council of Trent would uphold the Vulgate as the official Bible used by the church. For a millennium, the only Bible known to most Western Christians was the work of Jerome, and other translations for centuries after would lean on the patterns set by Jerome’s translation. He died on September 30, 420, and was laid to rest under the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem.
Collect for Jerome
O God, who gave us the holy Scriptures as a light to shine upon our path: Grant us, after the example of your servant Jerome, so to learn of you according to your holy Word, that we may find the Light that shines more and more to the perfect day; even Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.
UPDATE: The Supreme Executive Committee noticed several irregularities with this very close competition. At one point in the evening of the voting, the SEC noticed that someone had cast 30 votes for Thomas Aquinas, so 30 votes were added to Jerome. In the final hours of the vote, several people cast multiple votes for both Thomas and Jerome, but the net influence was that there were more pro-Jerome cheaters than pro-Thomas cheaters.
In our current system, the post announcing the next day's vote goes live at 7:55 a.m., and when we published the next day's post, the very close vote resulted in a declared win by Thomas with a margin of just one vote. However, in the next five minutes, because the polls technically close at 8:00 a.m., several more votes were cast. At 8:00 when the vote officially ended, there was an exact tie in reported votes. However, as we said above, there had been some cheating, the net of which was more illilict votes in favor of Jerome. After reviewing everything today, the SEC added one vote to Thomas Aquinas, so that he is shown as the winner, and this was both the correct original result AND the correct result after removing the fraudulent votes.
This was all exacerbated by the fact that this was, apart from a few cheaters (casting around 60 votes for Thomas and around 70 votes for Jerome) the closest match in Lent Madness history.
We apologize for the confusion. Both Scott and Tim were occupied all day in meetings. Believe it or not, we haven't figured out how to turn Lent Madness into a full-time job. Still, you can be confident that Thomas Aquinas did in fact win this match-up by the narrowest of margins. Please cast one vote and one vote only; when you vote repeatedly, it creates an unfair advantage, it makes more work for the SEC, and it can cause confusion with the Lent Madness public.
148 comments on “Thomas Aquinas vs. Jerome”
As a university educator, I tell my students that we are who we are because St. Thomas Aquinas gave us the freedom to think, that he said, paraphrased, that God gave humans a brain and free will, and the obligation to use both. Though Jerome is worthy (I love language and translations), for me it has to be St. Thomas today.
I had to abstain today! I've never been a fan of Thomas Aquinas, but before I voted for Jerome, I remembered the comments by George Lamsa about the Greek translation. I would pick Lamsa over Jerome anytime.
Today took a mental coin toss for me, so it was gratifying to find these two neck and neck.
It seems to me this year has more "egg head" saints than usual, but I may be mistaken.
Thomas submitted "incomplete staff work" (Summa), so he gets marked down.
Jerome translated the Bible into the Vulgate. I was a fan of the ground-breaking Good News Bible (20th Century Vulgate), which I believe had a significant influence on the NRSV. More recently the Common English Bible, and now a revision of the NRSV.
I remember that the New Testament was written in Koine, not Classical Greek.
Thomas could also be considered a patron of graduate students, especially ABDs, (all done but dissertation) since the final sermons which he had to defend before achieving his doctorate (no written dissertations in the Medieval University of Paris) provoked rioting.
He is also notable for his virtually illegible handwriting; his contemporaries complained about it so much that Thomas had someone who could read it make fair copies for circulation.
Jerome translated scripture from Hebrew and Greek I think more than from Latin into Latin. So because that didn't make sense, I voted for Aquinas.
How does one choose this battle?
There is a reference too St. Jerome in the movie Ghostbusters. The original movie. I don't know any references to Saint Augustine in the movies I watch or have watched.
God's Word is primary; without Jerome we have a very unreliable foundation.
Really hard, but my intellectual mentors and formation were Aristotelians. By way of Aquinas, and liberal helpings of Dante. I will stand with Aquinas, with deep respect for the work of Jerome.
Gotta go with the patron saint of teachers! Both admirable.
As a librarian, I have to go with Jerome.
"proving that there is no
contradiction between the natural world we can observe through reason and the God-breathed world we know through faith."
This cemented my vote for Thomas.
Too hard, too hard but in the end, had to vote for Jerome because people really needed the vulgate translation.
This one is so close.
I must cast my vote for Jerome, my son's name saint and example for intellect, language skills, morality and friendship regardless of gender. Although is translation was based on the Latin bible (and not the original Greek & Aramaic writings), he attempted to bring the Word of God closer to the Christian community.
Actually, as pointed out elsewhere in the comments, Jerome translated from the original languages into the common Latin. Hopefully this fact will get corrected at some point.
See http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Jerome.htm for more on Jerome who "was well versed in classical Latin (as well as Greek and Hebrew), but deliberately translated the Bible into the style of Latin that was actually spoken and written by the majority of persons in his own time." . . . "The early Christians, most of whom knew Greek but not Hebrew, were accustomed to use the LXX as their version of the Old Testament Scriptures. (So, for that matter, did most Jews living in the Roman Empire outside of the land of Israel itself.) The Old Latin translation had been made from the Greek. But Jerome was determined to make his translation from the Hebrew . . . ."
I wonder if there is a typo in the writeup on Jerome that is confusing many. Per my seminary memories (and I googled to verify) Jerome translated *into* Latin, which was the widespread vernacular language of his day. He translated the NT from the original Greek, but the OT not from the Greek Septuagint but from the original Hebrew (and Aramaic in the case of some of the deuterocanonical books).
Hard choice today, but I went with Jerome. I fell in love with Hebrew and the Hebrew scriptures in seminary, and can't imagine anyone translating the whole megillah not being largely cured of the antisemitism of his day. (Of course, translating from a language passed down without its original vowels may have accounted for his curmudgeonliness... crmdgnlnss?)
And now that the preschool has left for the day, I'm listening to Pavarotti and Sting's duet of Franck's Panis Angelicus in honor of Thomas.... https://youtu.be/Mbi1gxQDBK0
Another really tough match up - I would vote for Thomas for reconciling faith and science, but one cannot discount the
scripture as the basis of it all - Also, I cannot forget my godfather, my Uncle Jerry, a deeply faithful family member . . .
But, as I write this, the voting is split 50/50, so many of us are finding this a tough one -
5000 votes have been cast in total.
Less than a dozen votes separate the contenders.
This way Madness lies.
'. . .there is no contradiction. . .'
and because yeeeears ago a very dry Dominican attempted to teach college freshmen from the 'Summa.' Dang if some of it didn't actually stick! 'First mover' and all that .
My understanding is that Aquinas is the (Western) European who studied carefully the work of top Islamic scholars & philosophers in what was the Middle Ages of Europe. This fact adds an essential detail of his life to a brief biography of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Islamic scholars kept the work of Aristotle alive, & Aquinas learned of Aristotle through his studying the works of Abu Nasr Al-Farabi (a/k/a in the West as Alpharabius). Born in either Afghanistan or Kazakhstan, Al-Farabi lived much of his life in Baghdad where he spent significant time with Christian scholars.
Aquinas, of course, built on Aristotle's philosophy. Therefore, the fact that he learned of Aristotle through the strength of Al-Farabi's writing is particularly noteworthy.
Have to go with Thomas.St Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church was up the road from my dorm at the University of Virginia when I entered there. Had never known any Catholics (was from a rather isolated rural county) and was curious about a church I had only heard often in a non- positive manner Became close friends with a couple of the priests and had somely lively conversations.
Although I did not affiliate with tbe Roman Catholic Church,eventually becoming an Episcopalian after exploring various spiritual paths I cherish those experiences talking with Fathet Hickey and Father Burns.
WOW! Whoever thinks votes don't count should know that my vote changed a tie to Jerome leading by one. Of course I won't be the last to vote today, but wowsers!!
This particular choice is the toughest one yet for me. I am a librarian, so I am strongly inclined towards Saint Jerome. HOWEVER, even since 8th grade, Thomas Aquinas has been MY patron saint (being named Tom)
I am actually praying for guidance on this one!
I wonder if there is a typo in the writeup on Jerome that is confusing many. Per my seminary memories (and I googled to verify) Jerome translated *into* Latin, which was the widespread vernacular language of his day. He translated the NT from the original Greek, but the OT not from the Greek Septuagint but from the original Hebrew (and Aramaic in the case of some of the deuterocanonical books).
Hard choice today, but I went with Jerome. I fell in love with Hebrew and the Hebrew scriptures in seminary, and can't imagine anyone translating the whole megillah not being largely cured of the antisemitism of his day. (Of course, translating from a language passed down without its original vowels may have accounted for his curmudgeonliness... crmdgnlnss?)
And now that the preschool has left for the day, I'm listening to Pavarotti and Sting's duet of Franck's Panis Angelicus in honor of Thomas...
WSM!
I remember both of these guys, fairly fondly, from my time in college and seminary. However, due to a particular professor, Thomas Aquinas holds a special place in my heart.
In part due to some comments that he made one day which, when coupled with my affinity for crime dramas, led me to create this faux comic: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1116597269289&set=a.1116596949281
(Which I put on a t-shirt for my prof!)
Awesome! You look very thoughtful behind your "jailhouse" coffee cup with the black bars. And the comic is great too! I am afraid I do not buy the "unmoved mover" theory, as I am persuaded that God worked with the pre-existing tohu wa bohu, the "stuff" of the universe, but God was a creator and declared it "good," and that's the part I ascribe to.
I should have said *subscribe* to. (Still no "edit" tool!)
Voting from Maui at 2:50 p.m. (8:50 p.m. Eastern Time) I think I just broke a tie when I voted for Thomas Aquinas. How close can this contest be??
St Thomas has long been a favorite of mine, for undertaking the task of translating Christian thought into the philosophy of his day. It is a task that needs to be undertaken in each generation.
Talk about a neck to neck contest!
I'm on the library committee at my parish, so of course I voted for Saint Jerome, the Patron Saint of Libraries.
And after I voted it showed Jerome ahead by one vote! Proof that every vote matters.
I hope Jerome stays ahead so y'all get to hear about Jerome and his lion friend.
One of them will win by a "knows."
As a professor and text author, I'm going with St. Thomas. Besides, I loe the Latin Quarter in Paris where he studied.
I'm sorry that the biographer for St. Jerome omitted mentioning that Jerome is the patron saint of librarians and archivists--that might have gotten him a few more votes. As a librarian and archivist, I have to vote for him!