Jerome (A.D. 347-420) is known as the "Doctor of the Church." Jerome, however, was a plague upon the true church. Everything wrong with the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Catholic Church, and every other denomination of Catholicism, including their multitude of corrupt practices and false doctrines, can be traced back to Jerome and his perverse Latin translation, the Vulgate.
1.) Jerome condemned Jovinian as a "heretic" because he believed that virgins, widows, and married women, even re-married widows, are of equal merit in the Christian community. Jovinian went through Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, showing what high honour marriage is given. Jerome wrote an entire heretical book filled with abusive and intemperate language to praise virginity and disparage the state of marriage; that holy state which God in His Holy Word says should be "held in honor among all" (Heb. 13:4), that holy union that is a picture of Christ and His bride—the Church. Jerome even went so far as to talk about how virgins will supposedly receive many rewards in heaven while married people receive their rewards here on Earth. Jerome pretty much demonized marriage. Anyone who dares to read the Bible carefully will see how much honour God bestows upon marriage. Virginity is sacred, but it has next to nothing written about it by comparison with marriage. Jovinian was correct. The true heretic here was Jerome!
2.) Jovinian also denied the false doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, which Scripture also denies. According to Scripture, Mary clearly had other children, which strongly implies that she and Joseph had normal marital relations after Jesus. In Mark, a crowd asks of Jesus, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother (adelphos, ἀδελφὸς) of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” (6:3). In Luke, when Jesus is told by a crowd gathered to hear him speak, “Your mother and Your brothers (adelphos, ἀδελφὸς) are standing outside, wishing to see You,” Jesus famously answers them: “My mother and My brothers (adelphos, ἀδελφὸς) are those who hear the word of God and do it” (8:19-21). John writes that after Jesus had performed His first miracle in Cana, “He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers (adelphos, ἀδελφὸς) and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days” (2:12).
Jerome argued that these "brothers" were either step-brothers, older sons of Joseph from a previous marriage (of which nothing is mentioned in Scripture), or merely cousins. Throughout the entire birth narrative and childhood narrative, there is never any mention of any other children. So where were these older step-brothers during all of this? The argument for them being step-brothers attempts to use two verses for its support. The first verse: In the upper room were "Mary the mother of Jesus, and . . . His brothers" (Acts 1:14). The argument is that it does not say "her sons," but rather "His brothers." The reason it says "His brothers" is because Jesus is the focus here—not Mary. Jesus is the object. The second verse: On the cross, Jesus looks to John, His disciple, and says, "Behold, your mother!" The argument is that He did not say this to any of His family, but to a complete stranger, implying that she must have been alone. Jesus did not give this responsibility to his brothers because they were not sympathetic to His ministry, nor did they believe in Him, and they likely were not present at the time.Let us assume these "brothers" were indeed older step-brothers. Even if this were the case, Mary still was not a perpetual virgin. "[Joseph] did not have sexual relations with [Mary] until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus" (Matt. 1:25). Even if you attempt to argue for the word "to" to be translated instead of "until," the word is pointing toward a specific point—the "birth of a Son." Heōs (ἕως) is a conjunction, preposition, and adverb of continuance. The word signifies something that "continues up to a certain time." She remained a virgin "until the time when" she gave birth. After the birth of Christ, she was no longer a virgin because she and Joseph engaged in normal marital relations. To argue that they did not is to create a huge problem, which Paul addressed in 1 Corinthians 7:3-5. If Joseph never touched Mary, he would have burned with desire and taken that desire elsewhere, which would have made him an adulterer. The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary has many holes and creates many problems within the rest of Scripture.The Greek does not support the perpetual virginity of Mary. The writings of the Apostles do not support the perpetual virginity of Mary. The writings of the earliest disciples of the Apostles do not support the perpetual virginity of Mary. The perpetual virginity of Mary is entrenched solely in the traditions and errors of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Scripture repudiates these very teachings. Anathema upon any heretic who teaches and proclaims this false doctrine!
3.) Jerome's Latin Vulgate calls a 'bribe' a "gift" (Num. 8:19; Prov. 17:23; etc.). The Latin word for a 'bribe' is corruptela, from which the English word corrupt is derived. The Latin word for a 'gift' is munus, from which the word municipal is derived. The Latin word for 'money' is pecuniam, from which the word penny is derived. For those King James Only-ists, the fallibility and errancy of the King James Bible can be seen clearly in these verses, translating them as "gift" instead of the correct translation "bribe." When Simon the magician sought to purchase the gift of God for money, Peter told him to "Repent" (Acts 8:22). The Douay-Rheims, after the Latin Vulgate, has "Do penance" instead, which is where this false doctrine and practice had its origin.
Jerome's Latin Vulgate eliminates the many references to God as a "Rock." It also said that Jesus went to Hell (Lat. inferno) (Ps. 16:10; Acts 2:31), rather than the grave. No doubt this is how that clause was interpolated into the Apostle's Creed in the fourth century, despite being absent prior. Most Reformed individuals understand this to mean the hell he endure from His sufferings to His crucifixion to His death and subsequent three days in the grave. Nevertheless, "He descended into Hell" is a poor wording to comprehend that.
In Matthew 6:11, Jerome's Latin Vulgate has us praying for our "supersubstantial" (Lat. supersubstantialem) bread, rather than our 'daily' bread. This is where the false doctrine and practice of transubstantiation had its origin.
In 1 Corinthians 11, Jerome's Latin Vulgate talks about us "nourishing" (Lat. nutriat) our hair (i.e., if a man "nourishes" his hair, it is a shame to him, but a woman "nourishing" her hair is her glory).
In Jerome's Latin Vulgate, sodomites were expelled (Deut. 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14) and replaced with words like "whoremonger" and "effeminate." These passages demonstrate that there is much said against homosexuality, which the LGBT want to deny.
Jerome's Latin Vulgate refers to "holocaust" (Lat. holocausta) 359 times, where most English translations have 'burnt offering.' Jermone's translation skills sucked, to say the least. Many errors in translation and word choice find their way into his Latin Vulgate. Because of those errors, the Catholic Church teaches and practices their multitudes of doctrinal errors. If the Catholic Church were to translate a new Latin Bible from the original languages, with no regard for their heretical traditions, they would find that much of their religion would have to change, both in doctrine and practice.
The word "cross" originates from Jerome's Latin Vulgate, too, where the Greek Scriptures used the words xylon for 'tree' and stauros for 'wood,' like a stake. The "cross" dates back to Emperor Constantine with his vision, except as a pagan Mithraic sun-worship symbol. Whether Jesus was nailed to an actual cross-shaped stake is not mentioned in Scripture (except by English translation). We would have to rely on early Christianity and historical witnesses to inform us of that. Quite possibly, His hands would have been nailed together above His head. This bit of information—whether it was a stake, a tree, or a cross—does not change the fundamental theology for one's salvation. He was crucified, regardless of what it was to.
Jerome ought to have been the one labeled as a heretic. He is the one who shaped and defended many of the heretical doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church. Jerome condemned others as "heretics" who, at least in the key areas he disagreed with them, were not heretics in the least. On the three main issues between Jerome and Jovinian, Jovinian was in the right while Jerome was in the wrong. One needs to study history from a variety of sources in order to arrive at the truth, and not from Roman Catholic sources that paint everyone outside their cult as the wicked ones. Emperor Constantine is the foundation beneath all the corruption that found its way into the Catholic Church, abandoning the truth of the Scriptures.