City of God in Exile
Main Gate

Sacred Calendar

The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.

Calendar standard

Pre-1955 Roman usage

The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.

The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.

Daily observance

Today in the City of God

The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.

Daily observance

St. Jerome, Priest, Confessor, and Doctor

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Season: Time after Pentecost

The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.

Today's pilgrimage

St. Jerome, Priest, Confessor, and Doctor

Rank: Double

Color: white

Quote for the day

St. Jerome

“When the stomach is full it is easy to talk of fasting.”

Roman Martyrology

Roman Martyrology - September 30

In Bethlehem of Juda, the decease of St. Jerome, priest and Doctor of the Church, who, excelling in all kinds of learning, imitated the life of the most approved monks, and disposed of many monstrous heresies with the sword of his doctrine. Having at length reached a very advanced age, he rested in peace, and was buried near the manger of our Lord. His body was afterwards conveyed to Rome, and deposited in the basilica of St. Mary the Greater. — The same day, the holy martyr Leopardus, of the household of Julian the Apostate. He was beheaded at Rome, and his body was subsequently taken to Aix-la-Chapelle. — At Soleure, in Switzerland, in the time of the emperor Maximian, the passion of the holy martyrs Victor and Ursus, of the glorius Theban legion, who were subjected to horrid tortures; but a heavenly light shining over them, and causing the executioners to fall to the ground, they were delivered. Being then cast into the fire without sustaining any injury, they finally perished by the sword. — At Piacenza, the holy martyr Antoninus, soldier of the same legion. — The same day, St. Gregory, bishop of Greater Armenia, who after many sufferings under Diocletian, rested in peace. — At Canterbury, in England, St. Honorius, bishop and confessor. — At Rome, the birthday of St. Francis Borgia, of the Society of Jesus. His feast is celebrated on the 10th of October. — In the same city, St. Sophia, widow, mother of the holy virgins Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Read and verify the full entry

Highlighted saint

St. Jerome

Priest, Doctor, ascetic, and servant of Holy Scripture.

St. Jerome served the Church through study of Holy Scripture, ascetic discipline, and defense of Catholic truth.

His witness teaches that love for Scripture must be ecclesial, penitential, and obedient. The sacred text is not a playground for private novelty, but the word of God entrusted to the Church.

He also corrects a common danger in serious souls: study can become pride. Scripture should make the reader humbler, cleaner, more obedient, and more ready to defend truth.

Virtue to practice

Penitential love of Scripture.

Error to resist

The private handling of Scripture detached from the Church's faith and discipline.

For the pilgrim in exile

Let St. Jerome put a bridle on curiosity and a fire in study. Scripture belongs to the Church, and it should make the reader humbler. Read one passage today as a disciple, not as a judge over the text.

Imitate today

  • Read Scripture with the mind of the Church.
  • Practice penance against pride and softness.
  • Use learning to defend truth, not to display yourself.

Sources

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, September 30.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 30.

From Matins

The Doctor of Scripture and the sword against confusion.

Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Jerome, Priest, Confessor, and Doctor of the Church

Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Jerome

“He attacked heretics with keen publications.”

Doctrine taught

  • The Breviary honors St. Jerome as priest, Doctor, ascetic, pilgrim to the holy places, and tireless servant of Holy Scripture.
  • His lessons remember his study under great teachers, his learning in sacred languages, his translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Latin, and his correction of the Latin New Testament from the Greek at the command of Pope St. Damasus.
  • The Breviary also presents him as a defender of the godly and Catholic, using learning as a weapon against heresy rather than as an ornament for pride.

For the pilgrim in exile

Let St. Jerome discipline study. Sacred learning must serve Scripture, the Church, humility, ascetic seriousness, and the defense of truth.

Study St. Jerome against sacred confusion

Sources

  • The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. IV, Autumn, Second Nocturn for St. Jerome, lessons iv-vi.
  • Bute 1908 is used here as an accessible pre-Pius X Breviary witness and is cited distinctly from the 1936-1937 Benziger / Burns Oates edition.

Breviary Witness

Scripture loved with the mind of the Church.

Matins - St. Jerome

Breviary witness

  • The Breviary honors St. Jerome as priest and Doctor, servant of sacred learning and ascetic discipline.
  • His witness teaches that Scripture is not material for private novelty, but the word of God read within the Church's faith.

For the pilgrim in exile

Read Scripture with reverence, penance, and obedience. The sacred page should make the Catholic more humble before God and the Church.

Sources

  • Roman Breviary, Matins lessons for September 30, St. Jerome.
  • Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, September 30.

Meditation

Growth After Pentecost

The Time after Pentecost is the long school of the Holy Ghost. The fire given at Pentecost must become doctrine believed, worship guarded, commandments kept, homes ordered, tongues governed, and charity practiced without novelty or disorder.

Prayer

The day should become prayer.

O Lord, do not permit me to admire truth without submitting to it. Give me the courage to obey what Thou hast already made known.

Thought for the pilgrim

Truth becomes fruitful when it is obeyed.

Practice

The day should become obedience.

Choose one known duty and obey it without delay or complaint.

Source notes

Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X

Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952

Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts should come from Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, traditional popes before 1958, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, or received liturgical texts.

The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.

  • St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.
Browse the Roman Martyrology