The final criterion for the
canon of the Scriptures, like that for any other point in the depositum
fidei, is the teaching and practice of the Church. In St. Jerome’s time
the teaching had not been reduced to a formula of universal acceptance; and the
practice was obscured by hesitations over certain books in certain regions, and
by doubts on academic grounds. The practice of the Church did not hinge, as
St. Jerome came to expect that it should, on the existence of an authoritative
Hebrew or Aramaic original for all books or parts of books in the Old Testament.
St. Jerome himself went beyond any such theoretical standard, as we have seen.
His friend Epiphanius concurred perfectly with him regarding the theory of the
Old Testament canon. Yet in A.D. 394, when both had already given some
expression to their theory, Epiphanius cited Wisdom 2:23 in writing to
John of Jerusalem, for one of “seven proofs from Holy Scripture”; and the
citation is translated and preserved for us (Ep. 51, 6, 7) by Jerome in
the collection of his own letters. The panegyric of Paula (Ep. 108)
after his death (A.D. 404) shows St. Jerome’s most cherished pupil as seen by himself;
her favorite Old Testament texts are counted over, and we find that it is the Septuagint
form of text to which she is attached. In keeping with this, she quotes Ecclesiastics
(3:33) among other books (Ep. 108, 16)—it is hardly surprising that
the text is one we find employed by St. Jerome himself on at least two
occasions (Ep. 66, 5, A.D. 398; Ep. 79, 4, A.D. 400). In this
same letter, St. Jerome calls Ecclus. 13:2 “Scripture,” and alludes to Wisdom
2:24 (Ep. 108, 18, 21). It was for hearers like Paula that the
spiritual interpretation of texts in his commentaries was based on the
Septuagint form; and if the Church has come, in the matter of the canon, to
sanction Paula’s practice rather than his own theory, St. Jerome would be the
last to regret it. (Patrick W. Skehan, “St. Jerome and the Canon of the Holy
Scriptures,” in A Monument to Saint Jerome: Essays on Some Aspects of His Life,
Works, and Influence, ed. Francis X. Murphy [New York: Sheed &Ward,
1952], 284-85, emphasis in bold added)
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