The Holy Prophet Amos. The Venerable Jerome, Priest of Stridon. (June 15)

The Holy Prophet Amos. 

Amos was born in the village of Thecua near Bethlehem. He was of simple origin and life. Amos was a swine herdsman for a wealthy man of Jerusalem. But God Who does not look at who is who by his outward appearances but rather by the purity of his heart, and Who took both Moses and David from their sheep, and appointed them as leaders of the people, chose this Amos as one of His prophets. He rebuked King Uzziah and his pagan priests for idolatry and dissuaded the people from worshipping the golden calves in Bethel, teaching them to worship the One Living God. When the chief pagan priest persecuted Amos, he prophesied that the Assyrians will conquer Israel, that they will slay the king and the sons of Amaziah and that the Assyrian soldiers will defile Amaziah's wife before his eyes because he led the people into adultery with idols. All of this materialized. The son of a pagan priest struck the prophet on the forehead with his staff so forcefully that Amos fell. Barely alive, Amos was brought to his village of Thecua where he surrendered his holy soul to God. Amos lived in the eighth century before Christ.

The Venerable Jerome, Priest of Stridon.

Born at Stridon, a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia, about the year 340-2; died at Bethlehem, 30 September, 420. He went to Rome, probably about 360, where he was baptized, and became interested in ecclesiastical matters. From Rome he went to Trier, famous for its schools, and there began his theological studies. Later he went to Aquileia, and towards 373 he set out on a journey to the East. He settled first in Antioch, where he heard Apollinaris of Laodicea, one of the first exegetes of that time and not yet separated from the Church. From 374-9 Jerome led an ascetical life in the desert of Chalcis, south-west of Antioch. Ordained priest at Antioch, he went to Constantinople (380-81), where a friendship sprang up between him and St. Gregory of Nazianzus. From 382 to August 385 he made another sojourn in Rome, not far from Pope Damasus. When the latter died (11 December, 384) his position became a very difficult one. His harsh criticisms had made him bitter enemies, who tried to ruin him. After a few months he was compelled to leave Rome. By way of Antioch and Alexandria he reached Bethlehem, in 386. He settled there in a monastery near a convent founded by two Roman ladies, Paula and Eustochium, who followed him to Palestine. Henceforth he led a life of asceticism and study; but even then he was troubled by controversies which will be mentioned later, one with Rufinus and the other with the Pelagians. St. Jerome owes his place in the history of exegetical studies chiefly to his revisions and translations of the Bible.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=10