Which saint translated the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate)?

Saint Jerome translated and revised much of the Latin Bible that became known as the Vulgate. His work made him the central figure associated with the Bible used by the Western Church for centuries.

In 382, Pope Damasus I commissioned Jerome to revise the Latin Gospels then circulating in the Roman Church. Jerome later expanded the project, translating most of the Old Testament from Hebrew rather than relying only on the Greek Septuagint. He also produced important revisions of the Psalms and other biblical books.

The Vulgate was not entirely Jerome’s work. Some New Testament books were revised by other scholars, and several books retained earlier Latin translations. Even so, Jerome’s scholarship shaped the text’s language, arrangement, and authority. The translation gradually displaced older Vetus Latina versions and became the standard Latin Bible in Western Christianity.

A common oversimplification is saying Jerome translated every word of the Vulgate from scratch. More accurately, the Vulgate is a composite Latin Bible, with Jerome responsible for most of its major translation and revision work. The Council of Trent later affirmed it as the Catholic Church’s official Latin Bible.