Pseudo-Jerome

Like its companions, this label flags quotations from writings transmitted under Jerome's name that scholarship no longer accepts as his — most notably, for the Catena, a commentary on the Gospel of Mark by a later anonymous author. Jerome's reputation as the supreme biblical scholar of the Latin church made his name a magnet for unsigned exegesis; a manuscript headed 'Hieronymus' commanded instant respect and wide copying. Aquinas cited such texts as everyone in the thirteenth century did, trusting the attributions his sources carried. The comments remain in the chain because they earned their place by insight; only the signature, not the substance, was mistaken.

The Mark commentary under Jerome's name persuaded readers for centuries; only modern scholarship separated Jerome's genuine works from the borrowers of his name.

Pseudo-Jerome has 226 commentary entries in HolyStudy’s verse-by-verse Church Fathers commentary. Open any Gospel chapter, tap a verse, and choose the Church Fathers tab.