The Second Great Picture of the World

The "Last Communion of St. Jerome" by Domenichino is the masterpiece of this master, and is second only to the "Transfiguration," being placed opposite to it in the Vatican.

It was painted for the monks of Ara Coeli, who quarrelled with the artist, and shut up the picture.

They commissioned Poussin to paint an altar-piece for their church; and, instead of supplying him with fresh canvas, they produced the picture of Domenichino, and desired him to paint over it.

Poussin indignantly threw up his engagement, and made known the existence of the picture, which was afterwards preserved in the Church of St. Girolamo della Carita, from whence it was carried off by the French.

"The aged saint, emaciated and dying, is borne in the arms of his disciples to the chapel of his monastery at Bethlehem, and placed within the porch.

"He is represented as receiving his last sacrament from St. Ephraim of Syria.

"A young priest sustains him; St. Paula, kneeling, kisses one of his hands; a deacon holds the cup, and an attendant priest the book.

"The lion droops his head with an expression of grief: the eyes of all are on the dying saint, while four angels hovering above look down upon the scene."

A noticeable feature in the picture is, that the candle is ingeniously bent, so as not to interfere with the architectural lines of the picture, while the flame is straight.

The lion, which always accompanies Jerome when he is represented in art, is said to have pined away after Jerome's death, and to have died at last upon his grave.

St. Jerome was born about the middle of the fourth century.

As a scholar and an author, he takes the first rank: as a theologian, he is the second only to his contemporary St. Augustine, among the Latin Fathers. His chief work is his Latin translation of the Scriptures.

In 374 he retired to the desert of Chalcis, where he spent four years in study, especially that of the Hebrew language.

He was thus prepared to produce a new version of the Old Testament.

He commenced this work in 385, and completed it in 405; and he also made an improved translation of the New Testament: his two translations together received the name of the "Vulgate." About two hundred years after Jerome's death, in A.D. 420, the Vulgate became he universally received version of the Church.

Paula was one of St. Jerome's chief converts from among the wealthy families of Rome. She founded four convents in the East, and became so celebrated for her holy life, that after her death she was canonized as St. Paula.