The Slavic Letters of St. Jerome: The History of the Legend and Its Legacy, or, How the Translator of the Vulgate Became an Apostle of the Slavs by Julia Verkholantsev (review)

The growth of the popularity of St. Jerome in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the accompanying creation of apocryphal documents about his life, is a fascinating story. The work of law professor Giovanni D’Andrea furthered the cult and added to it a humanistic emphasis that would continue to enhance the popularity of Jerome as ascetic, biblical scholar, and learned humanist throughout subsequent centuries. Although this aspect of the cult of Jerome is well known to scholars, in this new book Julia Verkholantsev illuminates what could be called a parallel legend of Jerome as an apostle of the Slavs and the creator of the Glagolitic alphabet—a script of “Slavic Letters”—as well as the translator of the Bible and liturgy into Slavonic. In this fascinating and engaging new study, Verkholantsev sets out for the reader the origins and growth of this legend, as well as its spread and influence on religious history and culture throughout the lands of the western Slavs, particularly in the later Middle Ages.

Chapter 1 discusses the ninth-century work of Cyril and Methodius in Moravia and theories about the historical origins of the Glagolitic alphabet as a missionary tool. Chapter 2 illuminates how, although this rite and alphabet were banned in Frankish and most other Latin lands, they survived in Croatia, where in the later Middle Ages they would continue to thrive in Benedictine and other religious houses. A key moment in the association of Jerome with Slavic matters seems to have come in the mid-thirteenth century, when a Croatian bishop made the argument to the pope that the Glagolitic script had been given to the Slavs by Jerome himself. The legend, based upon some interesting Carolingian writings and the fact that Jerome was born in what ultimately would become Slavic lands, led to the growth of the idea that he was a Slav and had translated the liturgy and Bible into Slavonic. In this way Jerome replaced Cyril and Methodius, now primarily associated in many Latin minds with eastern “schismatics,” as patrons of the Glagolitic script, giving it impeccably Roman credentials. Chapter 3 examines the role of this Slavonic heritage for Charles IV, Holy Roman emperor and king of Bohemia in the mid-fourteenth century, and the role in Slavonic and Bohemian culture of the Glagolitic Benedictines and the cult of the Slavic Jerome that he introduced from Croatia, including biblical translations into Czech. Chapters 4 and 5, respectively, examine the foundation of Slavonic monasteries in Silesia and Poland in the later fourteenth century and the role they played there, with particular attention to the relationship and cultural dynamic between the kingdoms of Bohemia and Poland. An epilogue discusses the fate and continued influence of these ideas in the post-Hussite era, and the continuing influence and persistence of the idea of St. Jerome as Slav and founder of sacred Slavic culture. This myth found its way into Reformation debates about vernacular translations of scripture and in the writings of Erasmus found a new and powerful advocate, one not really refuted until the critical work of the Bollandists.

This well-researched, original, and accessible book will appeal to specialists in many fields of medieval culture. The author draws upon an impressive command of languages and sources, including hagiography, art history, and liturgical texts that may not be well known beyond Slavic specialists. She deftly and judiciously guides the reader through many scholarly debates that range over time and across national, religious, and disciplinary boundaries, introducing new and convincing interpretations that demonstrate the importance of interdisciplinary scholarship at its best. It will prove to be an indispensable contribution and excellent addition to scholarly work available in...