E00484: The Piacenza Pilgrim records, in his account of the grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem (Palestine), the grave there of *Jerome (Church Father, ob. 420, S00267). Account of an anonymous pilgrim, written in Latin, probably in Placentia (northern Italy), c. 570.

Pilgrim of Piacenza, Itinerarium 29

First recension
Hieronymus presbyter in ipso ore speluncae ipsam petram sculpiuit et monumentum sibi fecit, ubi et positus est.

'The presbyter Jerome hewed out the rock at the very mouth of the cave, and made himself a tomb, where indeed he is buried.'


Second recension
Hieronimus presbiter in loquendo peritus, interpretatione clarus, inter omnes relator conspicuus, in ipso ore speluncae petra sculpiuit et ob deuotionem Saluatoris ibidem sibi monumentum fecit.

'The presbyter Jerome, skilled in rhetoric, clever in translation, the most distinguished narrator among all, hewed out the rock at the very mouth of the cave, and made himself a tomb because of his devotion to the Saviour.'


Text: Geyer 1898, 177 and 209. Translation: Wilkinson 2002, 142, lightly modified.