Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus (ca. 331–420)

Hieronymus (ca. 331–420), or St. Jerome, is known as the patron saint of translators. In his letter (No. 57 "On the best manner of translating") to the Roman senator Pammachius he writes: "I do not merely confess but freely admit that in translating Greek texts …, with the exception of the Holy Scriptures, where even the word order is a mystery – I do not express one word by another but one sense by another."

Joos van Cleve: San Jerónimo en su estudio (detail), oil on canvas, c. 1500–1540, photographer: Jürgen F. Schopp; source: Museo de la Catedral de Burgos, http://www.catedraldeburgos.es.