St. Chromatius of Aquileia

Biography

St. Chromatius (c. 345–c. 407) was born in Aquileia, at the head of the Adriatic Sea, then one of the great cities of the Roman Empire. He grew up in a devout family, living with his widowed mother, his brother, and his sisters, whose household St. Jerome praised. In the 370s Chromatius belonged to a circle of priests and monks in Aquileia that included Jerome and Rufinus, which Jerome remembered as 'a choir of the blessed.' As a priest he took part in the Council of Aquileia in 381, which opposed the Arian heresy. In 388 he became bishop of the city, receiving episcopal ordination, according to tradition, from St. Ambrose of Milan. He encouraged the scholarship of his friends: Jerome dedicated translations of Scripture to him, and Rufinus translated Eusebius's Church History at his request. When Jerome and Rufinus quarreled bitterly, Chromatius tried to reconcile them. He also supported St. John Chrysostom when Chrysostom was unjustly exiled, and Chrysostom wrote to thank him. Chromatius guided his people through the fear and hardship caused by barbarian invasions and died around 407. Many of his sermons and his commentaries on Matthew's Gospel circulated for centuries under other names and were identified as his only in the twentieth century. Pope Benedict XVI devoted a general audience to him in 2007.

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