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What happened in St. Jerome’s dream during his illness at Antioch?

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José de Ribera: Saint Jerome — St. Jerome *Saint Jerome*, oil on canvas by José de Ribera (Jusepe de Ribera, Lo Spagnoletto), c. 1638–40; in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

During a near-fatal illness in Antioch in 375, St. Jerome experienced a celebrated dream that triggered a profound spiritual crisis. In the dream, he was brought before a divine tribunal and accused of being a "Ciceronian"—a follower of the Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero—rather than a Christian. As punishment for his devotion to pagan literature, he was severely lashed.

Following this experience, Jerome vowed to abstain from reading or possessing classical pagan works. Although he later minimized the significance of the event during controversies with his contemporary Tyrannius Rufinus, the dream effectively deterred him from reading the classics for pleasure for many years and served as a pivotal moment in his ascetic development.1