“A victim I implore the priest for salvation, a sheep the shepherd for protection. Away with jealousy of the Roman preeminence, away with ambition! I speak to the successor of the fisherman and to the disciple of the cross. I follow no one as chief save Christ but I am joined in communion with your blessedness, that is, with the See of Peter. Upon that rock I know the Church is built.”
~St. Jerome: “Letters,” 15. (To Pope Damasus)
St. Jerome in his Study, by Domenico Ghirlandaio.
Fresco, 1480; Ognissanti, Florence.