Burial Site Of St. Jerome, Cave Of Saint Jerome, Church Of St. Catherine, Bethlehem Editorial Image

This is a picture of the Burial site of St. Jerome, Cave of Saint Jerome, Church of St. Catherine, Bethlehem.Access to St Jerome’s two-room cave is from the Church of St Catherine. On the right hand side of the nave, steps lead down to a complex of subterranean chambers. At the end, on the right, are the rooms where Jerome lived and worked.The adjacent caves have been identified as the burial places of Jerome whose remains were later taken to Rome, his successor St Eusebius, and Sts Paula and Eustochium.Paula, a noble Roman widow, and her daughter, Eustochium, worked with Jerome in making Bethlehem a great monastic centre.The first cave on the left at the bottom of the stairs is identified as the Chapel of the Holy Innocents. This is said to be the burial place of infants killed by King Herod in his attempt to eliminate the newborn “King of the Jews”.