15 St. Jerome and Pope Damasus: A Wishful Glimpse at the Past* Daniel M Unger Fig. 1. Guercino, St. Jerome Sealing a Letter. Collection (Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY). c. 1617-1619 Rome, Private Guercino's St. Jerome Sealing a Letter (Fig. 1) constitutes a striking departure from the seventeenth-century iconography of this saint. He is commonly known as a penitent. But never before had he been represented as a penitent occupying himself with his correspondence, rather than with one of the three stages of the sacrament of penance.^ Why did Guercino * I would like to thank Dror Wahnnan, William Barcham, and Guy Tal for reading drafts of this paper and for their valuable suggestions. ' The sacrament of Penance (poenitentiae) consists of contrition through prayer {De contritione), confession {De confessione). and atonement {De satisfactionis necessitate et fructu). Essentially, the sacrament is intended to turn the beiiever from evil ways by means of contrition and confession of his sins on the one hand, and absolution through atonement on the other. On penance, see Jean Delumeau, Sin and Fear. The Emergence of a Western Guilt