A Shamed Thief

Quomodo confunditur fur, quando deprehenditur, sic confusi sunt domus Israel: ipsi et reges eorum, principes et sacerdotes, et prophetae eorum.   Quamvis sit impudens et procax vultus furantium, tamen erubescit, cum in furto fuerit deprehensus. Et Israel ergo dicens ligno, Pater meus es tu, et lapidi, tu me genuisiti;' ut eos vocaret parentes, quos ipse fabricatus est, confunditur cum in sua idololatria fuerit deprehensus. Et ne putemus hoc de plebe eum dicere: reges ponit et principes, et sacerdotes, et prophetas eorum. Utamur hoc testimonio contra principes nostros, et contra hos qui in Ecclesia putantur duces, cum in peccatis turpibus fuerint deprehensi. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Jeremiam Propheta, II, XXVI

'As a thief is shamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel has been disgraced, and its kings and its princes and its priests and its prophets.' 1 Although the face of thieves may be bold and impudent, yet it will blush when it is caught thieving. Therefore Israel, when it says to wood, 'You are my father, and to stone, you gave birth to me,' 2 thus calling things parents that they themselves have made, will be disgraced when caught in idolatry. And lest we think that he speaks here of the people alone, he adds, 'and its kings and princes and priests and prophets.' Let us make use of this testimony then against our princes, and those who think themselves leaders in the church, when they are caught in foul sins. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, 2.26 1 Jer 2.26 2 Jer 2.27