The Custody of the Holy Land, whose friars keep St. Catherine's, describes the layout. The caves connect by staircases with the church and with the cloister of St. Jerome in front of it. The largest cave, nearest the Grotto of the Nativity, has the altar of St. Joseph; beside it is the Grotto of the Holy Innocents; a passage leads on to the cave named for St. Jerome, with altars to him and to Paula and Eustochium and their tombs.
Jerome settled in Bethlehem in 386 and died there on September 30, 420, after decades spent translating the Bible into Latin. He was buried in these caves. A medieval tradition holds that his remains were later taken to Rome, and the Basilica of St. Mary Major counts them among its relics, while the Custody continues to show his tomb in Bethlehem. A pilgrim can honor him in both places without treating the question as settled.
Good to know before you go: hours follow the Nativity complex. The Christian Information Centre's list, updated September 15, 2026, gives temporary hours from before dawn until early evening while maintenance continues in the Grotto of the Nativity, and during that work the Franciscans' early Mass is celebrated here, in the Grotto of St. Joseph, Monday to Saturday very early in the morning. A group traveling with its own priest books Mass at the Nativity and St. Catherine's through the Franciscan Pilgrims' Office in Jerusalem (fpo@cicts.org). The office's public list does not name the individual cave chapels, so ask for St. Jerome's by name when you write. Reaching Bethlehem at all depends on the checkpoint and on conditions that week.