Jerome lived in "the first several hundred years of church history." He was there when a man named Helvidius proposed the idea that Mary had had other children. Read his response. (Jerome was not a nice man. Helvidius got both barrels.) Jerome knows nothing of this opinion you claim was "recognized".
What a coincidence. In a different thread I mentioned this to somebody and actually found the treatise on the internet. Here it is:
St. Jerome was born around 320 and died in 420 -- not exactly what I would consider the first several hundred years. I'm talking the first 200 years or so of church history, of which there is ample evidence for my position and scant evidence for yours.
Jerome was also dead set against including the "deuterocanonical" books in the Bible. Was he correct about this, too?